Tameem comes from a country where music was banned and censored for the past seven years. It is no secret that musicians were killed and that instruments were burned and destroyed under the strict fundamentalist Taliban rule. However, even before the Taliban, Afghanistan had a history of treating musicians as pariahs.
While the Taliban forbid artists to express their musical talents in Afghanistan, Tameem suffered another form of censorship within his own culture in the United States. Since musicians are undermined and held in low esteem within the Afghan community, Tameem’s own family discouraged him from pursuing his dreams. However, their repeated attempts to deterring Tameem’s pursuit of his musical career only fueled his fire and determination to pursue his one passion … music.
Tameem fuses Eastern and Western sounds and uses the acoustical style that has existed for over 20 years from when Ahmad Zahir and Nainawaz were spearheading Afghan music. Tameem revives the instrumental sounds that have become foreign even to Afghan ears and in the process, artistically fuses other instruments from around the globe.
Tameem’s voice is soul-soothing and its strength is captivating. Combined with the poetic verses of such great Persian poets as Rumi, Hafiz, Attar, Rahi, Lahuti, and Ferough, the mystical songs and arrangements are a refreshing transformation. Rumi, the spiritual master and poet of the thirteenth century, is the artist’s favorite poet and three of his poems are featured on his new CD “Azaadi.”
Although Tameem has spent most of his time in the recording studio and away from the public eye, he recently appeared on “Bay Area Back Roads” on KRON Channel 4, his songs were played on KPFA Radio, and he was also interviewed on BBC Radio. He will soon be featured in an upcoming documentary focused on Tameem and the Afghan music.
Through his music, Tameem demonstrates that there are no boundaries to what man can create and invites us to ask: “What if we remove all the labels created by man and our languages? What boundaries will separate us then? What then will keep us from living in peace and harmony?”
Share the experience: Listen to demos, read poem translations, and learn more about Tameem the Artist at www.TameemMusic.com.
