Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Gabriel Teodros, host of EARLY on KEXP, is "Yak Sher" by Farhot, from the 2021 album Kabul Fire Vol. 2 on Kabul Fire Records.
“This is one of my goals,” hip-hop producer Farhot (real name: Farhad Samadzada) told Acclaim, “to help make Afghanistan a little bit more seen.”
It's been seven years since the release of Kabul Fire Vol. 1, and with the follow-up, he wanted to continue to celebrate his birthplace. "When it was time for Vol 2, I had to do some homework. I was thinking of the title Kabul Fire, and I thought, ‘I need to make a connection to the country’, I watched films and listened to the music and checked out art from Afghanistan, and what I found was just incredible to me and very inspiring, so I dug deeper.”
On today's Song of the Day, Farhot uses a sample of Ahmad Shah Massoud, an Afghan politician and military commander who helped lead the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 and 1989. During that time, a young Farhot and his family sought asylum in Germany and he's currently based in Hamburg. The relocation introduced him to Western hip-hop which influenced his current musical style. “Hip hop gave me access to music…so that I discovered from here,” he continued. “I think improvising is a big factor. I see a lot of Afghans do that on a daily basis to survive, they improvise, and I love that.”
