Biography

Wahied performing at Radio 786's Old-Lympics

The Early Years: Growing up as a child in the sprawling Cape Town suburb of Mitchells Plain, Wahied Kannemeyer fondly remembers "visiting a different house" every Thursday evening, to participate in the Dhikrullah gatherings, known as the Rātib al-Haddad. It was at those gatherings, that Wahied’s knowledge and love, for what he calls “melody”, was nurtured.

Wahied first ventured into Qasā’id in 1997 with the Blue Downs-based qasidah group, Al-Badr. In 1998, he joined the renowned Cape qasidah group the Cape Malaysians following his return from study at the University of Al-Azhar in Egypt, home to numerous acclaimed Qur’raa. It is in Egypt that the Arabian melody greatly influenced him.

Wahied Goes Solo: In July 2002, Wahied launched his first solo album, Salutations, which was a rendition of the famous compilations of Shaykh al-Barzanji, also known as Riwāyāt al-Barzanji . Salutations went beyond the shores of Cape Town with requests for the CD pouring in from Indonesia, Germany, Australia, Canada, United States, Namibia, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom, Réunion Islands, Singapore and Qatar (and more recently also sent to Brazil).

In 2004, he launched Devotion, a beautiful rendering of the Cape style dhikr. Wahied's talent was recognised by Meem Music in December that year, who signed him up as an artist, and saw Devotion released as Divine Blessings on the Meem label.

Wahied and Īmān: Wahied is also the lead vocalist of the talented nasheed group Īmān. He also writes and performs his own nasheeds and has performed with Malaysian group Raihan during their tour of South Africa in 2004. Īmān released their first nasheed album, Just Remember in September 2005.

Beyond Nasheed: Wahied participates actively in community affairs having freelanced as a guest presenter on community radio station Radio 786 and being invited to be the Master of Ceremonies (MC) at fundraising and charity events.


Wahied with members of the Īmān nasheed group.	Wahied with his son, Mu-aath, and wife, Amina.

Aspirations: Wahied's desire to perform overseas was realised when he went on tour with Īmān in the UK in July 2005. He looks forward to more such ventures and opportunities to perform with other nasheed artists.