 Akhtar Chanal Zahri was born at Khuzdar, Balochistan, Pakistan in 1954.In 1964, Akhtar Chanal started taking formal singing lessons from a music Ustad.In 1973, he brought regional folk to national attention after he was discovered by the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC)'s Balochi Radio Station, and in 1974 Chanal's music became popular nationwide when his song "Deer Deer" was first aired live on national TV.