Mshko was born in 1908 in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In 1914, under the pressure of pverty, they moved from Erbil to the village of Dere, which was the village of his ancestors. In 1918, they returned to Erbil. His father died in 1923 and Haji Sabir Alafi took over the livelihood of the family.
In 1931, he performed Bayat for the first time at the house of Ali Pasha Doghramachi, at the ceremony held on the occasion of becoming a member of parliament.
He learned songs and maqams from the famous singer Shahaba, who was an original school of Iraqi songs and maqams. He also learned Lawik from Kawisa Agha and heard the song Le Le Jawe from him, which he recorded later.
He married in 1939 and had a daughter. In 1943, he went to Baghdad, leaving his wife and daughter in Erbil. His wife contracted granuloma and died of it. When Mshko heard the news in Baghdad, he rushed back to Erbil and went to her grave. In 1948, he married a second wife and had two sons and a daughter. It is worth mentioning that his sons established a registry in Erbil called Mshko Registry out of love and loyalty to their father.
Mshko was friends with many great Kurdish artists, including Kawes Agha, Aziz Agha, Mohammed Arif Jaziri, Hassan Jazrawi, Tayer Tofiq, Rasoul Gardi, Haider Baqal, and many others.
In 1950, he sang together with Mohammed Arif Jaziri at a concert in the house of Latif Chakhmakhchi in Erbil Castle. In 1956, he came to Sulaymaniyah at the invitation of Sheikh Latif son of Sheikh Mahmoud Hafid. There they held an enthusiastic concert with the famous singer Rashol Abdullah.
In the autumn of 1957, he came to Sulaymaniyah after the Great Flood and attended a charity held to raise aid for the victims of the disaster.
After the July 14 revolution, he visited Mosul with Latif Chakhmakhchi and several other companions to introduce Kurdish songs and maqams. There, with the help of Ghanim Yahya, an Armenian violinist, he recorded a cassette for Mshko.
After the March 11, 1970, agreement, he recorded several joint concerts with Tayer Tofiq, Haider Baqal, Younis Mahmoud, Jamila, Fayeq Bazrgan, Mohammed Ahmad Erbili, Fuad Ahmad and Mohammed Jaza.
Mshko died of a heart attack on 18-05-1989 at the age of 81.[1]