A Playlist for Afghanistan

In the midst of empire, what is the work of song? In the midst of occupation and invasion, in the wake of political betrayal, what stories does music tell that may otherwise go unreported? In the midst of displacement and flight, terror and violence, family separation and resettlement, what is the power of a ghazal, or the pluck of strings pulled tight over the mulberry wood of a rubab? For centuries, music in Afghanistan has always responded to political and cultural change, while also maintaining rich, unbroken traditions of classical, folk, and religious music that bind tribes and ancestors and communities across years and miles. Music has been crucial to shaping Afghan nationalism and crucial to maintaining Afghan community, memory, and family ties throughout the diaspora. As the world watches this latest traumatic chapter of invasion, war, and abandonment unfold, tuning in to the country’s varied and multi-layered musical histories can offer deeper and more nuanced understandings of Afghan cultural resilience and cultural struggle. To even speak of “the music of Afghanistan” is to speak of varied regional legacies (Kabul, Herat), and to speak of many Afghanistans (the bordered nation, the dispersed constellation of refugees and exiles everywhere from Peshawar to Melbourne to Sterling, Virginia). And of course, it is also to speak of no music at all, of the silencing of music and brutal persecution and fatal targeting of musicians and music schools by the Taliban that many rightly fear will now return.

This playlist is not meant as a definitive musical or sonic portrait of Afghanistan in all its complexities, but rather as a set of meditations on Afghan struggle, Afghan displacement, Afghan perseverance, and Afghan history in the crosshairs of chronic global invasions. There are songs from some of the country’s most venerated singers (Ahmad Zahir, Mahwash) and rubab masters (Mohammad Omar, Mohammad Rahim Khushnawaz), as well as beloved Pashto pop stars from before and after the age of Afghan Star. There are Afghan artists living in Germany, the UK, and the U.S. who play everything from Afghan folk and pop to hip hop, metal, and psych rock, there are songs that pledge solidarity with the continued fight of Afghan women for rights and justice, and songs that follow the Taliban’s ripple effect from John Walker Lindh to the use of the term “Taliban” by Mexican drug mafias. Ultimately, though, it is a testament to what Tamana Amiri posted in a recent Instagram story: “Compassion through music is a love language as Afghan as Afghan gets.”

Or as Jean-Pierre Guinhut, former ambassador to Kabul wrote in 2005, “In a country as devastated as Afghanistan, music is a gift in a dull and desperate struggle for survival…Music is an integral part of human dignity and freedom. Here in Afghanistan, it is a sort of duty and proof of human solidarity.”

Deep gratitude to Ariana Delawari and Arshia Fatima Haq for their suggestions, corrections, and consultation.