🌍 World Music — Afghan

Traditional Afghan music draws on Persian-speaking, Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen and Hazara cultures, as well as exchanges with the Indian subcontinent. The Afghan rubab, a short-necked lute considered one of the country's emblematic instruments, holds a central place alongside the dutar, the dambura and the ghichak. The tabla and harmonium, introduced from India relatively recently, are mainly found in urban and art music. Persian ghazals, Pashtun songs, the repertoires of Herat and the songs of regional bards illustrate this diversity. Despite several periods of repression, this musical culture continues to be passed down in Afghanistan and within the diaspora.