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Afghanistan: Female Musicians of Herat

Various Artists
Afghanistan: Female Musicians of Herat

In Afghanistan, gender ideology profoundly affects musical life, as nearly all musical activity is segregated between women and men. Women perform primarily in small groups in domestic contexts, especially at private gatherings, weddings, and other rites of passage. The city of Herat was known for its professional female musicians, who had no parallels elsewhere in the country.

These 1970s recordings of women and children singing love songs, lullabies, and melodies based on traditional quatrains (chahârbeit), accompanying themselves on large frame drums (dâireh), tabla, and Indian portable harmonium, capture a time before the civil wars and ongoing political unrest that severely disrupted Afghani music-making.

Veronica Doubleday recorded this music during ethnomusicological fieldwork in Herat. John Baily, her husband, produced Afghanistan: The Traditional Music of Herat as a result of that same trip, documenting Afghanistan’s male-dominated classical music tradition.

Track Listing

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101
Zainab Herawi, Anar Gol
04:41
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102
Adeh
02:02
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103
n/a
02:35
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104
Zainab Herawi, Anar Gol
09:14
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105
Madar-e Zahir
03:00
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106
Adeh
03:00
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107
Zainab Herawi, Anar Gol, Urak, Halimeh
03:54
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108
Madar-e Abdul
01:46
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109
Mah Gol, Shah Gol
00:57
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110
Nassimeh Massieh
03:02
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111
Madar-e Zahir
01:28
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112
Bobo
01:21
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113
n/a
01:53
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114
Shah Gol
00:44
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115
Lagha, Gohar, Zuleikha
06:33
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116
Zainab Herawi, Anar Gol
01:32
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117
Zainab Herawi, Anar Gol
02:32
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118
Hawa
02:58
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119
Madar-e Zahir
01:44
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120
Zainab Herawi, Anar Gol
04:26
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121
Adeh
02:21
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122
Zainab Herawi, Siah
02:30