Afghanistan

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

hi, I 've never heard of any recordings of music of the Jews of
Afghanistan, but there might I suppose be one.I don't remember what the
"Queensistan" article said but really it was talking about the Jews of
Uzbekistan, mostly Bukhara, and not about Afghanistan.  None of Deben
Bhattacharya's recordings ("In Israel Today") mentioned in the last
digest includes Afghanistan, though there are, as Lee says, a few tracks
from Uzbekistan (incidentally, with very minimal background notes). 

In fact, there are not that many recordings of music from Afghanistan
altogether. There's an old 3-volume LP set from UNESCO; don't know
whether it's been re-released on CD. Also, my friend and colleague
Veronica Doubleday just sent me her lovely recording of herself singing
and playing (on frame drum) the women's wedding songs she learned during
her long stay in Herat in the late 70's, while her husband,
ethnomusicologist John Baily , was doing his PhD research with men's
music of the area: he produced a cassette  called simply "Music of
Afghanistan" through the World Music Institute in NYC, with Aziz Herawi.
Veronica also has a great book about her life there, called "Three Women
of Herat", 1989 I think.
I also read, somewhere, that note Bob mentions about the 2 Jews left in
Afghanistan; I seem to remember reading that they each occupy a
different end of the abandoned synagogue and claim to be the guardian of
the Torah, but can't remember where I read this and take it with a grain
of salt. 

Judith

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