Re: Afghanistan

[George Robinson <GRComm...>]

If there are two Jews left in Afghanistan, we can be certain there must
be at least four synagogues. (". . . and that one, I wouldn't set foot
in!")

George Robinson


Judith R Cohen wrote:
> 
> 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
> 

-- 
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, 
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing 
evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but
you 
cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you 
murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely 
increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiples violence, 
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness 
cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out 
hate: Only love can do that."
                                --Martin Luther King, Jr.

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