Afghani-Jewish and in NY?

[Shayna Silverstein <shaynasilverstein...>]

Hello all,

Greetings to everyone and much appreciation for your thoughts that I've been 
following for some time now.  I've met some of you around KlezKamp, 
KlezKanada, NYC, ...
On the subject of Afghani music, I asked around work (Silk Road Project- 
check out for new and traditional music from Central Asia and the former 
Silk Road trade routes, www.silkroadproject.org) and retrieved the following 
story from musicologist Ted Levin.

He doesn't know of details on Afghani-Jewish music per se, but through his 
journeys in Queens, NY has heard the chanting of a chazzan from outside 
Mazar-e Sharif.  This city and region have historical implications in that 
Alexander the Great marched through there, are the birthplace of Zoroastor, 
and were at one point home to a large Jewish community.  Both Mazar-e Sharif 
and Baghlan (to the east) were also points along the Silk Road.  Migration 
flow happened in the 20th century and this particular person came to NY 
while others went to Bukhara, Turkey, Iran....this particular chazzan's 
chanting sounds Persian to some extent and differs from the music of 
Bukharan Jews of Central Asia (a number of whom are also in Queens).

That's all the story for today.
Shayna Silverstein

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