The Silent Music Street of Kharabat
The musicians silenced by the Taliban
Since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August, musicians have been restricted from playing in public, and live music is effectively banned. On Kharabat Street, the heart of Afghanistan's music culture in Kabul, the once lively streets are now silenced, and musicians have been forced to find alternative work. This report meets some of those who have been hit by the Taliban's takeover, and how they continue to quietly resist by keeping their music culture alive at home.
‘We don’t know anything else but music, it was our only source of income’, says Qais, a singer. In Kharabat, the musical hub of the Afghan capital Kabul, musicians are unable to find work for fear of punishment. ‘We have to play the musical instruments in secret and hide them when we’re finished because the Taliban have forbidden us from keeping the instruments’, says Ashraf, a drummer.
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