Afghanistan - A Musical Anthology of the Orient 3 - Unesco Collection - LP released in Germany in the early 1960s

Here we post an early LP devoted to the music of Afghanistan. This is perhaps the most beautiful anthology of Afghan music ever published, because of its musical quality and the variety it offers.

It was one of the few LPs which were republished on CD by Rounder Records in 2003, in a project to republish the complete Unesco Series, published originally by Bärenreiter in Germany as LPs. Unfortunately, this project was abandoned already after a few CD releases, probably because it did not pay off financially. This CD is no longer available for many years.

One should not take the comments of Alain Daniélou too seriously: they seem a bit too farfetched at times.

We scanned here only the English part of the comments.
This is the first of a series of about ten posts on Afghani music, insha'Allah. At the end of this series we will provide, with some posts by Ustad Sarahang, a bridge to the Raga music of Pakistan and India.

flac
mp3

In the order of the tracks is a mistake: track 11 in the download is track 12 of the LP and track 12 is track 11. Sorry.

Music of Afghanistan - A gorgeous Box of 5 LPs published in Japan in 1975

Here we present a rare gorgeous, luxurious box of 5 LPs of fieldrecordings from Afghanistan, published in 1975 in Japan. The box contains also a gorgeous booklet in the size of an LP of 56 pages with photos, texts and detailed track information. Unfortunately it is only in Japanese. Here we just present the double page giving the tracklist for the 5 LPs. It would be great if someone would be so kind to translate this into English. As the booklet is quite difficult to scan and it is a lot of work I will scan the remaining pages only step by step.

hk dutorchi came already up with a translation of the track details for the first LP (see below) and the subjects of the remaining 4 LPs: Tajik musicians (LPs 3 & 4), The Art of the Tanbur (from Mazar-i Sharif) (LP 5), Mazar-i Sharif musicians (LPs 6 & 7), Hazara music (LP 8), "Echoes of Alexandria" (Music from Kandahar and Herat) (LPs 9 & 10), Music from the Northeastern City of Fayzabad (LP 10). Many thanks, dutorchi. Very appreciated.

For the remaining 4 LPs Kyo from Japan translated the track details. See below and comments. Regarding the names of the instruments I made some minor correction. A very big thank you for the translation to Kyo. Very much appreciated.

LP 1

Side 1 – Sounds of the Mosques (Adhan chanting and Qur’an recitation)

1. Adhan (Sunni/Kabul) - Pul-e Khishti Mosque

2. Adhan (Sunni/Kabul) - Pul-e Khishti Mosque

3. Adhan (Sunni/Kabul) - Sherpur Mosque

4. Adhan (Shiite/Kabul) – Mohammadia Mosque

5. Adhan (Shiite/Kabul) – Karte Sakhi Mosque

6. Qur’an (Kabul) - Pul-e Khishti Mosque

7. Qur’an (Kabul) - Pul-e Khishti Mosque

Side 2 – Pashtun Musicians (from the capital Kabul and Jalalabad)

1. Kabul – Rubab solo

2. Kabul – Paktian folk song

3. Kabul – Sarinda & dhol

4. Kabul – Chang & zerbaghali

5. Kabul – solo tula and instrumental ensemble

6. Jalalabad – Folksong from Jalalabad (from the epic Layla & Majnun; accompanied by rubab, tablas, and two harmoniums)

7. Jalalabad – Folksong from Jalalabad (from the epic Layla & Majnun; accompanied by rubab, tablas, and two harmoniums)

LP 1 - flac

LP 1 - mp3

LP 2 - Tajik musicians (from Kunduz)

Side 3

1. Fakhar - Charbait from Badakhshan (accompanied by Ghichak, Zerbaghali and Tal)

2. "Baccha Mosi Mosi" - Charbait (accompanied by Dambura, Zerbaghali and Tal)

3. Charbait of Tajik (accompanied by Ghichak, Zerbaghali and Tal)

4. Folk Song from Badakhashan (Ghichak solo)

5. "Mondanabosi" - Charbait (accompanied by Ghichak, Zerbaghali and Tal)

6. Shamali Charbait (accompanied by Ghichak, Zerbaghali and Harmonium)

Side 4

1. Charbait of Tajik (accompanied by Tanbur and Zerbaghali)

2. Hazara-like Folk Song and "Mondanabosi" - Charbait (accompanied by Tanbur and Zerbaghali)

3. Folk Song from Herat (Tanbur and Zerbaghali)

4. Zerbaghali Solo

5. Uzbek Folk Song (accompanied by Tanbur and Zerbaghali)

6. "Mullah Mohammad Jan"

7. "Shak-kujan"

8. Lullaby

LP 2 - flac

LP 2 - mp3

LP 3

Side 5 - The Art of the Tanbur (from Mazar-i Sharif)

1. Uzbek Folk Song ~ Folk Song from Shebargan

2. Folk Songs from Herat and Kabul

3. Pashto Folk Song

Side 6 - Mazar-i Sharif musicians

1. Uzbek Folk Song ~ Folk Song from Mazar-i Sharif

2. Folk Song from Mazar-i Sharif (accompanied by Tanbur, Dilruba, Rubab, Dhol and Harmonium)

3. Dance tune from Logar Province (Tanbur, Dilruba, Rubab, Dhol and Harmonium)

4. Dilruba Solo

5. Pashto Folk Song (Rubab and Dhol) 

LP 3 - flac

LP 3 - mp3

LP 4

Side 7 - Mazar-i Sharif musicians

1. Folk Song from Mazar-i Sharif (accompanied by Tanbur and Zerbaghali)

2. Uzbek Folk Song (accompanied by Tanbur and Zerbaghali)

3. Uzbek Folk Song (Tula)

4. Folk Song from Mazar-i Sharif (Tula and Zerbaghali)

5. Folk Song from Mazar-i Sharif (Tula and Zerbaghali)

6. Folk Song from Mazar-i Sharif (accompanied by Tanbur and Zerbaghali)

7. Uzbek Folk Song and "Mondanabosi" (Tanbur and Zerbaghali)

Side 8 - Hazara music ~ In the lineage of Mongol

1. Folk Song from Bamyan (Dambra and Zerbaghali)

2. Charbait of Hazara

3. Charbait of Hazara

4. Pashto Folk Song (Nay Solo)

5. Charbait of Hazara

6. Charbait from Jaghuri

7. Folk Song from Hazarajat

LP 4 - flac

LP 4 - mp3

LP 5

Side 9 - "Echoes of Alexandria" (Music from Kandahar and Herat)

1. Kandahar - Folk Song from Kandahar (accompanied by Rubab, Tanbur, Tabla and Harmonium)

2. Kandahar - Folk Song from Kandahar (Ghazal; accompanied by Rubab, Tanbur, Tabla and Harmonium)

3. Herat - Folk Song from Herat (accompanied by Tanbur, Dotar and Zerbaghali)

4. Herat - Zerbaghali Solo

5. Herat - Charbait from Herat (Tanbur Solo)

6. Herat - "Amena" Charbait from Herat (Dotar Solo)

7. Herat - Shamali Charbait

8. Herat - Shamali Charbait (Tula Solo)

Side 10 - "Echoes of Alexandria" contd. & Music from the Northeastern City of Fayzabad

1. Herat - "Amena" Charbait from Herat (accompanied by Dotar, Zerbaghali and Tar)

2. Herat - "Ya Mustafa" (Dotar, Zerbaghali and Tar)

3. Fayzabad - Farkhar (Badakhshani Charbait; accompanied by Ghichak, Dambura, Zerbaghali and Tal)

4. Fayzabad - Badakhshani Folk Song (accompanied by Rubab, Zerbaghali and Tal)

5. Fayzabad - Falak (Song of Packhorse Driver; accompanied by Dambura and Zerbaghali)

6. Fayzabad - Badakhshani Folk Song (accompanied by Rubab, Zerbaghali, Tal and Harmonium) 

LP 5 - flac

LP 5 - mp3