Article Review: So Near, So Far: Kabul’s Music in Exile
Summary of Content John Baily uses the example of Afghani refugees in two different locations to show how cultural performances that are created in situations of exile can shape cultural practices at home. His paper is largely based on his own fieldwork conducted in the two sites of Afghan settlement in exile: Peshawar, Pakistan and Freemont, California in the United States. As his article largely focuses on Afghan music culture after the communist coup of 1978, Baily first offers a description of Afghan music as it was before the 23 years’ war, and describes trends between music and migration. He describes three categories of music in Afghanistan and focuses on the latter two: regional folk songs, which are characteristic of various regions and ethnic groups; popular music that was created and promoted by Afghanistan’s only radio station, called Radio Afghanistan; and art music that was created in the musician’s quarter of the old city in Kabul (Kabul’s Kucheh Kharabat). Baily also notes an important social distinction between professional (kesbi) musicians for whom a musical profession is hereditary, and amateur (shauqi) musicians who were typically from educated middle-class or even upper-class families and whose attitudes toward music were more liberal. Hereditary professional musicians tended to regard playing music as an occupation that was in their own tradition and right. Knowledge of Indian music theory and specific performance techniques that are associated with certain instruments were considered exclusively their domain, and something that amateur, self-taught musicians lacked. Music practiced by Afghan refugees who fled to Peshawar was similar in style and sound to the traditional music of Afghanistan. Peshawar is closely located to Kabul, and offers a similar cultural climate. For many