Music in Nuristan, Traditional Music from Afghanistan, An Investigation of the Field Recordings of Lennart Edelberg and Klaus Ferdinand 1953-54 - 1964-1970, Includes 3 Audio CDs
Christer Irgens Moller 

11.6x8x0.9 Inches

This volume is based on recordings made by the anthropologist Lennart Edelberg on expeditions to Nuristan from 1953 to 1955. The original music of Nuristan, which is in the Eastern part of Afghanistan, was rooted in animistic religion and quite unique in a Central Asian context. The rhythmic, polyphone song is based on the clash of clusters of notes as well as the four string harp, or wadzh. The animistic religion disappeared with Islamization in 1895, but the musical tradition survived up until the 1990s when the Taliban and the Wahhabis moved into Nuristan. This volume includes an introduction to the geography, culture and religion of Nuristan as well as song texts and Edelberg's diary notes. The music of the three valleys Waigal, Parun and Bashgal is described and analysed. Notes are included for all of the recorded music which is included on three CDs.