There hasn’t been an Afghan rubab player doing a solo concert on the Barbican stage before and it’s a shame that it takes the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan to make it happen, for this concert, entitled Songs of Hope: A Benefit Concert for Afghanistan. Homayoun Sakhi is one of the leading players of the rubab, the country’s national instrument. Sakhi left Afghanistan before the Taliban came to power the first time round and has lived in California for over 20 years.
When the Taliban were last in control (until November 2001), all music was banned except for unaccompanied Islamic chants. Now they’re back and musicians have been told to get other jobs, women face an uncertain future in education and employment, and hunger is looming. Sakhi didn’t say anything about the political and cultural situation. He just played music that drew a clearly sympathetic audience into his world.
