''The Rough Guide To The Music Of Afghanistan'' is a
world music
"World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
originally released in
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
. Part of the
World Music Network
World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music.
The World Music Network website features news, reviews, live music listings, and guide sections on world music. It also features an online "Battle of the Bands" competi ...
Rough Guides
Rough Guides is a travel company that offers tailor-made trips planned and arranged by local travel experts based in destinations around the world. Originally established as a guidebook publisher in 1982, Rough Guides expanded into customized t ...
series, the release covers a wide breadth of the
music of Afghanistan
The music of Afghanistan comprises many varieties of classical music, folk music, and modern popular music. Afghanistan has a rich musical heritage and features a mix of Persian melodies, Indian compositional principles, and sounds from ethn ...
on Disc One, and contains a "bonus" Disc Two highlighting the
Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group. The album was compiled by Simon Broughton, editor of world music magazine
Songlines
A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia. They mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dr ...
, who also compiled ''
The Rough Guide to the Music of Central Asia''.
Critical reception
Jill Turner of GondwanaSound Radio rated it amongst the best compilation albums of the year.
Chris Nickson of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
praised the variety of the recording,
while Deanne Sole of
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
wrote that Broughton's choice to select a wide range of styles meant that the listener would not hear the absolute best of Afghan music, but that the album gives an "opportunity to listen to the country through a kind of
panopticon
The panopticon is a design of institutional building with an inbuilt system of control, originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be ...
, ears out in 15 different directions."
Track listing
Disc One
Disc Two
All tracks on Disc Two are performed by the
Ahmad Sham Sufi Qawwali Group.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rough Guide to the Music of Afghanistan
2010 compilation albums
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
Music of Afghanistan