The Shared Music

Given so much thought about music and its place in society, and factoring in such great ethnic diversity, what kinds of music are actually shared by broad segments of the population?

Women's Music

Women's Music has already been mentioned. Their use of the doira drum and appearance at home weddings is widespread, not only in Afghanistan, but across west and central Asia. Some wedding songs, like "Asta bero," can be heard in different parts of the country. The refrain of the song, addressed to the bride is "walk slowly, my moon, walk slowly, which alternates with verse lines such as "my darling, your figure is like a flower." The soundclip offers two versions, one sung by the women of a Kabuli official's family posted to the North, the other by professional women singers of Uzbek origin. There is no overlap in the verse lines they sing, but it is clearly the same song done differently. This is a good example, then, of a "shared" item in the music culture: recognizably the same, but locally different.