The Same Old Story (or Song): The Kharābāt from 12th Century Ghazna to Contemporary Kabul

In his latest documentary series, Dutch journalist Thomas Erdbrink visits Kucha-ye Kharābāt, a neighborhood in the Afghan capital of Kabul, where many musicians used to live. Now that they are persecuted by the Taliban regime, their music has become a means of protest. I see a parallel with the Persian poetic tradition in which the kharābāt (“winehouse,” lit. “ruins”) also serves as a center of critique targeting the orthodox Islam of those in power, including through music.