Skip to main content

RAI FILM Festival takes place on 27-30 March 2025. Learn more.

Search our film database

A Kabul Music Diary

Directed by John Baily

2003 – 52'

Synopsis

Ethnomusicologist John Baily returns to Kabul to see what is happening in the world of music one year after the defeat of the Taliban. The film documents a variety of musical activities, including performances of rubab lute music by Kabul’s traditional musicians, songs of Afghan orphans, the Music Department of Kabul university and a student pop group playing electric guitars and keyboard. Implicitly, the film identifies some of the dilemmas facing those seeking to help Afghans rebuild their music culture.

RAI FILM Festival 2025

The next RAI FILM Festival will take place in person from 27-30 March 2025 at the Watershed Cinema and the Arnolfini International Centre for Contemporary Arts in Bristol (UK) and online throughout the month of April 2025.