Tablas and Drum Machines: Afghan Music in California

Synopsis

Ethnomusicologist John Baily visits Fremont, California, the new home of the large community of exiled Afghans. He is joined by Kabuli master-musician, Ustad Asif Mahmoud, who plans to open a small private music school to teach traditional tabla drumming to young Afghans. However, Fremont is also a centre of musical innovation, with electronic keyboards and their built-in drum machines. In a series of in context performances we witness the co-existence of traditional and modern Afghan music and the dancing that goes with them both.