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Ustad Qasim
Qasem Jo (; 1878–1957), better known as Ustad Qasim (استاد قاسم), was an Afghan musician, composer, and singer. He is generally considered by musicologists to be one of the most well-known Afghan musicians of the 20th century. Early life and education Qasim was of Kashmiri descent and was born as ''Qasem Jo'' in the Gozar Barana district of the Afghan capital city of Kabul during the late 1870s. He descended from a musical lineage, as his father, Sitar Jo, was both a musician and a ''nawab'' (viceroy). Upon a friend's invitation, Qasim's father immigrated from his native Kashmir to Afghanistan to provide his musical services to the country's monarchy, and it is here where Qasim was born. Qasim attended a ''madrasa'', an Arabic educational institution, which specialized solely in religious studies; as such, he learned music theory from his father. He also learned to play such musical instruments such as the ''sitar'' and the ''tabla'', as well as a number of language ...
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Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. According to late 2022 estimates, the population of Kabul was 13.5 million people. In contemporary times, the city has served as Afghanistan's political, cultural, and economical centre, and rapid urbanisation has made Kabul the 75th-largest city in the world and the country's primate city. The modern-day city of Kabul is located high up in a narrow valley between the Hindu Kush, and is bounded by the Kabul River. At an elevation of , it is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Kabul is said to be over 3,500 years old, mentioned since at least the time of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Located at a crossroads in Asia—roughly halfway between Istanbul, Turkey, in the west and Hanoi, Vietnam, in the east—it is situated in a stra ...
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Kharabat, Kabul
Kharābat ( prs, خرابات), is a neighborhood in the old city of Kabul, Afghanistan. It is a historic area near Hinduguzar, the quarter of Hindus and Sikhs. It has long accommodated musicians. Kharābat has educated many famous musicians of Afghanistan in the Indian Patiali school. Terminology The reason why the area is called ''Kharabat'' can be traced back to the term in Persian poetry, where it originally referred to taverns. Like taverns, where people dance and listen to music, the area in Kabul was a place where many local musicians lived as well as where private concerts took place. Musical heritage Important Afghan musicians were born there, as well as the songs of the Indian Dari poets Ustad Qasem Jo, Ustad Natu, Rahim Bakhsh, and Mohammad Omer, master of the rubab. During the time of Ali Shir Khan, it became a centre of art and music and home to many great artists such as Father Ustad Qasem Jo and the predecessor of Mohammad Hussain Sarahang. War and rebuil ...
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Afghan Afghani
The afghani ( sign: or Af (plural: Afs) code: AFN; Pashto: ; Persian : ) is the currency of Afghanistan, which traditionally is issued by the nation's central bank called Da Afghanistan Bank. It is nominally subdivided into 100 '' puls'' (پول), although there are no pul coins currently in circulation. In September 2021, one U.S. dollar was exchanged for approximately 88 afghanis. The afghani is also informally referred to as ''rūpa''. History 1925–2002 The original afghani ( ISO 4217 code: AFA) was introduced in 1925, replacing the Afghan rupee that was used from 1891 and other currencies. In addition to being subdivided into 100 puls, 20 afghanis were equal to one ''amani''. The rate of conversion from the rupee is sometimes quoted as 1 afghani = 1 rupee 6 paisas, based on the silver contents of the last rupee coins and the first afghani coins. The afghani initially contained 9 grams of silver. Except during World War I, Afghanistan's foreign exchange rate has be ...
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Rubab (instrument)
Rubab, robab or rabab (Pashto/Persian: رُباب, Kashmiri : رَبابہٕ, Sindhi: (Nastaleeq), रबाब (Devanagari), Azerbaijani/ Turkish: Rübab, Tajik/ Uzbek ''рубоб'') is a lute-like musical instrument.David Courtney, 'Rabab'Chandra & David's Homepage/ref> The rubab is one of the national musical instruments of Afghanistan; and is also commonly used in Pakistan in areas inhabited by the Pashtun and Baloch, and also played by Sindhi people in Sindh, by Kashmiri people in Kashmir, and by the Punjabis of the Punjab. Three variants of the rubab are the ''Kabuli rebab'' of Afghanistan, the ''Seni rebab'' of northern India, and the ''Pamiri rubab'' of Tajikistan. These proliferated throughout West, Central, South and Southeast Asia. The Kabuli rebab originates from Afghanistan, and it derives its name from Arabic '' rebab'' 'played with a bow'; in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, however, the instrument is plucked and is distinctly different in construc ...
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Abdur Rahman Khan
Abdur Rahman Khan GCSI (Pashto/Dari: ) (between 1840 and 1844 – 1 October 1901) was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for uniting the country after years of internal fighting and negotiation of the Durand Line Agreement with British India. Abdur Rahman Khan was the first child and only son of Mohammad Afzal Khan, and grandson of Dost Mohammad Khan, founder of the Barakzai dynasty. Abdur Rahman Khan re-established the writ of the Afghan government after the disarray that followed the second Anglo-Afghan war. He became known as ''The Iron Amir'' because his government was a military despotism. This despotism rested upon a well-appointed army and was administered through officials subservient to an inflexible will and controlled by a widespread system of espionage. The nickname, ''The Iron Amir'', is also associated due to his victory over a number of rebellions by various tribes who were led by his relatives. One source says that during his reign t ...
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Emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremonial authority. The title has a long history of use in the Arab World, East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. In the modern era, when used as a formal monarchical title, it is roughly synonymous with "prince", applicable both to a son of a hereditary monarch, and to a reigning monarch of a sovereign principality, namely an emirate. The feminine form is emira ( '), a cognate for "princess". Prior to its use as a monarchical title, the term "emir" was historically used to denote a "commander", "general", or "leader" (for example, Amir al-Mu'min). In contemporary usage, "emir" is also sometimes used as either an honorary or formal title for the head of an Islamic, or Arab (regardless of religion) organisation ...
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Sovereign
''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or head of state to head of municipal government or head of a chivalric order. As a result, the word ''sovereignty'' has more recently also come to mean independence or autonomy. Head of state The word ''sovereign'' is frequently used synonymously with monarch. There are numerous titles in a monarchical rule which can belong to the sovereign. The sovereign is the autonomous head of the state. Examples of the various titles in modern sovereign leaders are: Chivalric orders The term ''sovereign'' is generally used in place of "grand master" for the supreme head of various orders of European nations. In the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Grand Master is styled "Sovereign", e.g. Sovereign Grand Master, due to its status as an intern ...
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Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been described as a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language, which itself is based primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and neighbouring areas of North India. Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, is one of the two official languages of the Government of India, along with English. It is an official language in nine states and three union territories and an additional official language in three other states. Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India. Hindi is the '' lingua franca'' of the Hindi Belt. It is also spoken, to a lesser extent, in other parts of India (usually in a simplified or pidginised variety such as Bazaar Hindustani or Haflong Hindi). Outside India, several ot ...
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Northern India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central Asia. The term North India has varying definitions. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Northern Zonal Council Administrative division included the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan and Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Ministry of Culture in its ''North Culture Zone'' includes the state of Uttarakhand but excludes Delhi whereas the Geological Survey of India includes Uttar Pradesh and Delhi but excludes Rajasthan and Chandigarh. Other states sometimes included are Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. North India has been the historical centre of the Mughal Empire, the Delhi Sultanate and the British Indian Empire. It has a diverse culture, and includ ...
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Iranian Plateau
The Iranian plateau or Persian plateau is a geological feature in Western Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia. It comprises part of the Eurasian Plate and is wedged between the Arabian Plate and the Indian Plate; situated between the Zagros Mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Köpet Dag to the north, the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus Mountains to the northwest, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to the south, and the Indian subcontinent to the east. As a historical region, it includes Parthia, Media, Persis, and some of the previous territories of Greater Iran."Old Iranian Online"
University of Texas College of Liberal Arts (retrieved 10 February 2007)
The Zagros form the plateau's western boundary, and its eastern slopes may also be included in the term. The ''

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Folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, the forms and rituals of celebrations such as Christmas and weddings, folk dances and initiation rites. Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact or traditional cultural expression. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not something one can typically gain in a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead, these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through verbal instruction or demonstr ...
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Indian Classical Music
Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not distinct until about the 15th century. During the period of Mughal rule of the Indian subcontinent, the traditions separated and evolved into distinct forms. Hindustani music emphasizes improvisation and exploration of all aspects of a raga, while Carnatic performances tend to be short composition-based. However, the two systems continue to have more common features than differences. The roots of the classical music of India are found in the Vedic literature of Hinduism and the ancient ''Natyashastra'', the classic Sanskrit text on performing arts by Bharata Muni., Quote: "The tradition of Indian classical music and dance known as ''Sangeeta'' is fundamentally rooted in the sonic and musical dimensions of the Vedas (Sama veda), Upanisha ...
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