Afghanistan music is a wide variety of genres. It ranges from classical, to folk, to modern popular music. The musical heritage in Afghanistan is rich and has a mix of Persian melodies, Indian compositional principles and sounds from ethnic groups such as Pashtuns or Tajiks. The instruments used in the music ranges widely as well. In some music, Indian Tablas are used which is a percussion instrument that’s a pair of drums used in all types of music. Another instrument commonly used in Afghanistan music is the long-necked lutes which is a string instrument very similar to a guitar. The lyrics in most Afghanistan music are usually in Persian or Pashto. The city of Heart is the city that is most closely related to Iranian music than in the rest of the country.
Then there is the religious music spectrum of the Afghanistan music culture. The Afghan concept of music is closely associated with instruments, and thus unaccompanied religious singing is not considered music. Koran recitation is an important kind of unaccompanied religious performance, as is the ecstatic Zikr ritual of the Sufis which uses songs called na't, and the Shi'a solo and group singing styles. like mursia, manqasat, nowheh and rowzeh. The Chishti Sufi sect of Kabul is an exception in that they use instruments like the rubab, tabla and harmonium in their worship; this music is called tatti which means "food for the soul".
The patriotic music part of Afghanistan is simpler. Many patriotic songs for Afghanistan have been made. One of the best-known songs is "Da Zamong Zeba Watan" (This is our beautiful homeland in Pashto) by Ustad Awalmir, sang sometime in the 1970s. Another very popular song is "Watan" (Homeland) by Abdul Wahab Madadi, in Persian. Recorded in 1980, the song samples a Greek song called "Antonis" composed by Mikis Theodorakis. Watan ishqe tu iftekharam, translates to "My country, my love for you is my honor." Its tone sounds very similar to a national anthem.
The most popular type of music in Afghanistan is the classical music. There is many traditions in Afghanistan. There are various traditions and styles that has changed over the years, It is all very diverse ethnic, linguistic, regional, religious, and class distinctions which characterized Afghan society. Although it is common practice to classify Afghan music into linguistic & regional lines (i.e. Pashtu, Farsi, Logari, Shomali etc.), a more technically appropriate classification would be to distinguish various forms of Afghan music purely by their musical style. Thus, Afghan music can be mainly divided into four categories: Indian classical, Mohali (folk & regional styles), Western, and another style unique to Afghanistan itself (however, mainly adopted by Farsi musicians) simply called Afghan music.The Indian classical tradition was a hugely influential strain. The vast majority of the elite artists in Afghanistan until 1980s were trained in the Indian classical tradition. Ustad Sarahang, Rahim Bakhsh, Ustad Nashenas and many other singers were prominent adherents of this style. This style emphasized compositions in the Indian raga style & the singing of Ghazals in melodies very similar to Indian classical & court music. The classical musical form of Afghanistan is called klasik, which includes both instrumental and vocal and belly dancing ragas, as well as Tarana and Ghazals.[5] Many Ustads, or professional musicians, have learned North Indian classical music in India, and some of them were Indian descendants who moved from India to the royal court in Kabul in the 1860s.[3] They maintain cultural and personal ties with India—through discipleship or intermarriage—and they use the Hindustani musical theories and terminology, for example raga (melodic form) and tala(rhythmic cycle). Afghanistan's classical singers include the late Ustad Mohammad Hussain Sarahang (1924-1983), who is one of the master singers of Patiala Gharana in North Indian classical music and is also well known throughout India and Pakistanas a contemporary of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. His composition "Pai Ashk" was used in the theme song of the Hindi film Mera Saya. Ubaidullah Jan Kandaharai is regarded as the king of Pashto music in the southern Afghanistan region. He died in the 1980s but his music is still very much enjoyed by the Pashtun diaspora around the world, mainly by the Pashtuns in the Kandahar-Quetta regions. Other classical singers are Ustad Qasim, Ustad Rahim Bakhsh, and Ustad Nato.
The second group, Mohali (folk) music was more diverse. It contained various folkloric & regional styles which had evolved indigenously without outside influence. These styles include Qataghani, Logari, Qarsak etc. which are specific to a region & linguistic group in Afghanistan. Some prominent artists in this category were Hamahang, Beltoon etc. Many other singers, however, who do not belong to this genre, have dabbled in recording songs in the Qataghani, logari, qarsak etc. styles. Each of these forms had its own scale (they did not use the classical Indian raga scale, nor did they use the western major/minor scale) and mainly consisted of well known songs whose composition and lyrics had evolved organically over centuries. These lyrics, though deep, were often simple and lacked the poetic sophistication of the great Farsi & Pashtu poetical traditions.
The third and most popular musical traditions in Afghanistan are the Pashtu (which belongs to the folk & Indian classical tradition simultaneously), and the pure Afghan musical style. The pure Afghan musical style was popularized by the immortal Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir. This style is primarily popular with the Farsi/Dari speaking audience and it transcends any regional and class barriers. The style borrows from many other musical traditions such as the Indian, iranain, middle eastern, folkloric Afghan traditions etc., but it fuses all these styles into a sound that is unique to Afghanistan and suits the lyrical, poetic, rhythmic, and orchestral tastes of the Afghan Farsi/Dari speaking audience. The vast majority of Farsi speaking singers since the 1970s belong to this genre. Apart from Ahmad Zahir, the most successful contemporary proponent of this style of Farhad Darya. However, the progenitor of this musical tradition was another Afghan singer named Abdul Rahim Sarban. Sarban's songs set the template for the unique Farsi Afghan musical sound that characterizes the most popular Afghan musical genre today. Sarban chose poetry from the great classical Farsi/Dari poets & set them to compositions which incorporated elements of the western jazz and belle chanson with the mohali (regional) traditions of Afghanistan. Up until then, Afghanistan had been mainly a borrower of styles from Iran, India & other countries. With Sarban's arrival, Afghan music reach such a height that renown artists from major cultural centres such as Iran borrowed his songs & covered them for their audiences (for instance Iran's immortal singer Googoosh covered a number of Sarban's songs most famously his "Ay Sarban Ahesta Ran").
The this form, Western music (mainly consisting of pop, and nowadays rap etc.), is influenced mainly by the western musical tradition. However, in spite of its modernity, it is not the most popular musical genre. Many singers including Ahmad Zahir have sung in this tradition (pop, rock n roll etc.). Most recently, there has been a blooming of rap & hip hop scene in Afghanistan as well. However, the western musical influence on Afghan music continues to be only in the fields of instrumentation & orchestration; Afghan musicians tent to choose musical language & compositions which belong to indigigenous Afghan musical forms but they use western musical instruments (such as drums, percussions, guitars etc.) to orchestrate their music. there are very few musicians who compose in the western musical tradition as well.
In 1925, Afghanistan began radio broadcasting, but its station was destroyed in 1929. Broadcasting did not resume until Radio Kabul opened in 1940.[9] As Radio Afghanistan reached the entire country, popular music grew more important. In 1951, Parwin became the first Afghan woman to sing live in Radio. Farida Mahwash, one of the famous female singers who then gained the title of Ustad (Master), had a major hit with "O bacheh" in 1977; she was "perhaps the most notable" of pop singers.
Modern popular music did not arise until the 1950s when radio became commonplace in the country. They used orchestras featuring both Afghan and Indian instruments, as well as European clarinets, guitars and violins. The 1970s were the golden age of Afghanistan's music industry. Popular music also included Indian and Pakistani cinema film and music imported from Iran, Tajikistan, the Arab world and elsewhere.
Afghan hip hop is a type of music popular among Afghanistan's youth and immigrant community. It inherits much of the traditional hip hop and adds emphasis on rare cultural sounds. Afghan hip hop is mostly sung in Persian, Pashsto and English. A popular hip-hop artist is DJ Besho, a resident of Kabul. Soosan Firooz has been described as Afghanistan's first female rapper. Sonita Alizadeh is another female Afghan rapper, who has gained notoriety for writing music protesting forced marriages.