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Afghan ensemble calls to ‘fade borders through music’ at Tehran’s Fajr festival
The Kabul-rooted ensemble took to the stage on the evening of February 10 as part of Iran’s flagship annual music event, a state-backed fixture that has long served as a barometer of the country’s cultural climate. For Afghan musicians, whose domestic space has narrowed sharply in recent years, the Tehran platform carries added weight, ILNA reported.
Hamid Sael, who has appeared at several previous editions of the Fajr festival, described the event as a source of hope for professional musicians.
Its continuity, he said, signals that the musical sphere remains alive, offering performing groups a rare opening to present new work before large audiences.
The 41st edition of the Fajr International Music Festival officially opened on February 9, and will run until February 15.
He stressed the deep historical and literary ties binding Iranian and Afghan music. Shared poetic heritage underpins much of the repertoire on both sides of the border, with contemporary Iranian and Afghan verse circulating widely in compositions in both countries.
Salam Afghanistan works closely with Iranian collaborators, setting poetry to music through joint composition and ensemble performance. Its output spans anthems and popular songs as well as traditional pieces.
While vocal traditions and poetic structures overlap, instrumental practice can diverge. Sael pointed to the Rabab/Rubab (lute-like musical instrument of Central Asian origin), often cited as a shared instrument, noting that in Iran and Afghanistan it shares little beyond its name. The instrument differs in shape and playing technique, and certain notes are rendered differently in performance. Afghan instrumentation also reflects affinities with the Indian classical tradition in some regions.
The Tehran concert featured indigenous and folk music drawn from several Afghan provinces, alongside pieces dedicated to the western city of Herat, long regarded as a cultural bridge between the two nations. The program was designed to foreground musical continuities while acknowledging regional distinctiveness.
Sael also alluded to the acute pressures facing musicians inside Afghanistan. Music, he said, has been declared forbidden under the current authorities, with public performance and even the audible presence of instruments effectively banned.
Yet he rejected the notion that Afghan musical heritage has vanished. Rather, he argued, it has been suppressed by recent decrees and destruction.
Music, he said, is intrinsic to both societies and cannot be excised without hollowing out the social fabric. Beyond entertainment, it functions as a vehicle for cultural transmission and collective memory. In that sense, cross-border collaboration becomes more than artistic exchange; it is an assertion of continuity.