Note to “Ba Ishq e Tu Kardam”

“Kharabat” is to Kabul as, say, “Broadway” is to New York. It’s where you’d find all the artists and musicians. And Rahim Bakhsh was one of the big names there. Coincidentally, he was on a tour here in the United States in the late 1990’s or early 2000’s before he passed away, and he had brought a harmonium he used for the tour but for some odd reason, he didn’t take it back with him. He just left it here with a friend and his host. His friend and host happens to be one of my closest friends. He is a big philosopher and artist in his own right here in the Afghan community in the United States. And when I was in college, he came over to my house and gifted the harmonium to me, and it happens to be the one I use for these clips. That’s the story behind the instrument that you all see and are perhaps wondering what the hell is it and where the hell did it come from. You have the story behind it now. And there is no price tag to it either. Some things don’t have a price tag in all honesty. They cannot be bought or sold. You just leave them untouched and undisturbed. It belongs in an art museum either in Europe or Afghanistan itself, but luckily, it’s with me.