The Afghan music scene has gone silent under the Taliban rule and things will never be the same. But the human spirit finds ways, so we look back to our favorite albums to listen to.
We’re delighted to know that most of our favorite artists have released albums on vinyl thanks to the accessibility of affordable vinyl pressing and if you are interested to learn everything about custom vinyl pressing, there are vinyl record pressing companies where artists can make as few as 50 copies.
Here are our top 10 favorite albums to listen to:
#1 TIME CHOSE US – SONGS OF THE WARRIORS OF THE INTERNATIONALISTS
– SOVIET AFGHANISTAN WAR VETERANS
The album is a compilation album of songs by different Afghan artists that were chosen by war veterans from the Soviet-Afghanistan war. The entire compilation album had four separate vinyl pressings for its four-part album with 6-7 tracks per side.
#2 RAGAS AND TALAS – RAVI SHANKAR
The 4-tracked album was pressed on 180 grams black audiophile vinyl. It is housed by a white-vellum dust sleeve and a vinyl jacket with the artist playing with his instrument gracing it.
#3 AHMAD ZAHIR HIP 70s AFGHAN BEATS
Ahmad Zahir’s “Hip 70’s Afghan Beats!” is a 9-tracked album pressed on black vinyl record. It’s an album with rock, folk, world, and country music mixed with pop, prog, and psychedelic styles. And just like most albums on this list, the vinyl record is housed inside a vinyl jacket printed with a photo of the artist doing something, this time it’s singing.
#4 SONGS OF OUR MOTHERS – KEFAYA AND ELAHA SAROOR
Songs Of Our Mothers is an album by singer Elaha Soroor and acclaimed duo producer Kefaya. The album is one that showcases spiritual jazz, dub, Indian music and electronica as they take listeners through Afghan folk music with a vibrant and fresh feel. It is a collection of folks songs that are traditionally performed by Afghan women which tells Elaha’s stories of joy, pain, and perseverance. The album of Afghan women resilience was pressed on orange custom vinyl records that are housed on tribal-designed vinyl jackets.
#5 CHANTS OF INDIA – RAVI SHANKAR
In celebration of Ravi Shankar’s Centennial, Dark Horse Records re-released Shankar’s 1997 album, “Chants of India”. It was produced by his old friend and Dark Horse founder, George Harrison. The re-released album had a custom vinyl pressing with the album’s tracks pressed on red custom vinyl records. They were put inside printed vinyl record sleeves and blue- themed vinyl jackets.
#6 IN CONCERT – PANDIT HARI PRASAD CHAURASIA
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is an Indian classical flutist that worked for tons of Indian classical music legends for this album. He also collaborated with John Mclaughlin, Jan Garbarek, and Zakir Hussain that showed a very inspiring fusion of East and West classical music. The black vinyl records were housed inside a white vinyl jacket printed with a black and white Chaurasia playing his flute.
#7 CALL OF THE VALLEY BY PANDIT HARI PRASAD CHAURASIA, BRIJ BHUSHAN KABRA AND SHIVKUMAR SHARMA
The 1976 classical album, “Call of the Valley”, is an album by the flutist, Chaurasia, the guitarist, Kabra, and the santoor player, Sharma. The album tracks focus on a day in the life of an Indian shepherd. It is an album worth buying that people love to recommend.
#8 Classical Vocal Album – Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan
Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan’s Classical Vocal Album was released on June 13 1988 and had a vinyl pressing for it. The album, with all its three tracks, is pressed on black vinyl records and is housed by a single printed vinyl jacket graced with the artist’s face and string instrument.
#9 AT ITS BEST – SHREYA GHOSHAL
The award-winning Indian playback artist, Shreya Ghoshal, released a compilation album in September of 2018. The album is composed of 10 soundtracks from different films she had sung for that were pressed on a single 12 inch vinyl record with 5 tracks each for side A and B.
#10 MAGIC MOMENTS – ASHA BHOSLE
The Indian singer, Asha Bhosle, was best known for being a playback singer in Hindi cinema, however, she has a wider repertoire than just that. She has been in the industry for around six decades and has already done playback singing for probably a thousand Bollywood films. The album “Magic Moments” with all fourteen tracks of it are pressed on 12 inch black vinyl records. It is a compilation album of the artist’s Hindi soundtracks.
CONCLUSION:
Listening to music is so much more enjoyable when it’s played on vinyl. No wonder vinyl has made a major comeback lately.
Which of these albums do you like the most and would you buy them on vinyl?