Today there are still regions where musicians are threatened or beaten, but in Kabul the Radio-Television Afghanistan Musicians group has been reinstituted and their work to promote and preserve their musical heritage continues. Kabul’s CD shops stock the latest in popular and traditional musical styles, ranging from western to Indian, Iranian and Afghan Diaspora music. Music schools in the capital have waiting lists and private teachers have students.

Today there are no professional singers of ghazal in the country but about 60 students are being trained in the Afghan Conservatory of Music. Mohammad Rafiq Khusnud, Director of the Conservatory, graduated from an Indian classical music school and worked for eight years as a singer of ghazal.

Performing has been predominantly a male preserve in Afghanistan, although CDs of female singers from abroad are popular. Najiba Maram of the Bakhtar News Agency, plans to open a centre where women musicians and singers can study and perform music. Back in 1957 there were protests following the first Afghan radio broadcast by a female singer, Merman Parween, and today in Kabul it is still illegal for women to perform in public. However, in March 2003 at the Women’s Day celebrations in Kabul, Merman, now 81 years old, once again picked up a microphone and sang in public.