"Sound Central" rocks Afghanistan

Published October 1, 2011
Rishad Afzaly (R), from the Afghan rock band White Page, plays a guitar next to his band member Ratib Ramish.
Rishad Afzaly (R), from the Afghan rock band White Page, plays a guitar next to his band member Ratib Ramish.

Afghans are used to having their days broken by a burst of gunfire or the boom of an explosion. But the barrage of drumming, bass beats and amped-up guitar solos that will hit the city next week may stop many in their tracks. Sound Central, a one-day “stealth festival” that organisers hope will draw 1,000 to 2,000 young Afghans, will be the first music festival the country has seen since it plunged into three decades of violence in the late 1970s. -Photos by Reuters

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