This book and CD present the vocal art music of Kabul as performed by an outstanding vocalist at the height of his powers in the 1970s. This form of art music originated from the Kucheh Kharabat, the musicians' quarter in the old city of Kabul, in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. It is now threatened with extinction, not because of loss of knowledge or technical expertise but because of changes in fashion in Kabul, where people look for a more modern and westernised music, with keyboards, electric guitars, drum kits, and so on. Kabul's traditional art music is in urgent need of documentation and recognition.Central to Kabul's vocal art music is the ghazal, a song form using Persian texts derived from a variety of sources. Much of this poetry is in the Sufi tradition, with frequent metaphoric allusions to love, wine, and intoxication. It is profound poetry with deep meaning. In musical terms, the Kabuli ghazal style is related to ghazal singing in India and Pakistan, but the setting of the texts to music is distinctly Afghan, with couplets sung in free rhythm, fast instrumental sections and dramatic rhythmic cadences.

As befits a Sufi music, it has a regularly repeated cyclic structure with trance inducing properties. The ghazal is a highly flexible song form, which allows for the interpolation of couplets from other poems. The skilled ghazal singer knows a large body of poetry by heart and moulds the text to fit the occasion.Central to the book is an audio CD with eight performances, seven ghazals and one tarana with interpolated couplets performed at the end of a set of ghazals. The performances were recorded by John Baily between 1974-76 in the city of Herat, in western Afghanistan. At that time Amir Mohammad was Herat's most popular and sought-after singer in the Kabuli style. Amir Mohammad found Herat a lucrative environment, and spent much of his time there, playing mainly at wedding parties of wealthy Heratis. In Kabul his livelihood was threatened by more modern singers increasingly influenced by Indian film and western music.

In Herat he had as his regular accompanists two outstanding local musicians, Rahim Khushnawaz on rubab, and Gada Mohammad on 14 stringed dutar. For tabla he would bring musicians from Kabul, or use local players.The book includes transcriptions, transliterations and translations of the texts together with commentary.