Pashto afghan Music

The Pashto Afghan music incidentally was very popular in the United States. Individuals from both the sexes dance a form of dance called the atan. It is a national dance wherein the dancers have their arms raised. The dancers then twist from side to side from the waist upwards.



These twisting movements are done as the dancers simultaneously take steps in a slow and a rhythmic pattern. This pattern is usually woven into a circle. This dance is performed to the Pashto Afghan music and is done among individuals of the same-sex groups. This dance is performed during the special occasions of weddings and other celebrations.

The Dari literature is Persian literature. This literature is a 1000-year tradition. It consists largely of rhymed poetry. One of the best-known examples of the Persian poetry is The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

This piece of Persian literary work has become known to the world only through the translation, which was done by Edward Fitzgerald. A rubai is generally a quatrain with a particular meter. Similarly a rubaiyat is simply the plural of rubai.

The Pashto Afghan literature also has a literary tradition. This tradition dates back from the writings of Khoshal Khan Khattak. He was a larger-than-life Pashtun soldier and poet. His writings have been infused with life and energy.

The Afghan Pashto music and poetry mimics the Persian poetry as it has similar forms of the verse. The Pashto Afghan music has a thriving oral literature. A major feature of of the Pashto Afghan music and its literature is the landay.



This is a two-line poem, which has nine syllables in the first line. It contains thirteen syllables in the second line. The lines of the landay do not rhyme. Nevertheless some of the more elegant examples do have some internal rhyming.

The second line of the landay usually ends in the syllable of na or ma. The Landays are usually created by both sexes.