Customer Rating: 
Summary: Ancient Music From Afghanistan
Comment: An extremely intersting and valuable document. This music is the precursor of Indian Classical Music. This great master is i beleive the only great master of Rebab that has left us a modern recording. The recording is excellent and the music haunting and deep. If the preceding words have frightened you i must also add it is really enjoyable music though not for easy listening. Giorgio from italy
Customer Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT AFGHANISTANIAN SOUNDS
Comment: Afghanistan has a rich musical heritage less evident in these lands ravaged by war and poverty. It's the same with Iraq--wonderful musical heritage (like Omar and Munir Bashir). You can really hear it in "Virtuoso from Afghanistan" and I recommend this album highly.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: If only there were more where this came from!
Comment: Congratulations! Whether on purpose or by accident, you just came across the single best "live" cd release of 2002! This disc was recorded in 1974 at Ustad Mohammad Omar's only public performance in the United States, a concert that I'm sure everyone who attended still remembers with extreme joy.I'm not sure why, but I just didn't seem to be in much of a review-writing mood for alot of 2002. If I had been, I would have reviewed this cd much earlier, as it deserves.
Fans of Hindustani music will be pleased to know that the rabab is the instrument that the sarod evoled out of. If you're a fan of Buddhadev Das Gupta or Amjad Ali Khan or Ali Akbar Khan (etc...) then that in itself would be enough reason to be curious about hearing this cd. Obviously it's all about personal taste, but I couldn't fault someone if they preferred the tone of the rabab over that of the sarod. The rabab tone in Ustad Mohammad Omar's hands is beautifully tough to describe. I'd almost just say that it's sort of dreamy and ethereal yet aggressive, whereas the sarod is oftentimes more percussive and punchy. Hey, they are both amazing instruments tied to amazing master musicians. It's tough to go wrong either way.
It's saddening that music of this caliber isn't more well known. Hindustani music (particularly Ravi Shankar) is world famous, yet this music, an older cousin, is so underappreciated and little-known (in comparison) even though it is incredible. Mohammad Omar and Zakir reach moments of perfection on this disc.
Obviously, and unfortunately, most of America's view of Afghanistan is that it is some sort of backwards dirt-hole. A few decades of war, internal divisions, and political repression will do that to you. I just hope the world starts to realize that there is more to Afghanistan's story and people than what makes the headline news. This cd is an excellent place to start that journey of discovery for yourself. Once you listen to the music on this cd you will certainly find yourself wondering how and why the Taliban could grow up in a country with music like this and still choose to outlaw music.
Sometimes our world seemingly tries to find the bad in everyone else, but you pop in a cd like this and all you can think of is the beauty, emotional depth, and creativity that can be at the heart of humanity if we let it.
