Rokhshanah – “Shinwaree Lavangin”
« Once the rose wilts and the garden fades
the nightingale will no more sing his tune »
(Mevlana – Mathnawi – Book 1 – verse 29)
Rokhshanah has been a very popular singer in Afghanistan since the end of 50’s. After her departure on exil at the beginning of the russian invasion, she stopped to sing and that is why her story always reminds me this Mevlana’s verse you can read above.
It is known that she has recorded hundreds of tracks for the Kabul Radio and a lot of them are today available on youtube. But it seems that some are still to find, mainly those which appeared on 78 rpm published on soviet label and also those which were produced in Iran on differents labels like Royal, Mercury or Golden Records. One of the first success of Rokhshanah (as it is recalled here) – the song « Tshashm e siah » – was released on this last one.
On this 45 rpm that you can see here today, published on the famous Ahang e Rooz label, she is singing two beautiful songs, one in Pashto language and the second one in Dari . They both appeared later on Rokhshanah’s cassettes, but with a different version. You can hear today these both early versions:
Rokhshanah – “Ta Beh Kay Geryeh Konam?”
We will post soon more early works of this great artist!
Afghan Records Gallery 
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