Music
The rubāb’s long memory
From the courts of Herat to a living room in San Diego — how an instrument carries a homeland in its strings.
The rubāb is older than most of the borders it has crossed. Its short neck and gut strings hold a sound that the whole region recognizes as home.
To play it in San Diego is to keep a thread unbroken — courts of Herat to a living room, with nothing lost in between but distance.
