SOHEBA DAVLATSHOEVA, AQNAZAR ALOVATOV, BADAKHSHAN

The Badakhshan Ensemble was the brainchild of Soheba Davlatshoeva (b. 1970), a vivacious singer and dancer who grew up in a small village on the Ghund River, fifty miles from Khoroq, Badakhshan’s capital. Among the younger generation of maddohkhons in and around Khoroq, the most sought after is Aqnazar Alovatov. Interested from an early age in both music and poetry, Aqnazar is frequently called upon to sing at memorial gatherings and at Thursday evening prayers. “It’s normal to sing for two or three hours a