Sarkash Underground | Turning Tables Germany, Sarkash Festival & Aria Khalil

Ahead of Sarkash سرکش Underground on 1 August we dive deep into the festival celebrating hip-hop, rap, trap, and experimental sounds from Afghanistan, Balochistan, and Kashmir. Sarkash is dari for "rebellious" and “defiant” the event honours music as a language of protest.

In the first half, Zolfar Hassib and Armeghan Taheri reflect on the profound political meaning of music at a time when it is banned in Afghanistan. They showcase artists from the festival as well as discuss how music can live and survive and thereby sustain conditions in which collective imagination and dreams can grow and refuse narratives of hopelessness.

Later, Zolfar is joined by sound artist and composer Aria Khalil, whose work reimagines Afghan music through experimentation, archival recordings, and heavy bass. Aria speaks on his journey from broadcasting a generation of independent voices and underground rap in Herat and Kabul to his current practice in Berlin, where his sound unfolds as an act of memory, defiance and reinvention of the region’s sonic identity.