Ghawgha: singing songs of resistance

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Ghawgha is a singer songwriter originally from Afghanistan. Growing up between Afghanistan and Iran, she now lives in Norway, as part of ICORN programme - a residency for artists at risk. However the situation facing women and minorities in her native country still run deep in her music and her songs reflect the current situation in Afghanistan under a second Taliban rule. Ghawgha’s single of 2019 ‘I Kiss You Amid the Taliban’ celebrated the hard-gained freedoms of the new generation in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover in 2021 and Kawoon Khamoosh follows Ghawgha as she works on and records her new album called Qaf. Qaf refers to a mysterious mountain that exists in legends where the mythological bird Simurgh had her nest and Ghawgha has been working with both poets from Afghanistan, as well as writing her own lyrics. Qaf is a very personal album, sung in Farsi, that depicts her own physically and emotionally difficult journey from Afghanistan to Europe, as well as reflecting others affected by war, discrimination and migration. Presenter and reporter: Kawoon Khamoosh. Produced by Andrea Kidd for the BBC World Service. Presenter and reporter: Kawoon Khamoosh Producer: Andrea Kidd (Photo: Ghawgha. Courtesy of Ghawgha)