Popular images of Afghanistan have been dominated in recent decades by the wars of Islamist militants against the Soviets, the U.S. and each other, but the ancient land was once a crossroads of culture and commerce. Living now in the U.S., Quraishi comes from a family of traditional musicians and offers a cross-section of Afghan music on his second album, Mountain Melodies. Quraishi is a virtuoso on the rubab, a resonant lute characteristic of Afghan music, which has affinities to Indian ragas as well as the folk music of the Near East.
