Author Description

Afghan Music and Dance is the result of Dr. Lloyd Miller’s 7 year residency in Iran and Afghanistan in the 70s plus 3 years in Paris in the early 60s where he studied with master Daryush Safvat. This book is the result of Miller’s original PhD Fulbright research on comparison of Herati chaharbaiti music and song texts to the Persian dastgah (modal) system and poetic prosody insluding details about several Herati musicians. Information on music is augmented by Katherine St. John’s informative MA work on Afghan dance emphasizing Herat. Ms. St. John adds her expertise as an art dance and folkdance specialist in her portion of the book by contributing details about Afghan dance revealing its close affinity with neighboring Persia. The information in this combined seminal work includes many new previously undiscovered facts and concepts resulting in a valuable addition to a comparatively unknown field of study. Along with interesting new insights, the book includes 108 pages of musical transcriptions with detailed analysis of Herati chaharbaiti performances, 90 photos and 25 illustrations.