Afghan Cultural Festival, London

Hundreds of Afghans from across the United Kingdom got together in London for an afternoon of fun, food, live music and enjoyment in celebration of Afghan Cultural Festival.

The Afghan Cultural Festival aimed to illustrate various aspects of the Afghan culture. The Festival had something for every participant whether adults or children.

Afghans enjoying their time at cultural festival

Hamidullah Hamid came from Manchester to enjoy the concert and meet with his friends in London. He said, “ I come to concert to enjoy the live music and meet with friends and family here in London. It’s a lot of fun to meet all these Afghans in one place.”

Maliha Wahab, 52, mother of six came to watch the live performance of Ms. Naghma—a famous female Afghan Pashto singer.

Mrs. Wahab said, “I love Naghma and I always wanted to see her live performance. Today’s festival made my dream come true.”

Famous musicians and nine Afghan singers were invited from Canada, USA and Europe to perform live music for an audience of about 1000 people at Gunnersbury Park.

Ghulam Nabi, 17, an asylum seeker from southern Afghanistan has only been in the United Kingdom for a week. Master Nabi said that he feels lucky that his host family had another Afghan boy who knew about the concert. Nabi said that he has not been to any concert in his village, because so far as he remembers there has always been fighting in his village in Helmand province. He said, “It is unbelievable to see so many Afghan together and hear the songs in your own language. I cannot find words to express my joy and happiness.”

In addition to music the organizers put a lot of efforts to represent the Afghan culture in as many ways as possible. Afghan models on the catwalk showed different Afghan traditional dresses. Food stalls offered traditional Afghan meals like Qabili Palau (steamed rice cooked with lamb, raisin and carrot), Mantoo (Ravioli), Bolani (Pan fried pastry filled with potato) and Shor Nakhod (boiled chickpea) for sale.  One stall sold Afghan books in Dari and Pashto languages at discounted prices; the other stall had contemporary and traditional Kochi dresses for sale; another stall sold Afghan-style kite and string. On one corner of the park fun fair has been organized to entertain the children.

The veteran Afghan journalist and TV presenter Ahmad Ghous Zalmai came from Canada to host the event.  Emphasizing on the importance of Afghan Cultural Festival Mr. Zalmai said that such events can teach a great deal of cultural values to Afghan children who are born abroad. 

He said, “When the children come in these festivals, they see the interaction of Afghans with each other, they see the Afghan singers, they hear different languages of Afghanistan, and they make friends and network with other Afghans.”

Suleiman Halim an employee of Navab&Co Accountants Company—one of the leading sponsors of 5^th Afghan Cultural Festival said, “Afghanistan is a very diverse country with several local languages and accents. In this festival, we tried to bring singers of different languages, so everyone can feel and enjoy their own music.”

Afghan Cultural Festival has been growing over the years. Initially, Paiwand Afghan Association initiated the idea of celebrating Afghan Cultural Festival, but over the years various Afghan companies and businesses have come forward to sponsor and support this event. The 5^th Afghan Cultural Festival was organized and managed by Navab&Co with support from Kabul City restaurant, Elonat magazine, HH Studio and Mangal exchange and travel.