Sargam

Rahmani, Afghan singer and harmonium player, had to flee from Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. 

He moved to Roskilde with his family, where he met Martin Gerup, the founder of Rubberduck Productions. 

In 2002 Rahmani travelled to Pakistan to record Sargam and collect sounds for Rubberduck Productions. 

Sargam was a part of a spectacular press-release. We decided to forbid the danish journalists and audience to listen to and buy the record. It had to be released in Afghanistan, and only in Afghanistan. Why? It gave us time to reflect. In Afghanistan music was allowed again after the Taliban regime ended. Rahmani could reveal how he had been hiding 100 year-old musical instruments behind secret walls, in order to prevent them from being destroyed by the regime. Rubberduck put a focus on how important a part the free distribution of music is of our mind-set in the west.