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Mizghan-i Siyah (Black eyelashes)

Muhammud Rahim Takhary, Faqir Muhammad, Bahauddin, and Malang Nejrabi
"Mizghan-i Siyah" is a popular love song from the north of Afghanistan that is often heard at weddings and in teahouses. The text rests on a classical poetic comparison between a beautiful girl’s black eyelashes and the power of any army, a Turkish archer, and so on. The poetic form is a dubayti (two lines linked together), with repetitions of the lines separated by instrumental interludes. It is sung in Tajik, the language spoken by much of the population in northern Afghanistan, where Mazar-i Sharif is the largest city. (During, Levin 2001)