Two Poets and a River

Session Submission Type: Film

Brief Description

Using the Oxus river as a topos, this film explores themes of love and loss through the lives and musical poetry of the two most prominent and innovative Wakhi musicians in Central and South Asia, Qurbonsho in Tajikistan and Daulatsho in Afghanistan. In the 19th century their Wakhan homeland became a buffer zone between Czarist Russia and the British Empire and the river Oxus became a border. The condition of being separated by a river grounds the poets’ discussions of love and loss in their own lives as well as in their musical arts.

Sub Unit

• Film Series

Introduced by

• Richard K. Wolf, Harvard U

Questions and Answers Moderated by

• Richard K. Wolf, Harvard U