BBC, 20 September 2013
Fifty years ago this week, writes Monica Whitlock, Duke Ellington and his band played in a concert in Kabul he later called one of the most memorable of his life. The organiser, Faiz Khairzada, remembers how 5,000 came to the Olympic Stadium; tickets were free, and how King Zahir and the royal family came over to shake hands with the band after the concert. As early as 1953 the American jazz giant Dave Brubeck had himself played Kabul. His visit, he said, had inspired his hit Nomad on the album Impressions of Eurasia.
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This article was last updated on 9 Mar 2020
