1971 Kabul, Afghanistan

This is an edit of my favourite home movie clips (the first of three on this trip)
Half a century ago, there weren’t many European tourists in Kabul, let alone young women filming the locals, many of whom believed your soul could be captured on film…
Mum & Dad won a raffle prize of a trip to Kabul, Afghanistan, followed by a bus ride over the Khyber Pass to Peshawar, Pakistan.
I love the expressions of the locals in this clip, carrying out all sorts of trades: pig-skin water carriers, rifle-toting salesmen, photographers, street barbers, lads pulling stone laden carts…
Being good parents, they bought souvenirs for their four sons: an old Afghan flintlock rifle each, complete with firing mechanisms and curved stocks. We had great fun playing cowboys and Indians with them, even though they weighed a ton. A couple of years later, our Granddad decided to give them a proper clean and discovered mine was still loaded with gunpowder and lead pellets. Well, that could have been embarrassing!

My music collection is remarkably short on Afghan ditties, so I took the liberty of substituting with Arab-influenced rock, namely ‘Ride to Agadir’ by Mike Batt and ‘Sidi H’bib’i by Mano Negra.
(Unfortunately, YT banned the Manu Chao song, so I’m afraid Mr. Batt went on the loop. Pity, but there you go)