Rabab-making in Kabul

From his workshop in the Shor-Bazaar, Ustad Esa tells the story of how God created the rabab in order to breathe a soul into Adam’s body. This mystical idea is strengthened by the folk etymology for the instrument, deriving from the Arabic words for soul (‘ruh’) and door (‘bab’).

Ustad Esa comes from a well-established rabab-making (‘rababsazī’) pedigree. His father, Joma Khan Qaderi, was, according to Professor John Baily, the most important maker of musical instruments based in Kabul in the mid-20th century. The art of making rababs is a family tradition going back about six generations, when a man named Esma’il taught the first of their family members, Qaderi Khan. Esa, interested from an early age, first began to participate in the family business when he was about 12 years old. He would only make the tuning pegs (‘goshak’) as a substantial amount of strength is required to work on the heavy mulberry wood. Normally, one would only begin to learn the craft of ‘rababsazī’ at the age of 20.

Two of Esa’s brothers, Yousef and Azim, began learning the craft at a later date. The three of them all have their individual workshops near Kharabat Street, the place where musicians and instrument makers were settled by King Sher Ali Khan at the end of the 19th century.

Each morning Esa wakes up for morning prayers. He then works in his home until about 9am. During this time he usually cuts fresh pieces of wood to size for new instruments. This is because carving the heavy mulberry wood (‘shahtut’) requires a great deal of strength. Both the inside and the outside of the rabab’s body are then polished, until they are less than 2cm thick. The head is then attached to the rest of the body onto which the family symbol is carved. After 9am he heads to his shop where he repairs rababs for his returning customers.

In the afternoon Esa returns home where he works on the mother-of-pearl, the tuning pegs and the bridge. For these parts Esa uses a series of small chisels, a knife, and a short crankshaft. Another very important tool is the measuring stick. For Esa, this tool is particularly special, as it is the traditional wooden one given to him by his father. Its length is a ‘nīm gaza’, which is comprised of eleven ‘tasu’, each of which is a little longer than an inch, making the ‘nīm gaza’ similar in length to a foot.

Towards the end of the process, Esa will attach a piece of prepared goatskin to the larger chamber, only then moving on to the upper portion. After inlaying the final pieces of mother-of-pearl, following one of the six designs selected by the customer, the instrument will undergo a final thorough polishing phase before moving on to the last stage: the tuning, when the rabab produces its first sounds.

Each rabab is unique, and is distinguished by the family mark on the head of the instrument. Qaderi Khan, one of Esa’s ancestors, designed this mark about 200 years ago and all of his descendants have been using the symbol since then. In total Esa estimates his family has produced more than 100,000 rababs. He never plays the rabab in public because his grandfather once told him it was his duty to make, not to play. However, he will occasionally play for small family parties.