Sound Central was a grassroots group of expats and Afghans involved in the local Kabul music scene from 2008-2014. The flagship festival [2011-2013] hosted concerts, sideshows and multi-day festivals that were attended by more than 5,000 people in total.

This culture clashing program introduced the Afghan youth to a range of traditional and alternative music genres via 65 local and international artists from Australia, France, UK, USA, Sweden, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Iran, Poland and Uzbekistan.

After the fall of the previous government, the festival team put out a call to action and within hours we had a small but effective virtual operations room that focused on resettling musicians, festival staff and their families.

From August 2021 to July 2023, Sound Central helped more than 60 Afghan musicians and their families to relocate to Europe, Canada and the US.

Since funding and support dried up in July 2023, Sound Central is not taking on any new cases and we are only administering assistance to a very small cohort of Afghan musicians still trying to get to safety.

We also still advocate for the safety and asylum recognition for Afghan musicians, artists and females wishing to express themselves freely.