Read about the background of ANTz, Afghanistan's first Blues Rock band

By GMA's Afghanistan correspondent Abdul Basir Shakeri


"From the underground up to the street’s concerts"

You were hearing the sounds of music from the seams between the walls in Herat in 2005. Yeah! It was ANTz who are the first Blues Rock band and one of the real underground bands in Afghanistan.

Antz, are a group of musicians who were recording their music and vocals inside their car and a small studio inside in a house in Herat, they started out by deciding to establish a band in order to play new music for the new generation. They are Antz, because they are hard-workers, honest and always doing the heavy stuff like the real ants..

Antz removed their skins like snakes twice from 2005 and up to 2013, some changes are good but as Masoud Hassanzada (one of the band's founders, song write and guitarist) states: "I discovered my love of art during the Taliban rule, when music was forbidden" he confesses. His texts deal with issues like dreams and problems facing the Afghan youth. "There is a whole generation that has never known peace".

"Minority Report" the first album by Antz with 8 tracks was released in 2007. It was called "Minority Report" because the album is spoken from the viewpoint of a minority, it talks about the socio-political situation in Afghanistan. It means most of the songs were critical and the content was based around social problems such as war, corruption, elections, social chaos, lack of memories, history, foreign troops, the Taliban, mullahs, liberals and assorted bribery, etc.

Shekib Mosadiq is the vocalist and founder of the band alongside Masoud Hassanzada. The reception of releasing the album in the first few days was unprecedented. We could make about $300 USD by CD from our online eBay store per week and in all local radios our songs were aired, meaning we became known and famous amongst the Persian-Iranian singers Hassanzada said.

Performing in different Cafés, festivals, events and thrice at the Sound Central Festival in Afghanistan is just a part of their achievements, but the latest performance was at Orange Café, a street concert for public people which was stopped by police.

Antz are still playing, performing and working on a new album "Militarism" with 9 tracks poised to be on it, the album will be released in around 2 months time.

The music is very diverse and different on this album, like some of the tracks are quite rocky, some more blues-orientated and a few others are "Gypsy Blues". In terms of content, the lyrics are more radical than the first album. In terms of regulation, it will be unprecedented in the history of country music. This album has a couple of other musical instruments (an accordion for example) which were added. This album is more critical in terms of content viewing and features a more spirited critique of the war in Afghanistan and the failure of Western democratization in Afghanistan. Simply put the atmosphere of the songs are totally satirical.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Antz-Band/121837017850499