Sound Central Festival 2012 - Kabul’s Modern Music Festival

Sound Central Festival is Afghanistan & Central Asia's first regional rock music festival, as well as Afghanistan's first rock festival since Ahmad Zahir's shows in 1975. Last year’s festival was realized in Kabul on the 1st of October, with opening and closing nights in New York, September 15th to October 14th, 2011. Argus Productions created a global buzz with its vision to build solidarity in a non-partisan, non political but simply musical way. Below are the top 10 media hits from the 2011 festival: 1. Rolling Stone, 2. BBC UK, 3. ABC, 4. Reuters, 5. CBS News, 6. BBC UK Newsbeat, 7. France24, 8. The New Yorker, 9. The Guardian,10. MSNBC

Last year we were joined by musicians from all over Central Asia and beyond: 2011 Performers. Kabul also hosted workshops by numerous international musicians including: Brian Viglione of The Dresden Dolls (USA) and Acrassicauda (Iraq). Lastly we hosted a week of pre-festival side shows for the Afghan youth.

With much attention from the music industry, Argus Productions is now in contact with major international artists and industry for support. To date, twenty-seven International bands from all over the world have expressed interest and applied to participate in this years’ festival. Their genres range from rock to metal, jazz to hip-hop, and more!

With the participation of Afghan bands from around the country, SCF12 will hold the main event in a central location. [ie: Institute Francais Afghanistan IFA.] The presence of special guest artists enhances the experience of the world's great music festivals and creates opportunities for cultural exchange. Guest bands will come for one week, which will include teaching the Afghan youth at The Rock Center, as well as participation in the sideshow Sound Studies Projects performances at The Venue.

SCF12/ Argus Productions and its sponsors are endeavoring to find funding to cover transportation and accommodation at a comfortable but modestly priced guesthouse or hotel. All visiting bands will receive a modest stipend for meals. All invited artists are strongly encouraged to be proactive in finding sources of funding and instrument donations, that can be donated to the The Rock Centre at the end of the festival week

Show dates are 26th, 27th and 29th of September, with 5 days of pre-festival sideshows and 2 days of workshops between international and local musicians

Argus Productions / Sound Central Festival (SCF) CORE Team Travis Beard, Founder/Director of SCF and co-founder of Argus Productions. He was also a co-founder of Skateistan, Kabul Knights Motorcycle Club and Aina Photo. Humayun Zadran, co-founder of Argus Productions and Logistic Manager of SCF, is the proprietor of The Venue. Robin Ryczek, teaches and performs cello and contemporary music and has been involved in the music development of Kabul since 2010.

Costs The festival is still sourcing funding for the festival through the crowd funding campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/scf12. For more information, please contact Travis Beard on +93700286215, [email protected]