On the long stretch of South Habour Road I drove back and forth. The street number for the Craneway Pavilion was no where to be found. At a guard post I asked for directions. The Pavilion was the last building on the water edge.
This convention center in Richmond was an out-of-the-way place for a concert that featured Afghani singer Ustad Farida Mahwash, rubab virtuoso Homayoun Sakhi and the Sakhi Ensemble. The concentration of Afghan immigrants in the Bay Area is in Fremont. Shouldn’t such a concert be presented in the famed “Little Kabul”?
In the large hall a food vendor was selling chicken kabob dinners next to the audience. As the music played, the aroma of spices and grilled meat drifted through the air. Mahwash’s voice spiraled higher and higher. Homayoun’s rubab and the drummers played faster and faster. And I was transported to a colorful and rich place full of textures and intrigues—maybe it was Fremont after all.
