'Rough Translation': NPR's Newest Podcast
In each episode of Rough Translation, NPR's new international podcast, we go to a different country to drop in on a story that reflects back on something we're talking about in the U.S.
Two days before my first trip to Afghanistan, in 2007, I was terrified, speaking no Dari and having never interviewed anyone in a war zone. On impulse, I grabbed my little red travel accordion, mumbling something about using the "universal language of music" to connect with people whose world seemed wholly different from my own.
A week later, in Kabul, when I finally got he asked. I demurred. . Najib responded by belting out strange Dari lyrics to familiar melodies. That launched my journey to understand the legend of "the Afghan Elvis," a journey that would end with me on stage in Mazar-i-Sharif squeezing out a rough rendition of Johnny Cash. (Long story.)
