Showcase: TAĪĪZ
DJ, sound architect and Afghan rebel behind the decks
Taīz Nawab, also known as TAĪĪZ, is a DJ, curator, and co-founder of the young label Anaristan Saaz – a talented artist who embraces contrasts on all levels. With her energetic style and clear position, she breaks taboos in the German club scene and playfully combines apparent opposites. Her DJ sets combine hip-hop, Afrobeat and funk with Afghan sounds, building bridges between cultures and traditions. Anyone who thinks these worlds don’t go together will be proven wrong by TAĪĪZ. In an detailed interview, she tells us about her journey as a DJ, the challenges in the music industry and her passion for giving Afghan music a stage in the club scene.
Between tabla, pop and breakdancing – growing up in the melting pot of Hamburg-Steilshoop
Growing up in Hamburg-Steilshoop in the 1980s – a district full of contrasts – TAĪĪZ grew up with a musically diverse mix of hip-hop, Michael Jackson, Bollywood and Afghan music. Her two brothers play tabla – one is now a rapper, the other was part of the hip-hop culture of the 80s with b-boying, graffiti and later as a DJ. Her father had a particular influence on her when it came to classical South Asian music. She learned very early that music is a reflection of different worlds. But as a child, Afghan music was for a long time only a private experience. Due to the unstable political situation in Afghanistan and the associated negative perception in the West, her own culture was only lived within the community. Afghan sounds were not played in clubs or at parties – they belonged within her own four walls or at Afghan weddings, far away from the public eye. But at some point, TAĪĪZ no longer wanted to hide. Music became an integral part of her identity – a mixture of different cultural influences.
TAĪĪZ’s struggle for musical self-determination
TAĪĪZ wanted to make music by herself, but not at any price. Her first step into the world of music began as a singer. She was successful at first, but it quickly became clear that talent alone was not enough. As an Afghan woman in the music industry, she was constantly confronted with sexism and expectations, she says. While her male colleagues could simply make music, her position was constantly a topic of conversation. The pressure came from all sides: boundaries were crossed, old structures kept her down. For this reason, she had to turn down a big opportunity because more was expected of her than she was willing to give – after that, ‘I was simply dropped,’ she says. So anyone who didn’t play along was sorted out.
TAĪĪZ then pulled the ripcord. She took a break from music and immersed herself in her studies to gain a new perspective on her experiences. In her thesis, ‘Islam as Resistance Culture,’ she examined how music can be used as a form of artistic expression and resistance. This exploration changed her perspective – music became not just a job for her, but a tool for rethinking cultural and political narratives. At the same time, she began to take action herself: she hosted the Goethe-Institut’s podcast ‘Soundspuren’ (Sound Traces), in which refugee artists from countries such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria talk about their experiences of fleeing their homelands, and in 2023 she curated the panel ‘Afghanistan’s Hidden Music Treasures’, which dealt with Afghan music history and the preservation of vinyls and cassettes.
A little preview: TAĪĪZ's Afghanistan Mixtape
But her passion for her own music never left her. When she first came into contact with DJing during a training course, she knew immediately: ‘I just want to make music.’ Unfortunately, her first DJ workshop was a disaster: dominated by men, the atmosphere was hectic, with no patience for newcomers. So she taught herself the basics, practised transitions and cuts on her own, and looked for a space where she could truly be herself. In 2023, the time had finally come: her first official gig – at the exhibition opening of Ava Collective: Kindheiten (Childhoods) by author and artist Moshtari Hilal in Bremen. A moment in which she saw her cultural roots merge with her new musical journey. ‘I was just happy to be part of it!’
‘What you do is healing!’
What is immediately audible with TAĪĪZ? She doesn’t think of music in terms of genres, but in terms of possibilities. Her sets are a creative fusion of hip-hop, Anatolian and Afghan rhythms, Bollywood, Latin, flamenco, Arabic & African music, funk, R&B and Afrobeat. But she doesn’t just mix tradition and modernity – she creates something that feels so organic, it’s as if it has always existed. ‘Afghan music was never different – it was always there!’ That’s exactly what she wants to show on the dance floor. Her music thus becomes a melting pot of her cultural influences – a subtle shift in culture, where the overlooked finally finds its place.
She surprises her audience with unexpected combinations: a Latin mix of the Spice Girls’ ‘Spice Up Your Life’ meets Mohammad Assaf’s ‘Dammi Falastini’, while Biggie’s ‘Hypnotize’ seamlessly transitions into an old Pashto song by Pakistani icon Zarsanga. These breaks are no random incidents, but part of her elaborate vision. She wants to combine the familiar with new, unexplored sounds and take her audience on a journey.
For TAĪĪZ, it’s about more than just beats and remixes. Afghan music in clubs should be a matter of course, not an exotic gimmick. And that’s exactly what resonates. ‘Afghan people tell me how much the old tracks move them – songs that have shaped us all. I get so much gratitude in return. Someone once said to me, “What you’re doing is healing!” That was the greatest compliment I’ve ever received – that’s exactly why I do it!’
Community and nightlife – a space for Afghan women
Afghan music in clubs? Until recently, this was unthinkable. There are Bollywood parties, but Afghan sounds and the people who grow up with them often remain invisible. Afghan women in particular have hardly any platform. ‘We were always told to say we were Iranian,’ says TAĪĪZ.
But something has been changing in recent years. The SWANA community, which stands for Southwest Asia and North Africa, has also become more visible than ever in recent years. More and more artists from the diaspora are getting a stage and organising events throughout Germany. Afghan sound is slowly but surely finding its place alongside other musical traditions from the SWANA scene, and club culture is becoming more diverse. Together with two Afghan DJs, TAĪĪZ organised the ‘Deejay-stān’ party series, which combined old-school tracks with Afrobeats and Indian music. Many guests felt represented for the first time. ‘I knew – I’m going to keep going. I want to give Afghan women the space to feel comfortable in nightlife and maybe even start DJing themselves.’
However, it remains difficult to gain a foothold in Hamburg. ‘Although Europe’s largest Afghan community lives here, it’s always the same people who attend the SWANA club scene.’ That’s why she increasingly plays in Bremen, Bochum and Stuttgart, where the audience is more open and diverse. Her appearance as the first Afghan DJ at the İÇ İÇE Festival was a milestone for her, but only the beginning.
Rejection, obstacles and breakthrough
The way into the club scene was anything but easy for TAĪĪZ. She encountered resistance, especially in the Afghan community, from both men and women who distanced themselves from her path. An Afghan woman behind the DJ booth? For many, it was unimaginable. Criticism of her skills and her presence in nightlife was frequent. This rejection was not an isolated case – as a woman in the scene, you can’t just ignore your own position, she explains:
‘It’s not just about the music. You can’t isolate your experiences as a woman – even if we would like to. These issues also come up in interactions with the audience, and unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Power relations are always at play.’
There are barely any female Afghan DJs in Germany – not because of a lack of talent, but because there has never been a culture of support. TAĪĪZ herself knows how it feels to be ignored, both by her own people and by the established DJ scene. Although many people see her work – check her social media channels, know her music – genuine recognition is often lacking. But despite these invisible walls, TAĪĪZ remains stubborn. She continues to rely on her passion to make Afghan music more visible in Western nightlife – and that’s exactly what’s catching on. She now gives DJ workshops for FLINTA* people, especially BIPoC, and wants to contribute to an open club culture where Afghan women no longer have to hide.
Outlook: Preserving Afghan treasures
TAĪĪZ has a clear vision for the future: she wants to further strengthen the space for Afghan sounds in club culture. It plans to organise international gigs and its own series of events, which will not only consolidate its position as an artist, but also offer other women in the scene more opportunities. An important breakthrough in this development was the record label Anaristan Saaz, founded in 2024, which she launched together with her business partner, DJ and record collector Omid J. The label is actively dedicated to preserving Afghanistan’s forgotten musical treasures and bringing them back to light – with the aim of reviving Afghan and Central Asian music. With this mission in mind and a clear direction for the future, TAĪĪZ will certainly continue to connect people musically and culturally.
For anyone who wants to know what Taiiz likes to dance to most
More from TAĪĪZ
Listen
TAĪĪZ
Anaristan Saaz
You can find out more about their exciting projects here:
Party: „Deejay-stān“
Panel: “Afghanistans hidden music treasures”
https://2023.fluctoplasma.com/programm/afghanistans-hidden-music-treasures.html
Podcast: “Soundspuren” (Goethe-Institut)