Taqi Khan

My name is Taqi Khan and I am from Afghanistan. I belong to the persecuted Hazara ethnic group, who have resided in today's Afghanistan for over 2000 years. Hazaras have faced genocides and mass killings since the late 1800s for their ethnicity. 62% of the Hazaras have been wiped out by the King of Afghanistan. Because of the ongoing persecution, injustices and violence against us, many of us have fled our homeland and become refugees for generations.

I am one of the Hazaras who left the country during persecution, and have spent most of my life as refugee – full of suffering and hopelessness. In 2010, I came to Australia by boat and was detained in a detention centre. At the moment, I am in Melbourne working on my music. Music is the only source with which I can make people from my community, and wider communities, happy and cheerful – something I have been deprived of all life. I share my pain through my music. I tell the silenced stories of my people's painful history to the world with my music.