Badakhshani setar player, Mukhtor Muborakqadomov, lives in a village near Khorog, the regional capital and Badakhshan’s largest city. He began playing music, learning by ear at the age of eight from his uncle. Mukhtor is a member of the Badakhshan Ensemble which performs both traditional Badakhshani music and contemporary pop songs— the latter typically in the context of local wedding festivities, for which Muborakqadomov plays electronic keyboard in place of setar. He is also a composer who creates original melodies for song lyrics drawn from classical Persian and Badakhshani poetry.