In this talk we consider a range of emotions as expressed in women’s music-making in Afghanistan. These include romantic and familial love, sadness and separation, celebration, anger and protest, and humour. I draw particularly on my own ethnographic work with girls and women in the Persian language traditions of Herat (western Afghanistan). I also refer extensively to work by other scholars, including recent material collected separately by two young Afghan women in north-eastern Afghanistan. My main focus is on domestic and ritual music-making, linking songs and dances to the life experiences and expectations of girls and women.