Mahali music (موسیقی محلی) includes folk and regional music styles found in Afghanistan. Many regions and provinces throughout Afghanistan have their own styles of music and dance, which are performed at occasions such as holidays, engagements, weddings, New Year's celebrations, and other various social gatherings. Prominent styles of regional mahali music include Herati music, Shomali music, Qataghani music, and Logari music. Many cultural groups in Afghanistan maintain their own mahali musical traditions as well, such as Hazara, Uzbek, Tajik, and Pashtun communities. 

 

Mahali music styles are often tied to dance or poetic traditions of a particular region or community. Dance is an essential part of many celebrations in Afghanistan. Dances are usually segregated by gender, with groups having their own band of musicians to accompany them. Music, most often drums and sometimes other instruments, helps to choreograph dances, with the music's rhythm cueing the dance's steps and motions. Poetry used in mahali music highlights regional folklore and is often romantic in character, oftentimes telling allegories through the tragic story of Layla and Majnun (Qais). References to imagery related to Sufi expression and thought are also found. 

 

Music form in mahali music varies, with the numerous music and dance traditions that comprise Afghan mahali music following a variety of forms. Contemporary mahali music takes influence from it being standardized for the radio during the 1950's to 1970's. At the time, these efforts were influential in creating a pan-Afghan identity among the many ethnicities that make up the population of Afghanistan. In these arrangements, songs were based on pre-composed melodies that repeated numerous times in performance. Afghan instruments were also specifically used in these recordings, including the rubab, tanbur, dutar, sarinda, tula (flute), dhol, and zerbaghali. ​​