Music has had a rough
trot in Afghanistan in the recent past. Banned and hated by the Taliban,
cassette tapes and CDs were destroyed with the same sense of righteous
fanaticism during their years in power as books were burned by the Nazis in the
1930s.
But things are on the up at the moment. An Afghan-Aussie
recently went back to Kabul and with a grant from the World Bank set up the
Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
Ahmad Sarmast’s school is
open to boys and girls from the age of 10 years on and moves them through a 10
year course that delivers training in classical western and Afghan music.
Pop music including a version of Afghanistan Idol is popular
on TV and the radio. And there is renewed interest in the deep folk music
tradition of Afghanistan too. The music
of Afghanistan has a strong folk base that was heavily influenced and shaped by
classical Indian music when musicians from Punjab and Delhi came to Kabul to
seek the patronage of the Afghan royal family in the mid nineteenth century.
The Afghan Ensemble
is a group of musicians from Kabul, Kashmir, Iran and India who have come
together to try to be a voice, like Ahmad
Sarmast, for something other than bombs, hate, fanaticism and violence in
that ancient land.
Afghan Ensemble |
Zohreh Jooya, an
Afghan-Iranian singer from Mashad is the ‘voice’ of the Ensemble. She was
trained in the Western classical vocal tradition in Europe as well as in the
classical music of Iran and Afghanistan. She has a Masters degree in music from
the Arts University of Vienna.
Ustad Hossein Arman studied
in Afghanistan and in Europe and like Zohreh
has an impressive musical CV. He was associated with Radio Kabul for years
but then fled the country like so many other millions of this countrymen.
Relocated in Switzerland he tours the world with the Ensemble committed to
preserving the musical heritage of his country.
Other members of the group are transplanted Indians who
share a passion for Afghan music. Tonight’s post is collection of folk
songs from around Kabul interpreted by
the Ensemble.
Though the songs are old and of the people they are treated
with elegance and professionalism. The classical training and high musicianship
of the group is impossible to miss.
Music of hope and a kind of resistance.
Track
Listing:
01 Ai Bote Berahm
02 Bahare Shauq
03 Dokhtare Bagh
04 Zim Zim Zim
05 Khorshid Gouna
06 Dokhtare Kuchi
07 Milade Ali
08 Nuri, Nuri
09 Molla Mamad Jan
10 Che Shawad
11 Dokhtare Kabul
12 Ai Doostan
Listen here.
1 comment:
I've decided that MUSIC is just about the only thing that can be a force for Good in the world 'cause it's just about the only thing that can touch and move the human heart. Thanks for this glimpse of hope from a troubled land, Nate.
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