Introduction to Afghan Music
In August 2021, when the Taliban took power again in Afghanistan, the entire Afghan youth orchestra managed to flee to Europe. The young musicians of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (Anim) have found a new home in Portugal and are now guests at the Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin.
The State of Music in Afghanistan
"In Afghanistan, it is completely forbidden to make instruments and play music," said Ahmad Sarmast, founder and director of Anim. He helped 273 people connected to his music school in Afghanistan. His Kabul School was then closed, and the instruments were destroyed. "Listening and playing music is a human right. This is quite refused to people in Afghanistan," said Sarmast. "My country did that into a ‘silent nation’."
The Young Euro Classic Festival
The Young Euro Classic Festival is an annual International Youth Orchestra Festival where hundreds of young musicians from all over the world appear. European and non-European orchestras and ensembles are invited to participate alike. "The core of the festival remains symphonic music and how different the countries deal with this tradition of classical music," said project manager Carolin Trispel.
Preserving Musical Traditions
The festival is also interested in preserving musical traditions for the future and offering a platform for their further development. This year, in addition to Afghan musicians, there are also musicians from Bolivia, Indonesia, India, Gambia, and the indigenous Sami population in northern Scandinavia. The Bolivian ensemble dos Pares de la Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos plays old melodies from the Andes and new pieces that are specially composed for their traditional instruments.
Forbidden Music Finds a New Voice
Some of these ensembles play traditional music that was prohibited in their respective home countries. This includes the singing of the Sami people, known as "Joik", which was banned from the 18th to the 20th century because it was regarded as an expression of a non-Christian religion. The Azada ensemble, an Afghan group within the youth orchestra, plays traditional music and dances, underlining the connection between humans and nature as well as the beauty of the country and its music.
Protesting Taliban Social Policy
The Afghan youth orchestra was a guest in the Beethovenfest in Bonn and is now performing in the Young Euro Classic in Berlin. "Every piece we play is connected to the current situation in Afghanistan and Taliban’s politics in any way," said Sarmast. The songs listed by the Afghan youth orchestra deal with topics such as social cohesion and a call to Afghan men to support oppressed women in their struggle for freedom and equality.
Hope Lives On
The last concert songs arranged by Tiago Moreira da Silva, a young Portuguese conductor and director of the orchestra, are based on a well-known Persian poem on the return of spring and the return of peace. Ahmad Sarmast quotes the Chilean poet and freedom fighter Pablo Neruda: "You can reduce the flowers and trees, but spring will always return and you cannot stop freedom." The orchestra remains in contact with its homeland via social media and through streams of their concerts. "Hope continues to live," said Sarmast, who believes that the day will come when the arts in Afghanistan can thrive again. "We want the Taliban to know that no oppressive regime has ever managed to stay in power in the history of humanity. And that will also be the case with the Taliban."
