“I cannot imagine a society without music, it would be a dead society, I don’t know how it could survive. You can’t take music out of the hearts of people.”
The repression inflicted on artistic life by the members of the Taliban before 2001 saw the desecration of ancient monuments, musical instruments destroyed, and horrible punishments including execution, on anyone who dared to provide so much as a folk song or dance for a wedding.
Before Ahmad Sarmast, the Afghan music scholar, returned to his homeland from exile in 2006 to campaign for the restoration of musical life in Afghanistan, no woman had studied music in the country for 30 years.
The last time the Taliban were in power, Afghanistan became “a silent nation”, he says. “People were not allowed to listen to or practice music, they were not allowed to experience the beauty of music.”
Upon his return, he formed the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (Anim) with 12 different musical ensembles that played throughout Afghanistan and toured many world-famous concert halls. Before the recent collapse of Afghanistan, the institute had over 300 students, aged from about 12 to 20, all receiving a full education alongside their musical studies. The institute and orchestras promote gender equality and opportunity making huge improvements to the lives of hundreds of children from very poor backgrounds.
I had the pleasure of hearing the school’s inspirational all-female orchestra, called Zohra after the Persian goddess of music. It was conducted by an accomplished musical director who was once an orphan girl and child beggar on the streets of Kabul. Zohra played at the 2017 World Economic Summit at Davos in Switzerland. Do yourself a favour and listen to these clips:
All that, however, happened while American and British troops were in Afghanistan, keeping the Taliban at bay. Now the Islamic extremists are back in control, just as they were from 1996 to 2001 and Sarmast’s joyous, painstakingly built-up network of orchestras and music classes lies in ruins.
I know there are so many calls to help Afghanistan. I know in these interconnected times compassion fatigue sets in early as we flick the networks to the next disaster, especially during the pandemic. I know JANZ urged you to donate to a rescue fund for women judges in Afghjanistan and I know, realistically, that music has no real future in a Taliban-controlled country.
You can do just one thing. You can support Ahmad Sarmast: “My immediate dream is that the West will help us to relocate Anim to another country, close to Afghanistan. Perhaps in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan.” You can read about his dream and tell others to keep it alive. You can write to your MP, write to Foreign Affairs, write to Jacinda and tell them about his dream. We are blessed with a heart for music in Aotearoa. We know its power to unite and inspire. So tell someone “you can’t take music out of the hearts of people”.