Orchestras of Afghanistan International Study Day
Max-Planck-Institut für empirische Ästhetik - Frankfurt, Germany
On 8 September 2023, members of the Orchestras of Afghanistan Research Stakeholders' Group came together with colleagues from the University of Kabul Music Department now in exile in Europe and other scholars and practitioners of the music of Afghanistan for the first-ever academic forum on the orchestral music-making practices of Afghanistan.
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Other speakers and delegates joined online from across the globe.​
Speakers and Abstracts
Session 1 - The Orchestras of Afghanistan Research Stakeholders' Group
Chair: Mirwaiss Sidiqi
Mirwaiss Sidiqi is a UK-based ethnomusicologist and former visiting fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London. Since 2005, he has worked as a director and country coordinator at the Aga Khan Music Initiative, which aims to foster the development of living musical heritage in societies across the world where Muslims have a significant presence, and disseminate this work internationally through collaborations with exceptionally creative musicians, artists, educators, and arts presenters.
Prof Islamuddin Feroz (Former Professor, Department of Music, Kabul University)
'A mingled history of orchestras and political change in Afghanistan'
Mirwaiss Sidiqi, Former Director of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Afghanistan, member of the RSG.
Ghafar Maliknezhad (Former Lecturer, Department of Music, Kabul University) and
Fazila Zameer (Rubab player and masters' student at the University of Weimar)
'Challenges and experiences of traditional musicians in the orchestral music-making practices of Afghanistan'
​Abstract
Since the arrival of Western music in Afghanistan, one of the biggest concerns of Afghan music pioneers has been the formation of various music orchestras as well as large and small music groups, which include traditional Afghan instruments along with Western instruments. this idea and practice have always been associated with great challenges. One of the biggest challenges has always been the role and integration of traditional musical instruments such as rabab with Western musical instruments in orchestral music practices. Considering The difference in the practical and theoretical foundations of Eastern and Western music, including the methods of transferring musical knowledge, performance, the tastes and expectations of artists, as well as the lack of necessary criteria or instruction for mixed performances involving Western and traditional musicians, caused a big gap in the understanding and necessary coordination among the musicians in Afghanistan. Throughout the country's music history until today, the accompaniment of traditional musicians in a mixed orchestra has always been one of the most important and challenging discussions in the field of music and has always caused these orchestras not to develop in a certain framework of mixed orchestras or their early collapse.
Ghafar Maliknezhad
Former Lecturer, University of Kabul, Music Department
Ghafar Maliknezhad has had a career including as a Lecturer teaching subjects such as Musicology, Music Criticism, Composition, Film Music, and Piano, and experience as a Researcher, professional pianist composer, and arranger of music for piano and orchestra, obtaining an M.A. in the field of Art Criticism science. Since Taliban took the power in Afghanistan in August 2021, Maliknezhad had to leave the country and currently live in Munich, Germany. In 2022, in a research project led by Dr. Cayenna Ponchione Bailey, he, as a member of the research team OA-RSG and composer, arranged an Afghan traditional epic song (Da Zemunzh Ziba Watan).
Fazila Zameer
Rubab Player and Former Teacher at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music
Fazila Zameer is the first lady rabab player she was born in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, into an educated family with a passion for the arts. She began learning music at the Agha Khan Cultural Foundation and continued her musical education at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM). She graduated from the Fine Arts Music Department at Kabul University. During her time at ANIM, she initiated the formation of an all-female orchestra called "Zohra" and actively participated in it as a member. She also worked as a leader and member of orchestra on Afghan Women's Television and the National Television. Additionally, before the Taliban's rule, she was employed in the Ministry of Culture as the head of music. She continued to teach music at the Fine Arts Music Department of Kabul University. Fazila has performed numerous concerts in Afghanistan and participated in international festivals in countries such as South Korea, Oman, Estonia, Switzerland, Germany, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, China, Qatar, Portugal, and Luxembourg. In Afghanistan, she established a music education center called "Mahd Honar Music Academy" and taught music to many young people, especially girls. However, after the Taliban's takeover, she was forced to close this arts academy and left her family and country. Currently, she resides in Weimar, Germany.
Professor Islamuddin Feroz, Former Head of Department, University of Kabul Music Department, member of the RSG.
Ghafar Maliknezhad, former Lecturer at University of Kabul Music Department, member of the RSG.
Fazila Zameer, rubab player and teacher, member of the RSG.
Dr Lauren Braithwaite (University of Oxford)
'When Music is More Than Entertainment: Gender, Ethnicity, and Cultural Diplomacy in Afghanistan’s Orchestral Education Programmes'
Abstract
After the fall of the first Taliban regime in 2001, music took on new roles within Afghan society and was increasingly used by individuals, groups, and institutions as a medium to address acute social issues such as child poverty, women’s rights, political conflicts, and ethnic unity. Drawing on the orchestral programmes of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music’s, this paper explores the role of music education in helping to promote liberal ideals within Afghan society. Focussing on the themes of gender, ethnicity, and cultural diplomacy, I argue that ‘the orchestra’, in the context of internationally-funded education programmes, became a mouthpiece for the country’s foreign-backed government. Moreover, I draw on the concept of ‘futurity’ to illustrate how orchestras during this time both symbolised, enacted, and performed a utopian image of Afghanistan’s ideal society which was imagined by both players and audiences alike. Although the materialisation of the country’s utopian society was abruptly interrupted by the return of the Taliban regime in August 2021, the orchestra remains an important medium for Afghan musicians to (re)imagine the Afghanistan they continue to work for.
Dr Lauren Braithwaite, University of Oxford, advisory member of the RSG.
Dr Lauren Braithwaite
University of Oxford
Dr Lauren Braithwaite recently completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford where she explored the role of music education in Afghanistan during the liberal peacebuilding era, funded by the Oxford Carolyn and Franco Gianturco Graduate Scholarship. As an educator, Lauren has worked with education programmes in Afghanistan, Australia, Mexico, and Rwanda, and from 2017–2019 she was Artistic Director of the Zohra Women’s Orchestra. Lauren’s arrangements of Afghan folk and popular songs have been performed by international ensembles including the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (USA), South Asian Symphony Orchestra (India), Norrköpings Symfoniorkerster (Sweden), and the Choir of Somerville College, Oxford (UK).
Session 2 - The Orchestras of Afghanistan Research Stakeholders' Group
Chair: Ghafar Maliknezhad
Abstract
In this session, three members of the Research Stakeholders' Group present on their work in progress. Qambar Nawshad is currently undertaking an interview-based study exploring the purposes of Afghanistan's orchestras from the perspective of orchestral musicians from Afghanistan now living in exile. This research seeks to go beyond institutional and political narratives to understand the lived-experience and diverse perspective of these musicians. Mohsen Saifi's research is also interview-based and aims to document the experiences and challenges for conductors working with orchestras in Afghanistan. Interviews are underway with preliminary analysis demonstrating both a range of similarities and differences for conductors working within different institutional frameworks in the last decade. Finally, Arson Fahim presents on a number of audience surveys designed to collect perspectives from attendees at concerts of orchestral music by Afghan composers over the past year. The audience research is interested in understanding the reception of Afghanistan's orchestral music outside of the country by both people from Afghanistan living in the diaspora as well as international members of the audience. Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey has been working alongside each of these RSG members and provides an initial overview of orchestral activity in Afghanistan, contextualising each of the research strands.
Qambar Nawshad
Former conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Afghanistan and Youth Orchestra
Mohammad Qambar Nawshad, (b. 1996) An Afghan conductor, composer, and percussionist, with music studies at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM). Chief conductor of the Afghan Youth Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Afghanistan, and Percussion junior faculty at ANIM. Performances as conductor and percussion soloist at the Afghan Youth Orchestra and Afghan Symphony Orchestra since 2010, Performing at the USA Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Royal Opera House Muscat Oman, The South Asian Symphony Orchestra India, Grand Auditorium Gulbenkian Center Lisbon Portugal, Alter Oper Frankfurt Germany. However, Nawshad’s arrangements and compositions have been performed in New York, Boston, London and in Kabul, and recorded regularly by orchestras in Afghanistan with broadcasts of his work and orchestral performances featured on national television. Recently, Nawshad played an important role in the reconstitution of the Afghan Youth Orchestra in Portugal where the Afghanistan National Institute of Music was re-established in December 2021.
Mohsen Saifi
Former Lecturer, University of Kabul, Music Department
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Mohsen Saifi (b. 1989) is an academic, guitarist, conductor and composer now based in Germany. As a Lecturer at the Kabul University Music Department since 2012 until the abrupt closure of the department by the Taliban in August 2021, he served as the department’s programme manager and the conductor of the orchestra. He conducted the University’s leading musical ensembles, including in his own compositions and arrangements, for numerous prestigious events in Kabul involving the US embassy, Kabul University, and ministries of the erstwhile government of Afghanistan.
Qambar Nawshad, Former conductor of the Afghanistan National Symphony Orchestra, member of the RSG.
Mohsen Saifi, Former Lecturer at the University of Kabul Music Department, member of the RSG.
Arson Fahim
Former conductor of the Afghanistan National Symphony Orchestra and Youth Orchestra
Arson Fahim is a pianist, composer, and conductor from Afghanistan. A fierce believer in the power of music to be a tool for activism and social change, and a symbol of resistance, perseverance, and hope, Arson’s music is often inspired by the tragedies and injustices of war. In 2021, weeks before the Taliban took control of Kabul and once again banned music, Arson graduated from the Afghanistan National Institute of music and moved to the US to pursue his studies at the Longy School of Music where he was awarded a scholarship.
Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey
Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, University of Sheffield
Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield, Director of Performance at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford and the Conducting Fellow of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. Her research is focused on the social-psychological and socio-political aspects of orchestral music-making—from the intricacies of co-performer communication in modern and historically informed contexts, to the politics of participation and orchestras' geo-political significance, with a current focus on the orchestras of Afghanistan. Dr Ponchione-Bailey convenes the Orchestras of Afghanistan Research Stakeholders’ Group and co-curates the Orchestral Music of Afghanistan: Looking Forward project with composer Arson Fahim. Dr Ponchione-Bailey holds masters’ degrees in orchestral conducting, percussion performance, and musicology, and a doctorate in music from the University of Oxford.
Arson Fahim, Former conductor of the Afghanistan National Symphony Orchestra, member of the RSG.
Panel discussion 1 - The global response to the crisis facing musicians in Afghanistan, August 2021 to the present
Chair: Darren Ferguson (Beyond Skin)
Darren Ferguson, CEO Beyond Skin
Darren Ferguson is the founder and CEO of Beyond Skin, an organization based in Northern Ireland enabling the arts in peacebuilding and diversity education. Beyond Skin has delivered over 4,000 projects across 19 years including collaborations with partners in 32 countries, Afghanistan included. Darren has been both helping Afghan community in Afghanistan and the diaspora as part of International Campaign for Afghan Musicians, also co-founding Alghochak (Afghan Association Northern Ireland) and Musicians Artists at Risks Resettlement Scheme known as MARRS. Darren has been actively raising awareness of Afghan musicians at risk and has hosted many concerts with master musicians in Belfast, a UNESCO City of Music.
Aryana Sayeed
Singer and Human Rights Activist
Aryana Sayeed is a world renowed singer, songwriter, composer,and humanitarian activist fighting for women's and musician's right in Afghanistan. She has established herself as one of Afghanistan's most famous contemporary musical artists, performing regularly in concerts and philanthropic festivals within and outside Afghanistan.
Mirwaiss Sidiqi
Former Director of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Afghanistan
Mirwaiss Sidiqi is a UK-based ethnomusicologist and former visiting fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London. Since 2005, he has worked as a director and country coordinator at the Aga Khan Music Initiative, which aims to foster the development of living musical heritage in societies across the world where Muslims have a significant presence, and disseminate this work internationally through collaborations with exceptionally creative musicians, artists, educators, and arts presenters.
Travis Beard
CEO Sound Connections
Aryana Sayeed calls on international partners to address the crisis facing Afghanistan's Musicians in a manifesto of 8 clear action points.
Travis Beard first visited Afghanistan in November 2001, where he contracted the so called Afghan Bug. Addicted to Afghan country and culture, he subsequently moved to Kabul permanently in 2006 where he taught at the country’s first media school – AINA. He went onto co-found a skateboard school – SKATEISTAN, which won an Oscar for best short documentary in 2019. Travis co-founded a street art school – Wallords, the Kabul knights Motorcycle Club and the country’s first contemporary music & arts festival – SOUND CENTRAL FESTIVAL 2011 to 2013. Sound Central was resurrected in 2021, when there was a change in government in Kabul. Now Sound Central works to support, relocate and promote Afghan musicians still in Afghanistan and others who seek asylum. Travis’ debut feature documentary, ROCKABUL focused on the music scene in Afghanistan told through the perspective of the Afghan band, District Unknown and had its World Premiere at the prestigious Rotterdam International Film Festival 2018. Travis has just completed his second film about Afghanistan - The Watch or the Time, which will be release later this year.
Dr Waheedullah Saghar
Former Lecturer and Head of the Music Department, at Kabul University
Waheedullah Saghar is a Weimar-based Afghan-origin Hindustani classical musician from Kabul. He showed interest in music from a very early age while studying at School in Kabul, and seriously started to learn Hindustani classical music at the age of fifteen. Saghar obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Music from Kabul University. He later went to India on a scholarship to pursue his Master’s degree and Ph.D. He also has served as a research committee member in the Ministry of Higher Education and High Council of Arts of Afghanistan, Ministry of Information and Culture. Waheedullah Saghar headed the Department of Music and was an Associate Prof. at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Kabul University until the Taliban took over the Afghan government in 2021.