Afghan Youth Orchestra in Exile: Resistance against the Taliban

They play for their country, for hope, and for freedom. The very existence of the Afghan Youth Orchestra is a resistance against Taliban rule. In August 2021, when the Taliban re-seized power in Afghanistan, an entire orchestra managed to escape to Europe. The young musicians of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) have found a new home in Portugal for four years and are guests at the Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin.

"Making instruments and playing music is completely forbidden in Afghanistan," Ahmad Sarmast, founder and director of ANIM, told DW. He claims to have helped 273 people from his music school escape from Afghanistan. In Kabul, his music school was closed and the instruments destroyed . "Listening to and playing music is a human right. This right is denied to the people of Afghanistan," says Sarmast. "As a result, my country has become a 'silent nation.'"

Young Euro Classic aims to preserve musical traditions

But Afghan music lives on in exile, including at the Young Euro Classic in Berlin. Every year, hundreds of young musicians from all over the world perform at the international youth orchestra festival. In addition to European orchestras, non-European ensembles also participate. "The core of the festival remains symphonic music and the different ways in which countries approach this tradition of classical music," project director Carolin Trispel told DW.

Woman sings with microphone, man adjusts controls on a synthesizer. — The Sami duo "Ale, Ale!" combines traditional music with synthesizer sounds . Image: MUTESOUVENIR | KAI BIENERT

The spectrum has since expanded. In the relatively new "Festival within the Festival" series, ensembles primarily perform music from their homeland, playing traditional instruments from their culture. "We are also interested in preserving musical traditions for the future and providing a platform for their further development," says Trispel. This year, in addition to Afghan musicians, ensembles from Bolivia, Indonesia, India, Gambia, and the indigenous Sami people of northern Scandinavia are participating.

The forbidden music

Some of these ensembles play traditional music that was forbidden in their respective homelands. This is one example of the Sami song, "joiking." This spiritually-inspired spoken word was prohibited from the 18th to the 20th century as an expression of a non-Christian religion. "You often see this with indigenous peoples: their own musical language was suppressed by colonization, and their musical tradition was no longer allowed to be practiced," says Carolin Trispel.

A woman and a man play pan flutes. — The ensemble Dos Pares de la OEIN from Bolivia plays new music on traditional instruments . Image: MUTESOUVENIR | KAI BIENERT

The Bolivian ensemble "Dos Pares de la OEIN" plays ancient Andean melodies as well as new pieces composed especially for their traditional instruments. The Afghan "Azada Ensemble," a section of the youth orchestra, offers traditional music and dances. It's about the connection between people and nature, the beauty of the land, and music.

Protest against Taliban policies

As part of the DW Campus project at the Beethovenfest, the Afghan Youth Orchestra, together with Iranian musicians, performed in Bonn in 2021. "When we came to Bonn, it wasn't the entire orchestra, just a part of it," says the orchestra's founder, Ahmad Sarmast. The entire orchestra, with its 51 members, will now perform at the Young Euro Classic in Berlin and will be the final concert. "Every piece we play is connected in some way to the current situation in Afghanistan and the policies of the Taliban," says Sarmast.

The songs played by the Afghan Youth Orchestra address, among other things, the solidarity of the people. "One song is a call to Afghan men to support the oppressed women there in their fight for freedom and equality," explains Sarmast. The young Portuguese conductor and director of the orchestra, Tiago Moreira da Silva, arranged the songs.

Ensemble sits on a darkened stage with traditional drums, lutes and wind instruments. — The Taliban have also banned traditional Afghan pieces performed by the Azada ensemble. Image: ANIM

Protest with music against forgetting

Afghans associate a well-known traditional piece with the New Year celebrations. The Taliban have banned the festival and the music. "It has been celebrated in Afghanistan for thousands of years," explains Sarmast. "Performing the piece is a protest following the Taliban's dismantling of cultural traditions in Afghanistan."

Portrait of Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, founder of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music — Ahmad Sarmast helped the members of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music escape from the Taliban. Image: ANIM

The final song of the concert is based on a well-known Persian spring poem. It is about the return of spring and, symbolically, the return of peace. Ahmad Sarmast quotes the Chilean poet and freedom fighter Pablo Neruda: "You can cut the flowers and trees, but spring always comes again, freedom, you cannot stop." The orchestra maintains contact with its homeland via social media, including live streams of concerts.

"Hope lives on," asserts Ahmad Sarmast. Without hope, one cannot live. "We want to let the Taliban know that no oppressive regime in the history of humanity has ever managed to stay in power. And that will be the case with the Taliban as well."