Ramiz Safar, a musician from the National Institute of Music of Afghanistan (ANIM), visited Dream Orchestra in Gothenburg from April 28 to Tuesday, May 2, giving three workshops on Afghan music to members of the Afghan Traditional Group of Dream Orchestra and shared a workshop with the students of the “Young Leader Program”, whom he invited to learn about Afghan culture and, in particular, a traditional tale from the city of Herat. These workshops are part of the Storytelling Project that we carry out thanks to the support of Stiftelsen Signatur.
Ramiz, who plays the rubab, a traditional Afghan instrument, discussed classical and popular Afghan music; its styles, the keys that are most used, and how to read this music in western notation.
Founded in 2010, by Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, the National Institute of Music of Afghanistan was the first and only music school in Afghanistan where all children and youth had access to high-quality music. The physical site of the school, also called, in the words of Dr. Sarmast, “the happiest place in Afghanistan”, is today a base for the Al-Qaeda group, after the Taliban returned to power in July 2022. ANIM members had to flee into exile. Today they live and work in Portugal persevering and reviving Afghan music.
In March 2019, Dream Orchestra performed alongside the Afghan women's orchestra, Zohra, created by the Afghan National Institute of Music (ANIM) and Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, who won the 2018 Polar Music Prize, considered the Nobel Prize. of the music.
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