The next orchestra I chose to write about is Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra, Zohra. Similar to my last blog post which discussed the orchestra, Women of the New Millennium, Zohra is based in a country which faces extreme inequality and danger for women, making it all the more difficult for women’s orchestras to exist and survive.
Afghanistan has a mixed history with music. After initially flourishing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, music was banned by the Taliban in 1996 because of its “corrupting influence”. However, in 2010 musicologist Ahmad Sarmast founded the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), offering the opportunity for children to learn and perform music. Unfortunately, ANIM still faced challenges with a Taliban suicide bomber attack at a musical drama performance in 2014. Following the attack Sarmast didn’t expect students to return, but thankfully they did.
One such student enquired about a group for girls to play together, thus beginning the formation process of Zohra, ANIM and Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra. The orchestra was founded in 2015 offering opportunities for female musicians to unite in solidarity and develop music skills. Over 30 students, aged 12-20, formed the 25-piece orchestra with a combination of Western Classical and Afghan instruments. It was led by female conducting students, the first female conductors in the country’s history.
Through its support for instrumentalists and conductors, Zohra was symbolic of the freedoms enjoyed by Afghan women over the years around its formation. Sarmast claimed that “the formation of the orchestra is aimed at sending a positive message to the community…to encourage families and girls to join the music scene of the country”. This certainly worked and the young women of Zohra defied the odds to attain an education and play music together, while also being the first women in their families and communities to learn music in over 30 years.
However, the members of Zohra still faced many difficulties by participating in an ensemble committed to changing attitudes in a deeply conservative country where many see music as immoral, especially for women. One of the conductors was supported by her father in joining ANIM, but he was then disowned by his family. Additionally, the female student who first asked for the existence of the ensemble has since disappeared. Another conductor only told some of her family, fearing others would stop her, but was pleasantly surprised to be congratulated by them when they found out. She stated that she had changed her family and “now it is time for other girls to change their families because I am sure that slowly all Afghanistan will change.”
Sadly, this goal could not be met after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan 2021. They banned secondary education for girls, destroyed musical instruments and took charge of one of the ANIM campuses to use as a barracks. Thanks to the work of Sarmast and his contacts, including Yo-Yo Ma who helped negotiate with the Qatari government, all 272 members of ANIM, including 150 students and the 30-strong Zohra orchestra, were evacuated and have since been granted asylum in Lisbon, Portugal. In 2022 they began preparing for their first performance together since fleeing Afghanistan, with some playing on donated instruments. One of the conductors and violinists stated that “when I play in the orchestra I am a girl who has her rights…I feel powerful”, and all the members hope that the orchestra’s continuing existence, albeit in exile, will inspire Afghan girls back home.
In 2023, there was a documentary released about Zohra orchestra, called Sisters. It follows musician Dan Blackwell who travels to the country's capital of Kabul in 2017 to meet the musicians and conductor of the Zohra orchestra. It was produced by the Northampton-based filmmaker Tony Klinger, who said the film featured "the most extraordinary tales of triumph". Blackwell discovered the group on the internet in 2017 and after making contact with the orchestra was invited to meet them in Afghanistan. He travelled later in 2017 and went to the school where the orchestra was based which was "walled off and had armed guards". Since fleeing the country after the Taliban retook control and moving to different parts of the world, Blackwell has still kept in touch remotely and met up with some based in the US. According to Blackwell "they're still performing music and they're getting their instruments and coming back together again”.
After such an incredible story it is heart-warming to hear that the orchestra are still performing together despite everything they have had to endure. Family disputes, Taliban control and relocating across the world has not stopped them from making music and performing in an ensemble that gives them rights and power. Members of the Zohra orchestra are undoubtedly an inspiration to women and girls across the world.
If you’re enjoying these blogs please feel free to get in touch to ask more about women’s orchestras or request my full dissertation to read.
References:
Afghanistan National Institute of Music (no date). Ensembles. Available at: https://www.anim-music.org/ensembles (Accessed: 13th July 2023).
Alger, Bonnie Eve (2018). Their Own Agenda: The History, Development, and Culture of Women’s Orchestras Outside The United States. University of Maryland. Available at: https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/20821/Alger_umd_0117E_18788.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (Accessed: 10th November 2022).
Cooper, Pete. (2023). ‘Afghanistan’s first female orchestra ‘inspiring’’, BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c808dw162e0o (Accessed: 30th August 2024).
Hopps, Kat (2022). ‘Why Afghanistan’s exiled all female Zohra Orchestra are determined to keep playing’, Express. Available at: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1604634/Afghanistan-exiled-all-female-zohra-orchestra (Accessed: 12th July 2023).
Sharifi, Karim and Rahim Faiez (2017). ‘First Afghan women’s orchestra tries to change attitudes’, The Salt Lake Tribune. Available at: https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5120218&itype=CMSID (Accessed: 12th July 2023).
Zohra Music. (no date). Zohra – Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra. Available at: https://www.zohra-music.org/ (Accessed: 30th August 2024).
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