A leaf in the wind

The Afghan Youth Orchestra open the final gala of the Third Winter Academy, William Harvey, conductor and arranger.

Decades of war followed by the Taliban rule destroyed Afghanistan's musical culture. Even though music came back to Afghanistan in 2001, after the fall of the taliban, until 2009, there wasn't a single orchestra in Afghanistan that was capable of playing the country's national anthem. It was only then, the Ministry of Education set up the Afghan Institute of Music under the leadership of Dr. Ahmad Sarmast.

Concert at ANIM - Second winter Academy - December 2011

The main objective of the Afghan Institute of Music is to make music education accessible to the most vulnerable and underpriviledged kids of afghan society, the orphans and the street kids. The first 5 students of the institute were street children. Today the Institute has about 150 students, both, orphans and street children, of which, 35 are women.

Dr. Sarmast, in a documentary shared his dream to have composers capable of making new arrangements of western classical pieces with an orchestra using afghan instruments and a symphony orchestra capable of performing afghan pieces in new arrangements according to the classical traditions of Afghanistan.

His dream was realised sooner than he expected. The Winter Academy was launched in December 2010. The Annual Afghanistan Winter Academy is an intenstive eight-week musical journey designed to offer Afghan youth from age 10-30 a chance to improve their musical abilities, while offering the Kabul community a series of exciting concerts. The Third Annual Afghanistan Winter Music Academy is currently taking place.

William Harvey and Student - Second Winter Academy 2011

Second Winter Academy 2011

The Winter Academy students receive lessons in a wide range of music techniques. From American fiddling to folk music, to violin and piano, chamber music and even yoga classes. The students take private lessons and practice intensively through the eight week period. The concerts features guests performing along side faculty and students.

Tonight, at the winter gala  Ambassadors, Ministers, Diplomats, NGO workers and members of the international and afghan communities flocked at the elegant auditorium of the French Cultural Institute. The concert started and ended with the Afghan Youth Orchestra.  There was a chamber percussion ensemble, an indo-afghan traditional raga, featuring a sitar and sarod ensemble, a chamber orchestra and a violin, rubab and chamber orchestra. A wide rang of musical composers came together to produce beautiful harmonious arrangements of western and afghan classical pieces together thereby weaving Dr. Sarmast's dream into reality.

Third Winter Academy - January 2013

This dream has not only come to life, but grown wings and will be flying with a total of 45 musicians to America to perform at the Carnegie Hall in New York City and at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in the next week.

Third Winter Academy - January 2013

Dr. Samarst in an interview with New York Times said, " I want to show the world that lives lost and materials wasted in Afghanistan has not gone in the wind".

As I sat in the audience listening to the music, I glanced around. There were so many ambassadors, ministers and high level dignatories in the room that it easily required extensive security detail to ensure the safety of these people. All were there just to see the results of their investment in these children's future. It was supposed to be an evening of relaxation, an evening of music, but there was an element of intensity with all the possible threat the situation posed with so many high profile people in one location.

Afghan Youth Orchestra - Third Winter Academy, January 2013

The Afghan Youth Orchestra mesmerized us the entire evening with a wide repertoire of music and performances. All the kids are either orphans or street children affected by the war. Without the knowledge of their painful circumstances, I wouldn't fathom how hard won are the feelings of pride and accomplishment.

Music is a non threatening medium that can be used to unlock paths to an injured or traumatised brain full of deep rooted memories. "Pitch, harmony, melody, rhythm and emotion, all components of music, engage different regions of the brain. Many of those same regions are important in speech, movement and social interaction. If a disease or trauma has disabled a brain region needed for such functions, music can sometimes get in through a back door and coax them out by another route", says Dr. Gottfried Schlaug, a Harvard University neurologist.

In afghanistan, I've witnessed a series of attacks/blasts in less than a 2 mile radius of my location. I know how dislodged my brain gets and how I am unable to completely focus for a few days after the attack. And I have been lucky enough not to be born in these circumstances. I can't imagine how much more grit, self determination and focus these children need not only to learn how to play a musical instrument, but to master it and perform for a large audience. These children found music, a powerful medium to express themselves, like a balm with curative powers to heal their trauma.

This weekend, the children (45 musicians in all) will travel to the United States of America to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC (Feb 7) and at the Carnegie Hall in NYC (Feb 12). These children, once like leaves in the wind found a guide and purpose. Afghanistan history has witnessed many gusts of wind, very often short bursts of high speed.  Each sweep taking the leaves in different directions. Some leaves cling to life, soar high, catch the moon and dance with the stars.  For some children, this journey never ends, unclear, lost, traumatized, they get carried away by the wind into different directions, swept away into the oblivion...

I am a leaf in the wind 

my journey unclear

i glide with the gust

for he is my guide

my fate in his hands 

i worry not

I am a leaf in the wind

for when i fall my journey ends

the destination my reality

my mind now wonders

in my dreams an reality

is this my world or another - Allan Miguel