Connect with us

Entertainment

Afghan musicians in Portugal tell of ‘cultural genocide’

Afghan musicians in Portugal tell of ‘cultural genocide’

Published

on

Afghan musicians in Portugal tell of 'cultural genocide'

We are here to save our music,” proclaims Ramiz, a young Afghan musician who has been welcomed in Portugal, along with other students from the national music school he left as he fled the Taliban’s cultural crackdown.

“We hope that one day we can go back to our country,” the 19-year-old told AFP, holding his rubab, a traditional stringed instrument made of wood and inlaid with mother-of-pearl.

Ramiz is one of 58 students from the National Music Institute of Afghanistan (Anim), aged between 13 and 21, who have settled in the northern Portuguese cities of Braga and Guimaraes.

He landed in Lisbon, along with his classmates, several teachers and some of their families in December 2021, months after the Taliban took power.

Advertisement

The 273 refugees fled Afghanistan for fear of reprisals from the ruling Taliban, who have banned non-religious music.


“When Taliban reached the gates of Kabul, it was clear that we should get out,” recalled Anim director Ahmad Sarmast, who did everything possible to evacuate the students and staff of the music institute.

‘It’s nothing short of a cultural and musical genocide,’ says director of the National Music Institute of Afghanistan, Ahmad Sarmast, in Portugal

“Afghanistan is a silent nation,” the 61-year-old said.

“When a country’s music is banned, an entire nation is silenced,” added Sarmast, who lost some of his hearing in an attack by the Taliban in 2014 when they were rebel fighters.

Advertisement

“It’s nothing short of a cultural and musical genocide,” added the Afghan music specialist, who has made it his mission to safeguard his country’s musical heritage and to recreate in Portugal the music school he founded in Afghanistan in 2010.

‘Each performance is a protest’
While waiting to find a place where it can be reborn, his exiled students have been welcomed at the Braga Music Conservatory, where they continue to play music as an act of resistance.

“Each performance of our school is a protest against what is happening in Afghanistan,” Sarmast said.

One of those acts of musical protest came earlier this month in a concert with celebrated Japanese-born violinist Midori Goto.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, promising a softer version of their brutal 1996-2001 rule that was infamous for human rights abuses.

Advertisement

But they have squeezed women out of almost all areas of public life, recently banning them from secondary and higher education, public sector work and from visiting parks and baths.

Nineteen-year-old percussionist Shogufa, working in another part of the Braga conservatory with a fellow student, is trying to enjoy the freedom that her new life in Portugal offers.

In her spare time, the Beethoven fan likes to compose music, cook, go out for a hamburger or play sports with her friends at a local gym.

While women are not allowed to study in Afghanistan, Shogufa welcomes the opportunity to do so every day in Portugal.

She remains traumatised by the memory of musical instruments destroyed and burnt by the Taliban in Kabul.

Advertisement

“My huge dream is that one day I’ll return back to Afghanistan,” she said.

“I do believe that everything will be fine, because the Taliban… is not forever.”

‘Our music is not dead’

Ramiz, taking a break from his rubab practice, is also optimistic and hopes one day to return to Afghanistan “and show our music is not dead”.

But his mood darkens when he thinks about his family back home.

Advertisement

Ramiz: ‘Life is too dangerous’ back in Afghanistan

He hopes they will soon be able to join him in Portugal as “the life is too dangerous for them”.

He speaks to his mother every day. “One night if she didn’t listen to my voice, she won’t sleep,” added the young man, whose father and two brothers are also musicians.

Shogufa, who spent over seven months in a precarious condition in a former military hospital in Lisbon before making her way to Braga, has similar concerns for those she left behind, including her six brothers and sisters.

Advertisement

Entertainment

Harvey Weinstein expected in New York court after rape conviction overturned

Harvey Weinstein expected in New York court after rape conviction overturned

Published

on

By

Harvey Weinstein expected in New York court after rape conviction overturned

Harvey Weinstein is due to appear in state court in Manhattan on Wednesday for the first time since New York’s highest court threw out his 2020 rape conviction last week.

The hearing before Judge Curtis Farber will give prosecutors and Weinstein’s lawyers a chance to address the next steps for the former film mogul, which could include a new trial.

“Harvey is looking forward to his day in a fair court,” said Weinstein’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer.

Weinstein, 72, has been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York. He is currently at Bellevue Hospital, where he was transferred following last week’s order, according to Engelmayer.

Advertisement

Jurors in Manhattan convicted Weinstein in February 2020 of sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They are among more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.

The conviction included charges of first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape. Weinstein, who has denied having non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone, was acquitted on other charges.

The verdict was hailed as a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in which women accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct.

Last week, the New York Court of Appeals found that Judge James Burke, who presided over the trial, made a critical mistake by allowing three women to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein that were not part of the criminal charges against him. The court said this “prior bad acts” testimony violated his right to a fair trial.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has signaled it plans to retry Weinstein.

Advertisement

“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for Bragg, said in an email last week.

The case was brought by Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance.

Regardless of whether he is retried, Weinstein is not likely to be released from jail because he was also sentenced to 16 years following his separate rape trial in California. The two sentences cannot be served concurrently.

Burke is no longer on the bench, so any retrial would be before a different judge.

Weinstein co-founded the Miramax film studio, whose hit movies included “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.” His own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Entertainment

‘Operation Madonna’: Rio readies for singer’s free mega-concert

‘Operation Madonna’: Rio readies for singer’s free mega-concert

Published

on

By

'Operation Madonna': Rio readies for singer's free mega-concert

Madonna’s long-awaited free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach has upended the neighborhood, with over a million fans expected — but for retired resident Mario Renato Borges, it’s the least the singer deserves.

“Welcome, Queen,” read some posters near the huge stage erected on the Brazilian beach, where Madonna will on Saturday give the biggest show of her 40-year career and the last of her “Celebration Tour.”

The 65-year-old American singer arrived in the coastal city on Monday after more than 80 shows in Europe, the United States and Mexico. This will be her only stop in South America.

The “Like A Virgin” and “Material Girl” performer traveled to Brazil with three planes and 270 tons of equipment, according to her production company.

Advertisement

She has set up camp at the luxurious Copacabana Palace hotel, connected to the stage by a suspended catwalk that dozens of fans crowded under this week, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop star.

The biggest dance floor

Thanks to free admission, organizers expect Madonna’s concert to produce the “world’s biggest dance floor” of up to 1.5 million people — a figure only reached on the same beach by the Rolling Stones in 2006.

“The traffic is chaos but the concert will be great, especially because it’s Madonna, the queen of pop,” says resident Borges, who lives in Leme, a neighborhood at the end of Copacabana Beach.

Madonna’s fourth performance in Rio will contribute some 293 million reais (US$57 million) to the local economy, an income 30 times higher than what city authorities invested, according to the mayor’s office.

Around 150,000 foreigners are expected to swarm the city, with most hotels already fully booked.

Advertisement

“This will undoubtedly be one of Rio’s biggest international events. It will boost our economy and attract tourists from Brazil, Latin American and all over the world,” said the city’s Tourism Secretary Daniela Maia.

Return of the conical corset

Madonna fever is clear to see in Rio — the so-called “Marvelous City” — as the hours tick down to her performance.

At the Lix printing shop in the popular downtown Saara shopping district, the songs of the “Material Girl” are playing on loop to inspire devotees who can choose from personalized fans, hats or mugs.

Manager Livia Reis, 23, tells AFP that her store went viral on social media shortly after the concert was announced thanks to an influencer who visited the Madonna-inspired shop.

“A guy came in, took a photo and a video, and sent them to a fan club with 150,000 followers in Portugal. From there, it jumped to TikTok and Instagram,” she says.

Advertisement

One particularly popular item is a replica of the conical corset created by French designer Jean Paul Gaultier, which Madonna famously wore on stage in 1990.

Sold as a bra or a top, the item is “doing very well,” says Reis, who expects there will be “queues out of the door” in the days ahead of the concert.

Patrols on the corners

“All this activity is good for tourism, hotels and restaurants. But let’s hope the security is up to the task,” says 68-year-old Rio local Borges.

The mayor’s office has prepared an operation equivalent to New Year’s Eve celebrations in Copacabana, one of the most famous in the world that typically brings down some one million people.

“Operation Madonna” will see some 4,500 agents deployed, working with drones and facial recognition cameras. There will be police patrols on almost every street corner in the neighborhood.

Advertisement

Nagila Alves, 54, who works for a pest control company, was on her way to a client’s home when she stopped to take a photo of the impressive stage set up for Madonna.

“I will always love her. Madonna is timeless,” she tells AFP, adding she plans to delay her arrival on Saturday to dodge the crowds swarming to the front of the stage.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Selena Gomez on social media: ‘I find it frustrating’

Selena Gomez on social media: ‘I find it frustrating’

Published

on

By

Selena Gomez on social media: 'I find it frustrating'

Selena Gomez feels frustrated by social media. The 31-year-old star has a huge online following, but Gomez often takes breaks from social media platforms to escape the negativity.

The brunette beauty – who has more than 400 million followers on Instagram – said at the TIME100 Summit: “I find it frustrating. Then I get a little mouthy and I want to defend the people I love.”

Gomez believes it’s important to take breaks from social media to retain a sense of perspective.

The actress – who is currently dating record producer Benny Blanco – explained: “I took four years off of Instagram, and I let my team post for me for those years. I felt like it was the most rewarding gift I gave myself.”

Advertisement

Meanwhile, Gomez previously claimed that there’s “so much strength in being vulnerable”.

The Only Murders In The Building star has spoken openly about her mental health struggles over recent years, and Gomez admitted that she’s found it to be a “very freeing” experience.

She told Wondermind: “I don’t love giving advice because I don’t have all of the answers.

“I’d say, though, find a friend or a family member you feel comfortable talking with and open up about what you are feeling. It’s very freeing to open up to someone. There is so much strength in being vulnerable.”

Despite this, Gomez doesn’t have any regrets over how she’s dealt with her own struggles.

Advertisement

The actress – who first found fame as a child – explained: “I try and not look back and wish anything could have been different. What I am happy about is that more people are opening up about their mental health.”

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © GLOBAL TIMES PAKISTAN