Female Voice of Afghanistan – virtual music festival October 15-18, 2021 on YouTube – Zeitgenössische Oper Berlin-CrossGeneration media

Afghan female singers, introduced by cinematic portrait films, perform concerts and virtually meet Europe-based musicians to create fusion songs. Filmed in July-September 2021 on location in Kabul (Afghanistan), Mashhad (Iran), and Berlin (Germany).

In July 2021, ethnomusicologist Yalda Yazdani and Zeitgenössischen Oper Berlin (ZOB) director Andreas Rochholl traveled to Afghanistan for four weeks to film female singers living there. No one could have guessed at the time that this would be the last opportunity to document the lives of these female artists before the Taliban took power.

After two successful festival editions (2017/2018) and the documentary The Female Voice of Iran (2020), the vision of making these voices audible across all borders was also to be realized for female artists in and from Afghanistan. As before, artistic connections were also made with musicians from Europe. In addition to the complex political situation in Afghanistan, overcoming the pandemic-related and geographical distance creatively presented the makers with enormous challenges.

Nine singers of different biographical and musical backgrounds are portrayed: Mashal Arman, Rouya Doost, Gulshan, Freshta Farokhi, Sumaia Karimi, Sadiqa Madadgar, Naria Nour, Wajiha Rastagar and Ghawgha Taban; in addition, there will be a musical reading with author Mariam T. Azimi.

October 15-18, 2021 : https://www.youtube.com/c/CrossGenerationMedia

Malik Berkati

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