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تصویر بندانگشتی

Afghan National Music Institute Folds, Last Members Leave Kabul

The Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), which also hosted Afghanistan's orchestra, ceased operating as the last remaining members left the country for Qatar earlier this week.

The end of both the school and the orchestra followed the takeover by the Islamic Emirate, which has imposed restrictions on music.

The members of the organization are expected to fly to Portugal via the gulf state of Qatar.

The founder of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, Ahmad Nasir Sarmast, on Wednesday said he hopes to have an opportunity to soon organize an orchestra with members of the institute who fled the country.

"Unfortunately, the gates of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music are closed,” he said. “We had begun our work in one compound but today unfortunately the gates of the two compounds of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music are closed.”

A member of the cultural commission of the Ministry of Information and Culture, Mujeeb Rahman Akhundzada, said that only Islamic poetry and Islamic topics were allowed. Regarding the stance of the Islamic Emirate toward music, he said: “Anything that is placed in the Islamic format, for this the gates are opened, but anything that is not placed in the Islamic format, the gates are closed.”

Members of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music were performing traditional Afghan music for the world and were trained in Western music as well. The institute was founded in 2010.

A writer, Abdul Qadeer Mirzayi, said “negligence towards music or music institutions in Afghanistan is in fact negligence toward the national culture and tradition of the country.”

Afghan National Music Institute Folds, Last Members Leave Kabul

Members of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music were performing traditional Afghan music for the world and were trained in Western music as well.

تصویر بندانگشتی

The Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), which also hosted Afghanistan's orchestra, ceased operating as the last remaining members left the country for Qatar earlier this week.

The end of both the school and the orchestra followed the takeover by the Islamic Emirate, which has imposed restrictions on music.

The members of the organization are expected to fly to Portugal via the gulf state of Qatar.

The founder of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, Ahmad Nasir Sarmast, on Wednesday said he hopes to have an opportunity to soon organize an orchestra with members of the institute who fled the country.

"Unfortunately, the gates of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music are closed,” he said. “We had begun our work in one compound but today unfortunately the gates of the two compounds of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music are closed.”

A member of the cultural commission of the Ministry of Information and Culture, Mujeeb Rahman Akhundzada, said that only Islamic poetry and Islamic topics were allowed. Regarding the stance of the Islamic Emirate toward music, he said: “Anything that is placed in the Islamic format, for this the gates are opened, but anything that is not placed in the Islamic format, the gates are closed.”

Members of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music were performing traditional Afghan music for the world and were trained in Western music as well. The institute was founded in 2010.

A writer, Abdul Qadeer Mirzayi, said “negligence towards music or music institutions in Afghanistan is in fact negligence toward the national culture and tradition of the country.”

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