Yalda Yazdani takes us to Afghanistan, where female singing has ceased to be free.
An absurd world, a land that is trampled on every day through abuse, injustice and deprivation.
Today I was “captured” by this video recorded in July 2021 in Kabul by the film crew led by the ethnomusicologist Yalda Yazdani and by the German journalist of Afghan origin Sharmila Hashimi.
This video is the latest documentation depicting a form of free female singing before the Taliban regime.
While taking risks, the troupe wanted to fully document the reality of an oppressed people, suffocated by injustice and the impossibility of expressing themselves even with just a song.
Now, one year later, the women singers portrayed in the documentary live far from their country and their origins, hoping to re-embrace their homeland.
These are touching personal stories that continue to be told by Yalda Yazdani in an attempt to understand how to raise public awareness in the face of this havoc.
Thanks to this documentary, I discovered a world of nine singers with different lives and musical experiences. These are their names:
Mashal Arman, Rouya Doost, Gulshan, Freshta Farokhi, Sumaia Karimi, Sadiqa Madadgar, Naria Nour, Wajiha Rastagar e Ghawgha Taban.
We meditate, thanks to singing, to discover ourselves freer, and we learn to love this instrument because it is not only that playful and carefree form that makes us happy, but it is a power of social awareness that allows man to understand how important freedom is also in our vocal sound.
Link to the description of the project on Yalda Yazdani’s website: https://yaldayazdani.com/project/life-after-life/
Link to the project: http://femalevoiceofafghanistan.com/
Read also the article: Il canto a tenore patrimonio dell’Unesco
