Ethnokino Festival: Resilient


  Documentary by Andreas Rochholl, Yalda Yazdani, Sebastian Leitner, Deutschland, 52 Minuten

Vision Talk by Yalda Yazdani with film screening "Female Voice of Afghanistan"

The wars that engulfed Afghanistan from the 1970s to the 90s curtailed music-making substantially but in recent years, a new era of music-making was taking shape, with many young women composers, conductors and musicians establishing new repertoires and new visions for different ensembles. These emerging musical voices were all abruptly silenced after the fall of Afghanistan in summer 2021. The country witnessed a humanitarian crisis with thousands of Afghans attempting to flee the country.

In July 2022 in collaboration with Zeitgenössische Oper Berlin, Yalda; an award winning ethnomusicologist, travelled to Kabul to meet the female singers. 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. Many women musicians have left the country, their beloved homeland, unwillingly with many emotions and dreams. They cannot really arrive anywhere, they are restless and scattered in many different foreign countries now. What moves these women musicians now, looking back on what has happened and looking forward to the future?How are they going to continue their music?

Right after the screening of their film “Female Voice of Afghanistan” Yalda’s talk will give an insight to the current situation of female singers of Afghanistan.