By MARGHERITA STANCATI
Laila Nabizadeh, a 13-year-old Afghan drummer, will be performing in New York's Carnegie Hall this month, as part of Afghanistan's only national orchestra, which has been touted as a symbol of the country's progress since the Taliban's downfall.
But when she returns from her U.S. tour, the new, more conservative winds blowing in Kabul are threatening her budding music career.
Ms. Nabizadeh and 10 other members of the youth orchestra are residents of a charity-run girls' shelter in Kabul. She was sent here to get an education by her parents, who live in the remote eastern province of Nuristan, much of which is under Taliban control.The tour was planned in late 2011, but in September, Afghanistan's Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs ordered the shelter to halt its music program and replace it with religious classes. Music other than the national anthem and patriotic songs risks "tempting people toward immorality and is against Islam," said Wasil Noor Momand, the deputy minister for social affairs who signed the order. "Afghanistan is an Islamic country and we want our children to be raised in an Islamic way."
The order added that once the girls turn 18, they must leave the shelter, and return to their families in the countryside. Ms. Nabizadeh doesn't know what she will do if she can't become a drummer. But she knows for sure that she doesn't want to go back to her home valley, where girls marry young and music is taboo. "I love playing the drums," she said in an interview at the Kabul shelter. "I want to stay here."
As the U.S.-led coalition withdraws in coming years, the move against young musicians is one sign Afghanistan is backsliding on basic rights acquired following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban regime, which considered music un-Islamic and banned it.
Although the central government's official position is that it supports music education among children, music is viewed as blasphemous by Taliban mullahs and some Afghan government officials, and girls face an even-stronger backlash.
"We support the promotion of music, especially of Afghan music," said Aimal Faizi, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who he said wasn't aware of the ministry's order.
But political uncertainty and the possibility of a Taliban comeback, is emboldening some officials to promote more conservative agendas.
"Everyone is getting more conservative because they are worried that the Taliban will come back or join the government," said Afghan lawmaker Elay Ershad, a member of a parliamentary committee that pushed for a ban on teaching music—a decision she opposed. "It's killing me."
The Afghan Child Education and Caring Organization runs Ms. Nabizadeh's shelter. Some 30 other girls studying music live there, many of them from the country's most violent regions. The charity running the shelter partners with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, the country's recently established music academy, which encourages the girls to audition. Ms. Nabizadeh, who moved to Kabul at the age of 9, enrolled in the academy two years ago.
For now, in the shelter's basement-turned-music room, drum rhythms still accompany the piano. Andeisha Farid, who runs the charity, said she has launched a complaint against the ministry's order and is still waiting for a reply. The parliamentary committee is also reviewing her request to let the girls continue their music classes.
It isn't clear, however, how long she could resist the crackdown. "We are scared these voices will get louder," she said. "It's not only under the Taliban—it's still very difficult for these girls to play music."
Years of Taliban rule and war took a toll on the country's once-flourishing music scene.
"The Taliban destroyed all my instruments and hanged some of them from trees," said Ustad Amruden, a player of dilruba, a traditional Afghan stringed instrument. The frail-looking, soft-spoken 70-year-old, who is now a teacher at the music academy, recounted having to flee overnight to Quetta, Pakistan, fearing for his life.
Though the Taliban have softened their prohibitions on photography, television and girls' education in recent years, "Music is strictly forbidden in Islam," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
The music academy where Mr. Amruden teaches and Ms. Nabizadeh studies has around 140 students, boys and girls from the age of 9. Sponsored chiefly by the World Bank, the academy operates under the auspices of Afghanistan's Ministry of Education.
Ahmad Naser Sarmast, the academy's director, said he is confident that music education will survive.
"The time when children were deprived of music is gone now," said Mr. Sarmast, a musicologist who started the academy three years ago with the aim of reviving the country's moribund music scene. He said the academy—unlike the girls' shelter— hasn't faced pressure to curb its music-education program.
As part of the school's policy, half of the student body comes from underprivileged backgrounds. A majority of them, like Ms. Nabizadeh, were recruited from shelters scattered around the Afghan capital. Others are former street hawkers, who sold chewing gum and plastic bags in Kabul before taking up clarinets, violins and cellos.
One recent morning, boys and girls carrying tablas, xylophones and guitars shuffled noisily between classrooms, as members of the school's orchestra crammed in a wood-paneled room for rehearsals ahead of their U.S. trip.
They played "The Four Seasons of Afghanistan," a version of Antonio Vivaldi's violin concertos adapted to include Afghan instruments like the plucked string rabab.
Their tour, partly funded by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, includes stops at Washington's John F. Kennedy Center on Feb. 7, and a performance in New York's Carnegie Hall on Feb. 12.
The young musicians said they are looking forward to the trip. For most, it will be their first time outside Afghanistan, or on a plane. "I'm really happy to be going to America," said Sapna Rahmati, an aspiring pianist.
But she is aware of music's uncertain position in her country.
"The Taliban don't want the music school, and they don't want girls to go to school," said the 10-year-old, who lives in the same shelter as Ms. Nabizadeh.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said it wouldn't welcome attempts to restrict music education for children.
"Music and music education teaches tolerance, it brings everyone together in a spirit of peace," said embassy spokesman David Snepp. "Once that happens, it's very difficult to reverse."
But Ms. Ershad, the lawmaker, fears what will end up happening as U.S.-led troops leave and the global spotlight shifts away from Afghanistan.
"Women's rights and music are soft targets," said Ms. Ershad, a former government adviser on gender issues and a mother of two. "I'm really worried."
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