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| AFGHANISTAN:
MUSIC OF TRADITION AND TRANSITION |
Project Title: Afghanistan: Music of Tradition
and Transition
Recipient Organization: Fremont Symphony Orchestra
Lead Artist: Hamed
Shalizi and the Afghan Ensemble
Genre and Date Awarded: Traditional
Arts, June 2003
To Be Completed: July 2004
Until very recently, in Afghanistan the performance
of traditional music could sentence the player or performer to
death. Thus,
an entire generation in Afghanistan
has missed out on the folk tradition of Afghan music and the responsibility
to keep that tradition alive has fallen to exiled musicians. Through their
collaboration, the Afghan Ensemble and Fremont Symphony Orchestra will conduct
research and present a five-concert series, “Afghanistan: Music of Tradition
and Transition,” featuring lead artist Hamed Shalizi and the other members
of the Afghan Ensemble_Izmarai Arefi, Aziz Herawi, Kabir Howaida, and Husain
Sarhang.
The largest population of Afghans in the United States currently lives in Fremont,
California and the Afghan Ensemble was formed there in the summer of 2002, sponsored
by the Fremont Symphony Orchestra. The five-member group began working together
to research and rehearse traditional musical styles. Their resulting performance
was one of the first presentations of traditional Afghan music after the fall
of the Taliban government, making it a pivotal event in traditional music and
for Afghans nationally and internationally.
This grant allows ensemble members to extend their research, rehearse additional
repertoire, and hone their technical expertise. The Symphony will manage the
Ensemble’s marketing and financial administration, procure its rehearsal
and performance venues, and mentor its organizational development. Further,
symphony artistic director David Sloss and concertmaster, John Philip Santos,
will participate
as artistic advisors in rehearsals.
Afghanistan’s geographic position made it a commercial as well as a
cultural link between East and West. While it is difficult to trace a continuous
line
of development for Afghan music, it reflects cross-fertilizing relationships
between Persian, Afghan, Central Asian, and Indian musical cultures. Afghan
music distinguished itself from its Indian roots with its use of spiritual
and mystical
poetry sung with heavy vibrato. The singer is usually accompanied by a harmonum, which
looks and sounds much like an accordian. Afghanistan’s national instrument
is the robab, a short-necked double-chambered lute. Afghan Ensemble musicians
play robab, dutar (a long-necked, 14-string lute), nai (wooden
flute), tabla, dohl (both drums), harmonum, and piano. Its
artists studied their respective instruments in Afghanistan before the political
regime forbade music pursuits.
The Fremont Symphony was founded in 1964 to serve the residents of the region.
It presents a series of family matinee concerts and hosts special events in addition
to producing classical concerts. The family concerts and special events provide
opportunities to showcase local talents such as the Afghan Ensemble and to introduce
audiences to a wide range of musical styles.
Lead artist Hamed Shalizi attended the Academy of Music in Kabul,
Afghanistan at the age of 13. There he studied music theory and learned
to play the piano in the Western classical style. After a time, he
studied traditional music of Afghanistan, beginning study of the harmonum with
Ustad Saadiq Pendiwali of Pakistan. From there, he started to learn
classical Afghan music theory and the Ragas.
He continued his musical studies and pursuits after moving to the United States
in the late 1980s. He studied tabla with the world-renowned tabla player,
Ustad Zakir Hussian, and vocal and harmonum with Rita Sahai (a student
of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) and Genish Tewari. Mr. Shalizi also has taken courses
in Indian Classical Music at the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Shalizi has had the honor of accompanying several Afghan vocalists, such
as Ustad Mahwash, Haidar Saleem, and Sultan Ahmad, on tour.
Hamed Shalizi was a founding member of the Afghan Ensemble formed in summer 2002
under sponsorship of the Fremont Symphony. Its members and their musical instruments
are: Izmarai Arefi (tabla, dohl); Aziz Herawi (robab, dutar); Kabir
Howaida (piano); Husain Sarhang (nai); and Hamed Shalizi (harmonum).
Born in Afghanistan in 1946, Kabir Howaida came to
the United States ten years ago. His interest in music began
at the age of six and continued as he enrolled
in music classes at Radio Afghanistan. In the mid-1960s, he studied music
theory, history, and literature in Moscow and, at that time, began
writing his own
compositions. Over the years, he has taken part in concerts in Afghanistan,
Iran, Germany, Canada, and the United States. In 2002, he performed with
the Afghan Ensemble for their inaugural performance in Fremont
and helped introduce
the instruments and musical traditions of his country. He also has hosted
several lectures on the fundamentals of Afghan music, both in English
and Dari.
Aziz Herawi, or Aghasah as he is reverentially addressed
(due to his direct lineage to the prophet Mohammad), carries the melodies
of his native
Herat to
Afghan refugee communities around the world. Born into a family of noted
Sunni clerics, he was forced to practice clandestinely, teaching
himself to play
his main instrument, the dutar (14-stringed lute). In spite of his
father’s
disapproval, Herawi’s passion for music ultimately saved his life. In
1979, when massive government bombing leveled the city of Herat, and Soviet-backed
troops came to round up local leaderships, Herawi was away with musician
friends. Escaping with his life, he eventually joined the Mujaheddin, spending
several years in the mountains lifting the spirits of the guerrilla forces
with his powerful playing.
Well known in Herat as a performer and a generous patron of other musicians,
as well as for his broadcasts on Radio Afghanistan, Herawi finally left Afghanistan
in 1983, taking his family to safety across the border to Peshawar, Pakistan,
and then on to California in 1985. Herawi’s music may be found on the
recordings Master
of Afghani Lutes (Arhoolie), Memories of Heart (Latitudes), and Cry
of the Mountains (7/8 Music Productions).
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