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[ Murtaza Nawrozali, student ] In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful,
my name is Murtaza, son of Nawrozali,
I'm in class 4B at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
[ Ahmad Naser Sarmast ] Since 1988, Afghanistan did not have a dedicated music school
for the Afghani children and youth.
From arrival of Taliban to power in Kabul until their collapse,
people of Afghanistan did not have any opportunity to learn music,
to listen to music and to practice music.
We’re working in a war zone, in a country where music has many friends
but a small number of enemies, but very loud enemies and very dangerous enemies.
Because the threat of the Taliban did not went away
without not leaving any impact of Afghan society…
So they practically brainwashed a generation against music.
And that was the time when I came up with a big project,
which was called the revival of Afghan music project.
[ Boy ] Exalted is your Lord, the Lord of might, above what they describe.
And peace upon the messengers
And praise to God, Lord of the worlds.
[ Man ] How are you? Everything going well today?
[ Children ] Everything's ok. It's just the exams.
[ Man ] I'd like you all to pass.
I hope to God it will go well and we'll be happy.
[ Children ] Amen!
[ Ahmad Naser Sarmast ] Try to play it in A-flat major without stopping.
Just play the whole thing without repeating it.
[ Girl ] At the first attempt? [ Ahmad Naser Sarmast ] Yes, the whole thing.
[ Girl ] We weren't taught this.
[ Ahmad Naser Sarmast ] My dear girl, you didn't understand.
I asked for A-flat major.
[ Dr. Ahmad Naser Sarmast, founder and director, Afghanistan National Institute of music ] I was a PhD student at Monash University in Australia,
when music was banned in Afghanistan.
And after the collapse of the Taliban, there was an opportunity
for me to return to Afghanistan to assess what’s happened.
When I came here I saw that music is in a big mess.
I saw that the country does not have an orchestra even capable to
perform the national anthem of this nation.
The main idea behind establishing a music school was to transform
not only Afghan society but also the lives
of Afghan children to education and to music.
My commitment was to help the disadvantaged kids of Afghanistan.
And therefore I was approaching various non-governmental organizations
who were helping street-working children, orphans and girls.
[ Girls ] Oh, the education revolution!
We're busy reading books.
We're studying under the sun.
[ Ahmad ] So in this group we’ve got several kids who come from organizations
who look after the street-working boys and girls.
[ Correspondent ] How many of you are here?
[ Ahmad ] Two, three, four...
nine, ten, eleven... Eleven.
[ Ahmad ] In the first year,
we enrolled about 40 disadvantaged kids
and then within a week I lost all of them. They were in the school for maybe
a week or two and then slowly they are disappearing one after another one.
The kids cannot study all day in the school because
they are also the bread-winners of their family.
Wahid is one of the first students
that we enrolled from organization helping street-working children.
And now he’s completing his education, but
he developed his skill very very well and he’s a very promising,
wonderful musician.
[ Wahidullah Hamidi, student ] Until 7th grade, when I came to this school,
I led a very hard and dark life.
I got by somehow, but I don't want to remember that time.
When I was in 5th, 4th, and 3rd grade,
and even before, when I was a little boy,
I did various menial jobs, selling plastic bags, bubble gum.
I had to work hard to support myself.
[ Boy 1 ] Buy plastic bags!
[ Boy 2 ] Buy a plastic bag, mister!
[ Wahid ] My life was very hard back then.
Eventually, it was decided I would study at this school.
I was awarded a scholarship about a year after I started here.
The people here, Dr Sarmast, helped me a lot.
[ Ahmad ] But slowly we stopped paying cash to the families.
Because for some families the education of the kids were not as important as the money.
We decided to fully cover the cost of
the education of a child, including the school uniform,
pen and pencil, transportation, lunch, musical instruments.
Absolutely every day to take that burden from the shoulder of the families.
But at the same time to make sure that the kids are not used
as a source of income for the families,
to make sure the families really send their kids
for education and for their future.
[ Murtaza ] I like this school because I've made lots of friends here.
That's why studying here isn't hard.
We study and hang out together.
I wanted to go to the music school, but my teacher said,
'Why? A music school won't do you any good.'
They told me to ask my parents,
so I asked them and they consented.
[ Murtaza's mother ] I'm Murtaza's mother.
I don't have a steady job.
As an illiterate woman, it's hard to find work.
My eldest son reached 8th grade.
He had to stop going to school,
as he's the only breadwinner in the family.
I also have a daughter.
She, too, only studied until 8th grade.
She's older than my son.
We had to buy pencils, books, and school clothes.
We couldn't afford it, so they had to stop going to school.
He earns $0.75 to $1.50 a day.
Murtaza also works, which helps.
It's spent on everyday items: butter, flour, etc.
We don't have money for anything else.
[ Murtaza ] Buy a bag!
My father doesn't work.
He's a drug addict.
Buy a bag!
I study from 7am to 3.15pm.
From 4.30pm to 7.30pm, I sell plastic bags.
I sell 5 to 6 bags a day.
I take home the money I earn, 60 to 75 cents.
[ Correspondent ] Is it good or bad to be a musician in Afghanistan?
[ Murtaza's mother ] Good! May God spare him from bad things.
There are worse jobs. He's no time to do what he must,
going from one job to another.
If you're hungry, you can't succeed, in a music school or a regular one.
If they don't help us, we'll have to take Murtaza out of school,
and send him as an apprentice to a craftsman to learn a trade.
[ Negin ] Quiet, quiet!
Yes, that's two! One down, two up.
[ Ahmad ] Negin is among the few first girls who enrolled in our school…
And maybe one of the women of Afghanistan that
will enter history as the female conductor of this nation.
[ Negin Khpalwok, student ] Where we live, girls study till 6th grade.
When I was small, there was only first grade.
We all went to the mosque to study, that's all.
Girls couldn't leave their homes for any other reason.
My dad wanted to know why girls go to school in Kabul, but not in other provinces.
He thinks women are like men, and they should have equal rights.
It shouldn't be the case that men can do something and women cannot,
or men can go outside, and women can't.
So my father decided to send me to the Institute of Music boarding school.
[ Ahmad ] In the very first year when we began our operating,
I had a number of girls who were enrolled in the music program through the
organization with which we have been working.
These girls were very much supported by their families,
like father or mother or brothers.
But we had cases that other family members like uncles, cousins, aunties,
members of the neighborhood, put so much pressure on the family that eventually
the families were forced to remove their kids from the school.
[ Negin ] We were threatened by our relatives to a great extent.
Our uncle in particular has always forbidden me to play music.
I don't sing, for example, because he has forbidden me.
The institute is very different from other schools,
because girls and boys normally study separately.
The school where I study is mixed.
We're united by music.
That's why everyone is friendly and sympathetic to one another.
In Afghanistan, even men aren't able
to practice music freely, let alone women.
There is always a risk of something happening, an explosion or an attack.
Everyone knows I have been threatened,
and my family is concerned that I receive threats.
I've caused my dad many problems.
As a result, we had to leave our house
in Kunar Province to move to Kabul.
[ Ajmal Khpalwok, Negin's father ] Who is Dr Sarmast? Is he the headmaster?
Is he the headmaster of the school?
He organizes programs and trips, you should join in.
My advice is to find a benefactor
to improve your living conditions, a little.
[ Negin ] I'm trying! Do you think I'm doing nothing?
[ Ajmal ] You don't realize what problems I have.
I'm cut off from people because of you.
The trouble began when Negin started performing on television.
What happened?
What happened was that our family turned against us.
Our relatives said: 'Think about it, you mustn't let her attend,
remove her from there, or we'll kill you and your daughter!'
[ Ajmal ] I've thought a lot about our family's problems.
They caused me a lot of suffering, but I didn't give up.
There was a lot of injustice and many tears shed,
but I stood my ground.
My family demands we follow archaic, obsolete norms.
I couldn't accept that.
I received so many threats and was humiliated so often,
but I was the only one who understood,
because I was infatuated with music myself.
This nation is being kept in the dark.
One day, it's the Taliban, the next it's ISIS, and so on.
Or a mullah comes to a mosque, goes to his pulpit,
and expresses his vision, his thoughts on Islam and so on.
He's trying to keep people from being bored,
so that they sit and listen to him.
He indoctrinates them with radical ideas and narrows their minds,
to stop them from thinking about anything but death.
[ Azizullah Mufle, mullah ] In these moments, when we're together,
we'll discuss the topic of raising a family
from the point of view of the high ideals of Islam.
[ Azizullah ] They say that music is food for your soul,
but that's a huge lie and a profound misconception.
Music leads to the erotic, psychic and intimate arousal of a person.
When it arouses these feelings,
people develop covetous intentions, and other problems.
When a person starts to act on these intentions,
they will eventually commit a crime,
a sin, such as drinking, fornicating, gambling, or similar.
In Islam, music is considered unauthorized and impermissible.
Another question may arise:
If music isn't accepted in Islam, why does it exist in Muslim countries?
The answer is it exists because of
weak rulers and civil servants.
If the government was truly Muslim,
it wouldn't let this school stay open even for a day.
In Islam such a school can't exist.
Know that this land is the cradle of lions,
brave men, who sacrifice themselves,
and warriors following Allah's path.
Any unenlightened person who goes against Islam
and offends the religion of Islam,
should know that his head will lie in blood and sand.
[ Man 1 ] Those who play music will become infidels.
They are committing one of the 'great sins',
such as drinking, adultery or gambling.
[ Man 2 ] It's not true only men are forbidden to play music.
The same goes for women.
A place with music is unrighteous.
[ Teacher ] Allah is great, Allah is great.
There is no God but Allah, Allah is great.
[ Ahmad ] There also a dilemma
between the religious authorities and scholars themselves.
There are group of scholars who are
supporting music and approving music in Islam.
But there are also people whose understanding of Islam
is based on a very narrow interpretation of some Islamic thoughts.
To the best of my knowledge, I did not come across anywhere
to a direct and explicit banning of music in Holy Quran.
And therefore, if the Holy Quran which is the main guide for the Muslim
is not banning music, then how we could ban music in any community.
Ahmadullah is one of those students belonging to a family of musicians.
Music is in his blood.
He is one of those musicians who lives in the musicians’ quarter of Harabad
and enrolled from Harabad to our school.
[ Ahmadullah Nabizada, student ] I, like my father and grandfather,
am from a family of musicians and have always wanted to play music.
My grandfather used to play the rebab.
He was a famous musician and played in the National Television Orchestra.
I, too, wanted to become a musician,
a master and a connoisseur of music,
so I decided to come to this school.
[ Ahmad ] In the past Harabad was
an informal conservatory of Afghanistan,
where young people were going to learn music from master musicians.
But the social-political situation of the last 40 years
left a very negative impact on Harabad.
[ Asadullah Nabizada, Ahmadullah's father ] All these houses were destroyed during the Taliban's rule.
They were hit by missiles from Logar Province.
Suddenly one hit in the mountains above us,
which dislodged a boulder that fell right on my arm.
I didn't realise at first, but it was broken.
[ Asadullah ] Sounds good. Try to play.
While you have hands, you can play.
When you don't, it's impossible.
I loved to play the tabla.
I played with my father when he was alive.
He had an instrument called a dilruba.
He sometimes played during the Taliban rule.
Of course, a local tyrant got wind of his music.
They smashed his instrument with their weapons.
He loved his instrument so much.
The incident caused him such distress,
that his heart gave way and he died.
[ Ahmadullah singing ] Father, I won't forget our blood ties,
Father, I won't forget our blood ties,
Father, your poetry notebook is on my shelf.
It's the only thing that gives me peace of mind...
Under the veil of night...
Under the veil of night.
[ Ahmadullah ] The situation in Afghanistan isn't very good.
We're used to it, of course,
but we'd like to continue our studies abroad and settle there.
[ Wahid ] I got threats on Facebook three or four times.
No one said 'I'm from the Taliban'.
They said the music I play is banned in Islam.
I replied, 'Where is it written that it's banned?'
They couldn't answer me.
[ Ahmad ] Until 2014 I did not receive any threat from any radical forces in Afghanistan.
But in 2014,
one of our concerts when our students were playing and performing
with a group of young people from Alzar Theatre,
this event came under the direct attack of the Taliban.
[ Wahid ] The concert was about an explosion.
It was called, 'A Heartbeat From An Explosion'.
There were scenes where, after an explosion,
someone gets up and helps others.
There are shouts and panic.
We all wanted to show this on stage.
[ Ahmadullah ] Even on Facebook, there were posts saying
this 'Heartbeat' show would be the calm before the explosion.
[ Actor ] Where is the stone heart that will hear but not melt?
The one that will not hit rock?
[ Ahmad ] When the show was beginning, I went
and sat among the audience to enjoy the show.
In that moment
I broke off my mobile phone and when I was climbing down to pick up my mobile phone…
The suicide bomber who was sitting behind my back exploded himself.
I was telling to myself, listen you are killed, you are not alive anymore!
And then I was telling, no, no, it’s a nightmare. You have bad dreams.
And then I say, no, no, it was part of the special effects of the show
[ Wahid ] We were on stage, it was the third act and the 18th bar.
I didn't understand at first.
Suddenly, there was a cloud of dust, and I couldn't see anything in front of me.
[ Ahmadullah ] Some people were cheering, rejoicing,
thinking it was part of the show.
Others, those who were injured, were shouting for help.
[ Ahmad ] And after that concert and this incident,
the statement that was being issued by the Taliban
promised that they will be continuing to attack cultural institutions,
institutions that are promoting music
and institutions who support girls’ education.
[ Murtaza ] From my first day at school,
I've wanted to play the tabla with all my heart.
I want to play for good people, not bad people,
so that they won't laugh at me.
[ Negir ] My dream is to do all I can for music and to create an orchestra.
Not just a female one, but a national orchestra of Afghanistan.
[ Wahid ] My main goal is to graduate with good results.
I'll try to follow Dr Sarmast
and set up my own music school to help people in Afghanistan.
[ Ahmad ] In spite of all the challenges and all the danger that exist
I will continue my work here in Afghanistan, to build happiness
to the children and the youth of this nation and to make sure
that the people of Afghanistan are not once again deprived from their musical identity
and they are silenced once again.