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In preparation of the May NATO Summit, the students of the Kelly High School in Chicago
and the Afghanistan National Institute of Music have put on concerts for each other
via video exchange. The event was enabled by NATO’s Silk-Afghanistan
project, which provides affordable, high-speed internet access via satellite to universities
and schools across Afghanistan and Central Asia.
‘This is a new window of opportunities for our students offered to establish a friendly relationship with their fellow musicians
outside Afghanistan to learn about the musical tradition and culture which are played and
practiced outside Afghanistan and also to introduce values in our orchestra that we
have got here.” Connected via video streaming, the Afghan
students performed various Afghan songs, played with traditional instruments.
The students of the Kelly High School then gave a ten minute concert from their end.
Students from the two schools exchanged questions before NATO Ambassador Kolinda Grabar made
an address. ‘I hope you know here in Chicago how lucky
you are that for a such a long time you have been living in freedom and liberty and been
able to practice music, go to school freely and without any fear. And for girls and boys
to be together in same classes, to be equal, to study the same things and again to share
the same hopes and dreams for the future. And I hope that you are also proud of this
country of the United States and of all our soldiers and troops in Afghanistan because
they are the ones who have actually made this possible today.’
Funded by the Afghan government and several international donors, Afghanistan's sole music
academy aims to bring hope to these students. Half of them are orphans or street children,
with the rest selected after a music exam. ‘Some of the children were selling chewing
gums on the street. We picked them up from the street and we provided them a little bit
of pocket money and free education.’ Under the austere Taliban regime, music was
banned outright. If any musical cassettes were found, shopkeepers were arrested and
put in prison. Eleven years after the fall of the Taliban,
it’s still hard to get some families to appreciate music.
‘It is very hard in Afghanistan because families don’t allow their children to become
musicians. They don’t give value to music. But music is a skill.’
Both Afghan and American students seemed to enjoy themselves and learnt something new
about the diversity of each culture. ‘Now we can show the new face of Afghanistan.
We have good connection and to view with each other. And we can keep doing and just be in
contact with them, and now we can speak with each other, we can play for each other.’
‘I enjoyed the concert. It was a kind of different idea or understanding of what I
am used to. Even though you might study world music in your classes and you might even hearing
it from music, it's always a great experience to actually experience it over broadcast over
from one country to another.’ Alessandro Pavone in Kabul, Afghanistan for
the NATO Channel