Friday, June 17, 2022
Heart of Afghanistan
By Russ Slater
Harmonium player Ahmad Fanoos found sanctuary in the US after being forced to flee Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Russ Slater reports on how the move reunited members of a musical family and proved the catalyst for a special series of shows
Ahmad Fanoos ©Kerstan Migdal
After the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in August last year it was clear that Ahmad Fanoos, a harmonium player and popular interpreter of ghazals, was going to have to leave, owing to the renewed prohibition on performing music. This point was driven home after he received several death threats, including one written on his instrument case: ‘All your family members are busy with these dirty activities. We are warning you for the last time to leave.’
Ahmad is a popular singer who had been a judge on Afghan Star, Afghanistan’s version of Pop Idol. His son, Elham, is also a musician and has been living in the US. Elham contacted his sponsor, Lesley Rosenthal at The Juilliard School, who then spoke to Fox, who own shares in the station that aired Afghan Star. Suddenly Ahmad and other family members were being evacuated alongside Fox’s staff.
Heart of Afghanistan
In the US, Ahmad was reunited not just with Elham, but also his other son Mehran, and together with fellow friend Hamid Habibzada, they began performing shows together in the US in May, the first time that Ahmad had ever publicly performed with his children. Their show is called The Heart of Afghanistan, and has them performing ghazals, qawwali and Afghan songs made famous by Ahmad Zahir.
“I have always wanted to show a positive face of Afghanistan,” says Elham, “and now it’s happening… Heart of Afghanistan is something really exciting for us.”
For more details visit americanvoices.org/program/heart-of-afghanistan/
