An Afghan cellist lands in … Memphis

An Afghan cellist lands in … Memphis

News

norman lebrecht

September 03, 2021

The Daily Memphian reports the arrival of cellist Nazira Wali as a student at the University of Memphis.

Her family have been left behind in Afghanistan.

‘They don’t like musicians,’ says Wali. ‘Because of me, when they saw my photos on the news, my parents couldn’t go back to Nuristan. My father’s cousins are Taliban and they are against what I’m doing.’

‘I’m horrified. I’m so sad at what’s happening. What’s going to happen to Afghanistan without music, without culture?’ asks Wali. ‘I don’t know. … It’s really sad.’

Read on here.

Comments

  • José Bergher says:

    The only thing that can be expected from the Taliban is barbarity, brutality. savagery, murder, and plunder,

  • PaulD says:

    I think we know what will happen in Afghanistan, particularly to women who dared to play music or sports. They will be killed, based on past threats to their lives.

  • Anthony Sayer says:

    Why doesn’t she ditch the headscarf altogether?

    • Brettermeier says:

      “Why doesn’t she ditch the headscarf altogether?”

      Maybe she heard how prude and reactionary some Americans are.

    • RedFloyd says:

      Why should she? She may wear whatever she likes. The last thing she needs is another load of men who feel that what she chooses to wear is somehow their business.

  • Concerned opera buff says:

    The Taliban have murdered a popular folk singer, as well as a comic, in cold blood, for no reason other than to enforce their will against anything modern. They are also destroying grand pianos and other musical instruments. All this while the press is watching them. What’s odd, is that Afghanistan has a rich musical and art culture that goes back centuries. It’s hard to understand why millions of Afghans are accepting this.

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