Negin Khpalwak (born in 1997 in Kunar,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

) is a female conductor leading the

Zohra Zohra (Arabic: زهرة, Persian: زهره) may refer to: People Given name * Zohra Al Fassiya (1905-1994), Moroccan singer and poet *Zohra Begum Kazi (1912–2007), Bangladeshi physician and activist *Zohra Bensalem (born 1990), Algerian volleyba ...

- the first all-female orchestra in Afghanistan from Afghanistan National Institute for Music. On February, 2017, the orchestra played at the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Early life

Born in Kunar, a province in northeastern

, the young girl Negin Khpalwak showed strong passion for music. However, during the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

rule in

, playing music was totally banned. Even later when the rule collapsed, many

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s are conservative towards music, especially women playing music. Being a girl in a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

family, she could never share her passion with her family. Her first steps with music were in secret until she finally revealed it to her father. Not like other members in her family, he was supportive. Negin was sent to an orphanage called the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization (AFCECO) in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

where she could get an education when she was nine. At the age of 13, she was selected for the Afghanistan National Institute for Music founded by the musicologist -

Ahmad Naser Sarmast Ahmad Naser Sarmast is an Afghan-Australian ethnomusicologist. He is the founder and director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. Early life and education As his father, Ustad Salim Sarmast, was a famous musician, composer and conducto ...

. The Institute has been running since 2010 with 141 students including 41 girls. Half of the students are street kids or orphans.

Career

Based in

now, Negin leads an Afghan women's orchestra named Zohra, which is supposed to be the first all-female orchestra in the country. It is a part of the Afghanistan National Institute for Music (ANIM) performing both Western and Afghan musical instruments. In February, 2017, they performed for the first time outside Afghanistan at the

before their tour in

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Dealing with threats, pressure and intimidation from her family members and people from her hometown when going public to perform music, Negin overcame and became the Afghan's first female conductor. On an interview in Women and Girls of News Deeply, she emphasized that she would like to further study music overseas and come back to Afghanistan to create new orchestras.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khpalwak, Negin Afghan women musicians Afghan orchestras Women conductors (music) Afghan feminists Pashtun women 1997 births Living people 21st-century women musicians 21st-century conductors (music) People from Kunar Province