The Zohra Orchestra, also known as the Afghan Women's Orchestra and Ensemble Zohra, is

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 ...

's first all-female orchestra, named after the music goddess in Persian writings. Founded in 2015, it has been in exile since the 2021 seizure of Kabul by the Taliban.

History

The Zohra Orchestra was formed in 2015 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 ...

by the

Afghanistan National Institute of Music The Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) is a school of music in Kabul, Afghanistan. It was founded in 2010 by the Afghan-Australian ethnomusicologist Dr. Ahmad Naser Sarmast, and offers a curriculum combining the tuition of both Afghan ...

and its founder Dr Ahmad Sarmast. The institute was formed in 2008 with the goal of bringing a musical education to young Afghans in the wake of liberation from 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 ...

, under whom

women's rights in Afghanistan Women's rights in Afghanistan have oscillated back and forth depending on the time period. After King Amanullah Khan's attempts to modernize the country in the 1920s, women officially gained equality under the 1964 Constitution. However, t ...

were severely curtailed. It is Afghanistan's first all-female orchestra, named after the music goddess in Persian writings, and also known as the Afghan Women's Orchestra and Ensemble Zohra.

Tours

The Zohra Orchestra has completed several high-profile tours since 2017. They have performed 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, ...

and toured the United Kingdom in 2019, visiting the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Afghan independence in 2019, the Zohra Orchestra visited Australia on tour. On 12 and 14 October 2019, the orchestra performed concerts in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The first was held at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

, and the second at

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

with over 1,500 guests in attendance. The event was co-organised by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

to concurrently celebrate 50 years of official diplomatic relations between the two countries.

2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

After the 2021 seizure of Kabul by the Taliban, the school building of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (the orchestra's parent organization) was turned into a base by the

Haqqani network The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamist group, built around the family of the same name, that has used asymmetric warfare in Afghanistan to fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s, and US-led NATO forces and the Islamic Republic of Afghanis ...

guerrilla group. Many instruments were destroyed on the orders of the Taliban, which forbids instrumental and non-religious singing. Some women and girls from the orchestra were able to leave Afghanistan thanks to the

Qatari Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sha ...

government, but most have been unable to leave. In October 2021, members of the orchestra reassembled in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, Qatar, along with about 100 students and teachers of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music who were planning to relocate to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Musical styles

The orchestra performs traditional Afghan music, as well as

Western classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

Awards and recognition

Zohra has received numerous awards, including the Queen Soraya Award and the Freemuse Award in 2017, and the Montluc Resistance Liberté Award in 2018.

References

{{reflist Afghan orchestras Women's orchestras Musical groups established in 2015 2015 establishments in Afghanistan Women in Afghanistan