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Jazz Bridge To Afghanistan
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by Jennifer Odell
March 2006
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After performing at a wedding in a northern Afghan province this past fall, singer Quarab Nazar was shot dead along with six members of his band. Provincial police believe the Taliban, who banned musical instruments during their rule from 1996-2001, were behind the attack, according to the BBC.
But reports like these didn't deter American Voices pianist and Executive Director John Ferguson from bringing Western musicians to Afghanistan to begin a cultural dialogue. Ferguson founded his organization in 1992 to further the understanding of American music in countries that lack opportunities for cultural exchange with the United States. His most recent project took him to Kabul, where he recorded three concerts performed by a combination of Western and Afghan artists.
The result is a CD and DVD called Jazz Bridges Afghanistan. These concerts feature Ferguson with the Mike del Ferro Jazz Trio, vocalist CoCo York and Afghan musicians including Ustat Ghulam Hossin and pop star Zabih Jawanmard. This concert series, which ran from Sept. 28-Oct. 3, 2005, marked the first time that Afghan and American musicians have shared a stage in Kabul, as well as the first performances in Afghanistan by American artists in more than 25 years.
Ferguson's work with American Voices takes him to countries like Burma, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Belarus, but he is particularly passionate about his experiences in Kabul.
"Kabul is so different from others because countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union have cultural infrastructure," Ferguson said. "A lot of musicians have a tradition of combining jazz with other types of music. In Afghanistan, there's never been a tradition of jazz or other classical Western music."
In order to find Afghan musicians, American Voices called on the Foundation for Civil Society, Afghanistan's premiere cultural center and venue. "The musicians we were working with had all gone to Pakistan during the Taliban era because they were chopping off the hands of musicians in Afghanistan," Ferguson said. "They certainly hadn't heard jazz."
American Voices is in the business of bridging such divides, and after a few hours of rehearsing they found common ground. At one point, the Western and Afghan performers were playing for one another. The Afghan quintet started into a Herat tune and the Americans noticed that the first four notes were the same first four notes as "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child." Ferguson looked at York, who also recognized the similarity, and York began to weave the lyrics of the American song into the music the Afghan artists were playing.
"I sang and this spiritual element captivated everyone," York said. "They didn't have chords. They just played what they felt."
As the only woman performing in the group, her experience in Kabul was unique. "Afghanistan is a country where men and women are not allowed onstage together," she said. "But laws and rules change. Being the only woman in a concert setting was fantastic."
At first, her new bandmates were uncomfortable even shaking her hand, let alone playing with her. But by the time the group performed for an audience, the synthesis was evident. "What they did not expect was when I sang in Dari," she said, referring to an Afghan dialect in which she performed the songs "Leily Leily Jan," "Chatry Chatry" and "Sarhati Herat/ Motherless Child."
"There were people dancing in the aisles. They loved it."
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