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Afghan all-female orchestra keeps music alive in exile
While grateful to be safe in Qatar, their escape from Taliban rule is bittersweet, as the girls leave behind friends from the orchestra and their instruments.
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Shogofa Safi, percussionist and conductor of the Zohra orchestra, plays along with other members of the Afghan music community who escaped to Qatar, during a concert in the Qatari capital Doha on October 18, 2021. (AFP/-)
F
or the first time in months, members of Afghanistan's all-female Zohra orchestra have reassembled in Doha, their music once again filling the air as they face an uncertain future.
While grateful to be safe in Qatar, their escape from Taliban rule is bittersweet, as the girls leave behind friends from the orchestra and their "old companions" -- their instruments.
Last week marked the first time in three months that Marzia Anwari, along with other members of the Afghan music community who escaped to Qatar, played live for an audience.
"Most of the girls from the Zohra orchestra are here with me in Qatar, but some of them are still in Afghanistan," the 18-year-old violist told AFP.
"I hope that they can join us here as soon as possible and we can be together and rebuild our orchestra."
Zohra, Afghanistan's first all-female orchestra, was established in 2016.
The group of 35 young musicians aged 13-20, some orphans or from poor families, gave a culture-crossing performance at the 2017 World Economic Forum in Davos that overcame tradition and death threats in their homeland.
