{"id":446,"date":"2015-05-25T16:03:58","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T16:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=446"},"modified":"2015-05-26T16:13:41","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T16:13:41","slug":"he-was-the-saviour-of-afghan-music-then-a-bomb-took-his-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=446","title":{"rendered":"He was the saviour of Afghan music. Then a bomb took his hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"he<\/a>When musicologist Ahmad Sarmast\u2019s pioneering institute \u2013 open to girls and boys, women and men from all backgrounds \u2013 became a target, it nearly cost him his life. But the attack has only made him more determinedWhen Ahmad Sarmast said he would give his life to music, he meant it quite literally.<\/p>\n

After more than a decade in Australia, Sarmast, a musicology professor and son of a renowned conductor, returned to Afghanistan<\/span> after the fall of the Taliban to establish the country\u2019s first institute for classical music.<\/p>\n

After a ban on music during the Taliban\u2019s rule, Sarmast ushered in a musical revolution.<\/p>\n

Not only did he create a symphony orchestra, which soon played some of the world\u2019s largest venues<\/span> including the Kennedy Centre in Washington and the Royal Festival Hall in London, but he also deliberately reserved a number of slots in the orchestral institute for orphans, street children and, most controversially in Afghanistan, girls<\/span>.<\/p>\n

But a few months ago, the insurgents came close to silencing Sarmast and his orchestra.<\/p>\n

On 11 December, the professor was enjoying the fruits of many months\u2019 labour when his orchestra performed alongside a drama troupe at the French cultural centre in Kabul. Sarmast was seated in the front row.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe show was a beautiful one. The music was so powerful, the actors\u2019 playing so masterly,\u201d Sarmast remembered.<\/p>\n

At one point during the performance, he heard a commotion outside the hall. Following routine, he reached for his mobile phone to check if his driver had alerted him to anything.<\/p>\n

That second, a blast ripped through the crowd. Sarmast was knocked unconscious. \u201cI felt like someone with a cricket bat hit my head with his entire energy and power,\u201d Sarmast recalled.<\/p>\n

\"Ahmad<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When musicologist Ahmad Sarmast\u2019s pioneering institute \u2013 open to girls and boys, women and men…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[18,9,29,33,2],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was.png",620,372,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was-300x180.png",300,180,true],"medium_large":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was.png",620,372,false],"large":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was.png",620,372,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was.png",620,372,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was.png",620,372,false],"enternews-featured":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was.png",620,372,false],"enternews-medium":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was.png",620,372,false],"enternews-thumbnail":["http:\/\/southasiantimes.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/he-was.png",480,288,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=446"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}