Hello The beautiful people of the world.

 

Sound Central Festival: a place for safe self-expression, arts, enjoyment and hope. 

 

This year, I had the honor of being invited to participate in the organization of the third edition of the “Sound Central Music Festival,” a unite arts and cultural festival that showcased different Afghans and internationals artists in Afghanistan. Rock bands, rap and pop singers, break-dancers, painters, among others artists came together in a three-days event that entertained the vibrant youth of Kabul. 

 

Travis Beard, the founder and director of the Sound Central asked me to be the Master of Ceremony for the whole festival. My role was to introduce and present musicians to a diverse youth audience. 

 

“Women’s Day” was the first day of the festival devoted only for young women and girls of Kabul. I helped organized this day by inviting different High Schools for girls, especially from “Jamhuriat High School”, the school where I attended and graduated last year. I also invited a group of women from a Women Shelters in Kabul. 50 women attended with their children, so around 532 women attended to the festival. This was a historic attendance number, because in the previous years, only 70 to a 100 women attended to the concerts.

 

When I saw all the girls from the different High Schools and from the shelter, I felt so happy and proud to be there and to witness some many beautiful women smiling and having a good a time. This is one of the best memories of my life and that I have from this day, to have seeing the magical smiles in their faces, especially the women from the shelter whom have had a really difficult life and haven’t had time at all to smile and have fun because unfortunately our conservative society does not allow us to do that or make us think that it is not right to have fun because “we are simply women”.

 

There was a poetry competition where many high school students recited their own poems and also well-known poems. It was such as wonderful performance that lasted for about two hours. The feeling in the stage was full of happiness and joy, especially when the international rock band “White City” performed. The girls were dancing and singing. For me to witness my generation and gender having such a wonderful time gave me hope that “we women deserve to have fun and deserve to learn more about new artists. It gave me hope that it is okay to have fun and that we should not be afraid. I think and I hope that they will come back. 

 

Ramila, one of the hight school students told me “I am so happy,” she said. “I want to go home and tell my parents what a wonderful day and experience this was. I want to write poems about it. I feel like I can be anything I want. I want to be the first women president of Afghanistan!”

 

 

The following days were dedicated to both women and men. But, as many of you know, my country is a very conservative place and most of my generation; especially “we women” don’t have the support of our parents to attend concerts and events like this one where you will also find young men. So unfortunately, I saw just a few girls my age for the rest of the days. It was not very easy for me to present the artists on the stage, because the audience was full of young men. Some that were nice and some that were not. Young men that were yelling bad words at me and about my presentation skills. But I just ignored them and continue to do my work. However, one time, when I heard a really bad comment that annoyed and disrespected me, I responded, “my beautiful people of Kabul, I heard very bad words from you guys and this is very bad. You know why? Because If I hear another bad word, I will tell security to show the exit door and I will ask you to leave because we are here to respect each other and not to fight with each other. This is a peaceful event and you have to have fun and behave in a peaceful manner.” 

 

After saying this, I didn’t hear any other negative comment from the male audience. So, in a way my comments worked. 

 

Being a young women and the Master of Ceremony for the Sound Central taught me a lot of good things, especially on how to deal with a male audience in a country like Afghanistan, a totally different experience of what I felt with the female audience. The female audience was supporting me, having fun with me, singing with me, encouraging me, and clapping at me. There were proud of me. There was really a great energy between them and me. They talked to me and also they were interacting with the artists. I felt like the male audience, on the other hand was there just to ignore and harass the girls so they would not come back and have fun. I am not saying that all the men were like that. There were other young men that were really encouraging and respectful. Even some of them came to me to ask me to ignore the boys that are saying negative things and to continue to do my great work. 

 

I would like to thank Travis for inspiring and teaching me how to present and introduce the audience in a big stage and also for giving me the confidence to continue to work for my generation and to help open up doors of hope and joy. 

 

I also will remember the hard work of Qais and Maryam because they were always there to support me and encourage me. They both have an amazing energy and there work is so important for the youth of Afghanistan. 

And, finally the artists that were part of this amazing festival. 

 

So, beautiful of the world, this was my experience working at the Sound Central Music Festival with such an inspiring and talented team of Afghans and internationals, an unforgettable event that I hope to continue to help in the future. It is so important that the youth of my country gets a safe venue and space for self-expression. 

 

See you next week.

Peace & Love 

Zar