Event overview
Emeritus Professor John Baily on "War, Exile and Music of Afghanistan"
In this talk I review my 30 years of research on Afghan music in Afghanistan itself and in the Afghan diaspora in exile, in Pakistan, Iran, USA, Australia and Europe. Music can be used to promote political change but it is also a sensitive indicator of wider social and cultural processes. My work looks at the way the seemingly endless conflict in Afghanistan, with the communist coup (1978), the Russian invasion (1979), the mujahideen Coalition government (1992), the Taliban (1996), and the continuing insurgency since 2001 has affected musicians and their music. In conclusion I speculate on music and modernism, the global circulation of music as information, and issues of national identity.?
John Baily, Head of Goldsmiths Afghanistan Music Unit, has had a strong commitment to the music of Afghanistan since 1973, when he and his wife Veronica Doubleday began their two years of ethnomusicological research in the city of Herat, in Western Afghanistan. Following 1978's coup d'etat, internal conflict prevented Baily from returning to Afghanistan for some time, and he began a series of research trips investigating music in Afghan diasporic communities in Pakistan, Iran, USA and elsewhere. One of his concerns has been the effect of censorship on Afghan music, and in May 2001 Freemuse published Baily's report "Can you stop the birds singing?" The censorship of music in Afghanistan.
These lectures are free and open to all
Photo: Alicia Geneva
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Oct 2014 | 5:00pm - 6:30pm |
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