EDUCATOR GUIDE Artist: Voices of Afghanistan Discipline: Music SECTION I - OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................. 2 SUBJECT CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS OBJECTIVE STORY SYNOPSIS INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES EQUIPMENT NEEDED MATERIALS NEEDED INTELLIGENCES ADDRESSED MEDIA MATTERS SECTION II – CONTENT/CONTEXT ......................................................................................... 3 CONTENT OVERVIEW THE BIG PICTURE RESOURCES – TEXT RESOURCES – WEB SITES BAY AREA FIELD TRIPS SECTION III – VOCABULARY ................................................................................................... 8 SECTION IV – ENGAGING WITH SPARK ............................................................................... 9 SECTION I - OVERVIEW SUBJECT MATERIALS NEEDED Music • Paper and pencils • Access to libraries with up-to-date GRADE RANGES collections of periodicals, books and research papers K-12 • Cassette player, CD, computer or iPod CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS INTELLIGENCES ADDRESSED Music Bodily-Kinesthetic – control of one’s own body, Language Arts control in handling objects Intrapersonal – awareness of one’s own feelings, OBJECTIVE emotions, goals, motivations Interpersonal – awareness of others’ feelings, To introduce students to the life and work of emotions, goals, motivations Homayun Sakhi and Ustad Mahwash, and to Linguistic – syntax, phonology, semantics, explore what it means to be a tradition bearer pragmatics outside of one’s homeland. Logical-Mathematical – ability to detect patterns, reason deductively, think logically STORY SYNOPSIS See more information on Multiple Intelligences at INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES www.kqed.org/spark/education. Hands-on group projects, in which students assist and support one another MEDIA MATTERS Hands-on individual projects, in which students The following Spark stories can be used for work independently compare/contrast purposes: Group oral discussion and analysis, including peer review and aesthetic valuing Teacher-guided instruction, including Master Teachers - Ali Akbar Khan demonstration and guidance http://www.kqed.org/assets/pdf/arts/programs/spar k/104.pdf?trackurl=true INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES Dhol de Awaz - Bhangra Dance To reflect, write, and discuss the role of traditional http://www.kqed.org/assets/pdf/arts/programs/spar music in the lives of Afghan emigres. k/704-dholdiawaz.pdf?trackurl=true EQUIPMENT NEEDED Zakir Hussain - Percussion SPARK story on Voices of Afghanistan, a video that http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.js is accessible online at KQED.org, and related p?essid=4983 equipment or a computer with Internet access, navigation software, streaming capability, and speakers. 2 SPARK Educator Guide – Voices of Afghanistan SECTION II – CONTENT/CONTEXT CONTENT OVERVIEW Following the 1979 Soviet invasion of the Central Asian Republics, what is called Afghanistan, 5 million refugees left the Afghanistan today has long been home to country; some seeking refuge in the US. emperors from the Moghul Empire and a From 2006 to 2011, the Afghan population passageway from the Middle East to India. in the US has grown from 66,000 to 300,000, The narrative of its rich musical culture is due to the US invasion and war following filled with invasions, royal courts, and 9/11. The Bay Area is home to the largest waves of migrations acting as tributaries to community of Afghan Americans in the US a vibrant tradition. and has become a cultural haven for a growing number of Afghan artists and Although there many different ethnic musicians. The Centerville district of groups that live throughout the country, Fremont, known as Little Kabul, has its including Hazara, Uzbek and Turkmen, the own mosque, shops, restaurants, food two largest are the Pashtuns, who speak stores, and bookstores that cater to Pashto, and Tajiks, who speak Dari, or Afghans. Afghan Persian (Farsi). They comprise almost 70% of the population. Musician Homayoun Sakhi is world- renowned for his mastery of the rubab, a Established in 1747, after the assassination double-chambered lute with origins that of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah Afshar by a can be traced back 2,000 years. His group of Pashtun tribal leaders, the newly repertoire spans Classical Afghan folk named Afghanistan was led by Ahmad music, with lyrics derived from the poetry Khan Abdali, subsequently called Ahmad of Rumi, to his own contemporary fusion Shah Durrani (the “Pearl of Pearls”). compositions. Sakhi also leads “Voices of Durrani led the confederated tribes on a Afghanistan,” a touring and recording conquest that expanded the territory of group of Afghani musicians and singers Afghanistan to its greatest size, which, by who perform traditional folk songs 1762, reached from present day Delhi to the representing the diverse regions of their Caspian Sea. During the height of the homeland. Taking center stage with the Afghan Empire and long after, music from ensemble is Afghani diva Ustad Farida neighboring Persia and India was heard in Mahwash, one of very few women to the royal courts, including Hindustani achieve the title of “Ustad”, considered a classical music and Sufi, Persian and master of music in the Afghan community. Middle Eastern music. (Baily, 2011) THE BIG PICTURE Court documents and events rendered in Nestled between Iran, Pakistan, China and paintings demonstrate that many emperors 3 SPARK Educator Guide – Voices of Afghanistan were strong supporters of the arts. However, it is Amir Sher Ali Khan, ruler of The ghazal is a hugely popular medium for Kabul in the 1860’s, who is given credit for expressing poetry, and is the main vocal art establishing one of the most renowned music of Afghanistan. It is based on districts of the city. couplets that may have any number of stanzas, but that maintain the same number During his reign, Amir Sher Ali Khan of syllables, or feet, and end in the same brought North Indian musicians to word or rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme entertain his court, and housed them on a looks something like this: aa ba ca da ea, nearby street called Kucheh Kharabat, or, etc. The poems generally reflect themes of ‘Kharabat Alley’. Living in close quarters love (mostly unrequited) and longing, with local Afghan musicians who joined sometimes earthly, but quite often their ranks, the area became a center of reflecting the divine love of Sufism and the North Indian classical music and cultural desire for God’s love. Merging the couplets development through lessons, with melodic modes, or râgs, and rhythmic apprenticeships, and performances. (Baily, cycles called tala, ghazals are sung in many 2011) Over the course of 100 years the languages, including Persian, Pashto, street expanded to include an entire Uzbek, Urdu and Kashmiri. (Baily, 2011: 22) neighborhood, known as the Gozareh Kharabat, or ‘Kharabat district’. Its The ghazal is typically accompanied by the notoriety for producing excellent artists and rubâb and tabla. The rubâb is a plucked lute- its impact on generations of musicians is like instrument with a double-chambered well-established. body made of a single piece of hollowed- out mulberry wood with a goat-skin From the 1920‘s until the Communist coup membrane covering the lower part of the in 1978, Afghanistan experienced a period body. It has three main strings tuned a 4th of relative peace and artistic flourishing. A apart, two-three drone strings and up to 15 key figure associated with this time period sympathetic strings that add resonance to was the musician Ustad Qassem (b. 1883, d. sound of the instrument. The tabla are a 1956), also a resident of Kucheh Kharabat. pair of tuned hand-drums that accompany A rubâb player and singer, Qassem became the rubâb and are of North Indian origin. known as the founder of Afghan classical music. Given this title because of his Despite a period of relative peace from knowledge and command of Hindustani 1920’s-1978, Afghanistan has experienced music, Persian classical poetry and his own nearly constant fighting for over the last 30 innovations in both, he embodied a wealth years. Beginning with the Communist coup of poetry and the ability to sing in Pashto. of 1978 and the subsequent war against the He was famous for composing ghazals that Soviet occupation in the 1980’s, to the most expressed not only Sufi mysticism, but recent influence of fundamentalists known patriotic and nationalistic feelings and was as the Taliban, Afghanistan has lost many able to improvise verses in the moment thousands of people to death and reflecting most subjects, from the sacred to emigration, which has threatened the the mundane (Baily, 2011). cultural identity of its people and 4 SPARK Educator Guide – Voices of Afghanistan traditions. Instead of returning to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2002, Sakhi left for Hope lies, however, in the communities of the United States, settling in Fremont, musicians who continue to challenge their California. Here again, he became an situation within Afghanistan and in the important cultural figure, offering classes vast diaspora found in several regions of and performances, and is widely regarded the world, including London, Pakistan, and for incorporating the many different Fremont, California. Here, Afghan playing styles and techniques he traditions are being maintained and new experienced while in Pakistan, and for innovations realized, as is exemplified by extending the technical and compositional two renowned artists,