(Braga (Portugal)) Weekly rehearsal at the Braga music conservatory. In a large room on the second floor, around forty young musicians work hard on their score, following the maestro’s instructions.
A priori, an orchestra that could not be more classic, with its violins, its brass and its piano. Except that the music is not very Western and you can hear sitars, rubabs and tablas, instruments more widespread in Central Asia than in Portugal.
Voilà plus de deux ans que l’Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) a quitté l’Afghanistan d’urgence pour fuir les talibans. L’incroyable histoire de cet exil a été racontée dans le documentaire de Sarah El Younsi, Keeping the Music Alive, diffusé l’an dernier au Festival du film sur l’art de Montréal.
Mais on sait moins comment cette école de musique mixte, constituée de mineurs et de jeunes adultes, a réussi à faire son nid à Braga, troisième ville du Portugal, et à faire face aux défis du déracinement.
Digne d’un James Bond
En Afghanistan, la musique est interdite par les talibans. Quand ce régime islamique a repris le pouvoir à la fin de l’été 2021, les musiciens ont été obligés de cesser leurs activités ou de fuir le pays, sous peine de représailles.
Situé à Kaboul, l’ANIM était une cible prioritaire pour les extrémistes, d’autant plus que plusieurs jeunes femmes y étudiaient. L’école a été victime d’une attaque à la bombe en 2014 et son directeur, Ahmad Sarmast, grièvement blessé dans l’attentat. En 2020, des services secrets étrangers l’ont prévenu de menaces plus sérieuses. « On était en première ligne pour promouvoir les valeurs démocratiques et le combat contre l’extrémisme à travers l’art », dit-il de l’Italie, où il est actuellement en tournée avec son orchestre.
On savait que les talibans allaient tout faire pour réduire notre communauté au silence et mettre les espoirs, les rêves et même la vie de nos élèves en danger.
Ahmad Sarmast, directeur de l’Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM)
La suite relève quasiment d’un James Bond. Aidé par le Qatar, M. Sarmast est parvenu à organiser en catastrophe la fuite de son école, 275 personnes au total, élèves, professeurs et parenté comprises. Un départ qu’on devine déchirant.
PHOTO JEAN-CHRISTOPHE LAURENCE, LA PRESSE
Maisam Nabizada, 21 ans, trompettiste
« Au début, je ne voulais pas partir, se souvient Maisam Nabizada, 21 ans, trompettiste au sein de l’orchestre. J’étais le dernier enfant de la famille encore en Afghanistan. Ma mère était malade. Je me disais qu’il fallait rester pour m’en occuper. Finalement, ils [mes parents] decided to let me go. Because my future would have been destroyed if I had stayed…”
Landing and disaffections
Portugal was the first country to reach out to them. At the end of 2021, the school found itself in Lisbon and housed in a former military hospital, while waiting to clarify its future. Nothing to soften the trauma of exile.
PHOTO JEAN-CHRISTOPHE LAURENCE, THE PRESS
Ramiz Safar, 20, plays the rubab, a stringed device from the lute family, commonly called the Afghan guitar.
“It was difficult,” remembers Ramiz Safar, 20, player of rubab, the Afghan guitar. We had no home, the language was an obstacle. The situation was bad. »
Impatient, some left the group very early to try their luck elsewhere in Europe. Mr. Sarmast estimates the number of departures in the first weeks at around 120, including around forty students, including minors. “Some wanted to join members of their family living in Germany or Austria. Others thought they had more opportunities and a better social security system. »
These defections inevitably disappointed him. “People are free to make their decisions,” he said, a bit bitterly. But I hoped that after leaving Afghanistan, we would have all worked and lived together, fought together to keep our music alive. Especially since they were poorly informed. They were not accepted as refugees and are currently in an impasse. »
Homesick
PHOTO JEAN-CHRISTOPHE LAURENCE
Zohra Ahmadi and Mohammad Saleh Hanif, both 14, during their sitar lesson
The situation improved when the school moved permanently to Braga (in the north), at the invitation of the Portuguese government. But integration into society remains a challenge for most of these young people, who must master the food, learn the language and absorb the cultural shock…
“I miss everything here,” summarizes Mohammad Saleh Hanif, 14, flute and sitar player. “It was really a difficult choice,” adds his colleague Zohra Ahmadi, trumpeter and sitar player. Zohra, 14, left Afghanistan with her uncle and cousin, and says she talks to her parents “as often as the internet allows”. But she admits to being homesick. Like Mohammad Saleh, she must deal with the trauma of exile and uprooting.
They are little ones who grew up very quickly. It’s hard to imagine what they went through. They call me mom. They communicate a lot because they need to be in contact.
Zulmina Querinos, caretaker at the Braga conservatory
Bearers of tradition
In this concert of nostalgia, music is a balm. The pleasure of playing alleviates regrets and keeps them in the present moment. They are fully aware of the privilege they have in being able to learn and continue their musical development. “I couldn’t do anything if I went back to Afghanistan now,” says Zohra. It was important [de partir] if I wanted to study and survive. »
Aware, too, of being bearers of a tradition and actors of an important heritage protection operation. These young people may not be saying it precisely. But when we ask them what their dream is, they all say “want to return to Afghanistan to teach music” once the Taliban are gone.
“This is something that we insist on a lot,” emphasizes Ahmad. Sarmast. I don’t want to speak for them. But to my knowledge, they are clearly aware of their responsibility to safeguard a musical culture. »
PHOTO JEAN-CHRISTOPHE LAURENCE
Abishek Adhikany gives his sitar lesson in a small room at the Braga conservatory.
More than a responsibility, it is a duty. They know that if their practice stops, they will lose their tradition in the more or less long term.
Abishek Adhikany, sitar teacher
Stabilization
Ninety students are still enrolled at ANIM. The minors are supported by the Portuguese government, the older ones, mainly by American charities and patrons (Friends of ANIM).
The situation has also stabilized. Since September, young people have officially integrated the Portuguese school system, which promotes meetings and integration into the host society. A sign of progress: musical collaborations are underway between the Institute’s various orchestras (including Zohra, an exclusively female ensemble of 25 musicians) and Portuguese music groups. Concerts are also planned in Switzerland, Austria, France and the United Kingdom between now and the summer for the Afghan Youth Orchestra, the school’s largest orchestra.
“There were mixed feelings at the beginning,” admits Mr. Sarmast. But they are much more motivated, inspired and invested than a year ago. » Other good news: the director of ANIM plans to evacuate 300 additional people from Afghanistan in the coming months, with a view to family reunification.
And the Taliban? “I’m not really on their radar anymore,” he said. Except sometimes on social media, when I’m a little loud, I get a volley of green wood. It was hot a year ago. Now it’s not so bad. I live, I work, I no longer focus on this aspect of my life…”