by Skip ahead to the 5:59:00 mark to hear a November 15th TEDx talk given by Louise Pascale of Lesley University about the Afghan Children’s Songbook Project. Louise is like the Pete Seeger/Cecil Sharp of Afghanistan. The project grew out of her experiences in the sixties, working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kabul, Afghanistan. Actually, that was one of the things that stood out for me, the things she said about how working in the Peace Corps stays with you. I couldn’t leave my cats and join now, but I envy her and many others this kind of experience.
She also makes very clear how music-less Afghanistan had become. I don’t want to give anything away, you should listen to her talk, but until her talk I really didn’t comprehend just how extensive the ban on music was. I loved the soldier at the end.
