Composer Hushang Kamkar dedicates “Another Grieved Land” to Afghan people

He has recorded the symphony based on a melody from the old love song “Let’s Go to Mazar”, which has been sung by various Afghan and Iranian singers.
“It took several days to write the piece, which is strongly inspired by the unhappy situation in Afghanistan and leaving Afghan people alone hastily and inhumanly by the countries that claim to protect human rights,” Kamkar said in a statement on Sunday after the release of the recording.
“I had deep grief in my heart that I could just express through music. I hope the collective endeavors and resistance will bring peace back to the sad land soon,” he added.
“‘Another Grieved Land’ is a symphony written for oud based on ‘Bia ke Berim be Mazar’, a popular Afghan melody; for Mazar-i-Sharif that is not safe enough to travel to anymore.”
He also thanked his brother, Arslan, a master of stringed instruments, for his contributions to the recording.
Kamkar has composed numerous symphonies, including “Anfal”, “Khorramshahr Symphonic Poem” and “In Golestaneh”.
The Tehran Symphony Orchestra choir and Italy’s World Youth Orchestra perform his symphony “Where Art Thou, Divine Martyrs” at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in 2017.
Iranian artists have always shown a reaction to the oppression of Afghan people in various periods of history.
In May, Oscar-nominated Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi strongly criticized the world for not speaking out against the bomb attack outside the Sayed Al-Shuhada School in Afghanistan in the Afghan capital of Kabul that claimed the lives of over 60 people including schoolgirls.
“I regret having to live in a time when justice is a meaningless word in this age of futility… I wish we had died and not seen the death of justice and humanity, and we would not have witnessed such tragic silence over the sad martyrdom of dozens of oppressed girls from the Afghan Hazara community,” he wrote in a statement.
In addition, Iranian pianist Bardia Sadrenoori released a single titled “Afghan Child” in memory of the children killed in the terrorist attack on the school.