April 07, 2006. As part of a creative partnership that was launched in March 2006, The Killid Group (TKG) and the French Cultural Center in Kabul will organize the second in a series of concerts showcasing Afghan classical music.
The highlight of this concert will be a performance by Ahmad Sultan Fazel. Growing up in Kabul in the 1960s and self taught he started playing music at family gatherings on Thursday and Friday’ nights, as was popular at the time. At the age of 16 he performed his first musical act on Radio Television Afghanistan.
In 1982 he left Afghanistan for Europe. While studying in Germany, he pursued his passion for music and started to learn classical music grammar under the tutorship of a family friend, Massoud Parwanta. It was at the age of twenty that he met Ustad Salamat Ali Khan while he was performing in Germany. Impressed and passionate he asked the late Ustad to accept him as his student.
Ustad Salamat Ali Khan continued to teach Mr. Fazel until his death. He was one of the greatest Pakistani classical masters of the late 20th century period and was a frequent spectacle in the historical musicians’ quarter of the Kabul known as Kharabat.
After having spent several years between Europe and the USA, Ahmad Sultan Fazel returned to his motherland in 2002. The knowledge he has acquired places him in a unique position in the Afghan classical musical field. Today, he is working for the rebuilding of the musical life of his country through performance and teaching.
The concert will be held in the French Cultural Center (Esteqlal High School) this Saturday, 8 April at 6.00 pm.
This series of concerts showcasing Afghan classical music is jointly organized by TKG owned Radio Killid (FM 88) and the French cultural association ‘Riscquat’.
For more information please contact:
Jerome Louis on 0799 056411 or email jlouis@thekillidgroup.com.
Backgrounder
Development and Humanitarian Services for Afghanistan (DHSA) is one of Afghanistan’s leading non-profit development NGOs. Operating in Afghanistan since the early 1990s, DHSA is widely accredited with having provided critical services to vulnerable populations displaced by internal conflict and drought.
With the political changes of 2001, DHSA turned its focus from humanitarian assistance to long term development and independent media by transforming its knowledge of local communities and issues and its networks of aid distribution into ones dedicated to enhancing public access to independent information and basic resources. It was as a result of this transformation that The Killid Group (TKG – www.thekillidgroup.com) was born. TKG is a public service of DHSA and an independent Afghan media and public communication initiative.
The mission of DHSA, to include The Killid Group (TKG) is to significantly improve literacy and public awareness levels by increasing opportunities for education, increasing access to information and encouraging civic participation and accountability.
Specifically, TKG’s mission is to improve public access to independent media, information and basic resources. TKG’s primary interest is in publishing, production & broadcast and nation-wide distribution.
TKG owns and operates Radio Killid broadcasting on 88 FM in Kabul and the western city of Herat and publishes the country’s most popular cultural quarterly magazine Sapaida and two national weeklies. Killid Weekly (25,000 copies) and Mursal (15,000), a women’s magazine reach every province through the Group’s distribution network, Nye Express.
Nye Express is the only institutional capacity in Afghanistan with nation-wide reach to distribute independent press and media resources.
