By: Zabi Balkhi
She puts the violin on her left shoulder and moves the bow slowly over the strings. Manizha Rahimi says the beautiful and thrilling sound is the only thing that can take her out of her painful world.
Manizha Rahimi is just 14 years old and her passion is playing the violin. But since the Taliban group regained power, she has had to do it in secret; moving to a small, dark room in the corner of her house to hide the sound.
“I am always afraid the Taliban will hear it or people will find out,” she says. “That’s why I close the door and window and play in a room in the corner of our house that we don’t use. It’s like a storage room.”
Manizha has big dreams at this young age. She wants to play the violin on the biggest stages in the world. She says when she plays, she feels that “her soul flies”.
“Whenever I think about the current situation of the country, I feel disturbed,” she says. “Because the schools were closed and I could not finish. The music courses were closed. That’s why I play the violin every day and it helps me.”
The Taliban’s domination of Afghanistan has shattered Afghan music. When they first arrived in cities, they punished local artists and broke their instruments. Playing music is now absolutely prohibited and media are forbidden to broadcast it.
Manizha has been interested in playing the violin since she was 10 years old and she spent four years trying to achieve this dream.
When she was eleven, she went to Afghanistan Music Institute to learn to play but was rejected.
“I was in grade eight and they said they only take students from grade four, so they didn’t accept me.”
Manizha decided to fight for her dream. She started learning in a music school in Kabul. “I didn’t want to give up my interest and dreams,” she says. “I wanted to try another way and I found a school that would teach me violin.”
Before the Taliban came, it was normal for girls to learn music. Dozens of teaching centers operated in Kabul and the provinces. There were free concerts and entertainment programs.
Manizha spent a year learning to play the violin professionally. Then the Taliban reached the gates of Kabul.
These days, she plays the violin alone in her room for at least three hours. “The courses are closed because the Taliban consider music forbidden, and I don’t think it will open again and I have no hope,” she says. “That’s why I’m currently practicing at home.”
She listens to old songs, finds their notes and learns. “My biggest wish is to learn the violin better from a foreign trainer,” she says. “I want to make more progress in playing the violin and be able to perform on the biggest stages in the world.”
In 2022 the World Music Council published a declaration which said that banning music in Afghanistan is against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The council added that like the first period of Taliban rule, the group has turned Afghanistan into a silent nation once again.
Before the fall of the previous government, she was able to perform the violin on just once with acclaimed Afghan star Ariana Saeed. She explains her wonderful and unforgettable experience.
“In one of Ariana Saeed’s songs called “Nafasam” (or “My Breath”), Ariana herself requested that three girls play the violin on stage with her. I was one of those three girls.”
Karolina Protsenko, a 14-year-old American violinist who performs on the world’s biggest stages is Manizha’s role model.
“I will not give up, no matter how bad the situation is. If the music school is closed, I will still practice at home.”
Many girls like Manizha are struggling and fighting in the darkness of Afghanistan to achieve their goals and dreams.
