{"id":1453,"date":"2016-01-02T21:29:28","date_gmt":"2016-01-03T02:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/?p=1453"},"modified":"2016-01-10T20:31:30","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T01:31:30","slug":"help-a-young-afghani-musician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/?p=1453","title":{"rendered":"Support A Young Musician From Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/BasetPracticing.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1454\" src=\"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/BasetPracticing-300x268.jpg\" alt=\"BasetPracticing\" width=\"300\" height=\"268\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/BasetPracticing-300x268.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/BasetPracticing.jpg 506w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>A few years ago, I posted about the helplessness I often feel as a musician in the face of world events. I remember feeling it keenly for the first time as a student in New York.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember the circumstances of my despondent state of mind, but at a lesson one week with Jerome Ashby, whatever had been brewing came to the surface. <i>It\u2019s just a piece of metal<\/i>, I said. His response, in his ever thoughtful way, was <i>I think you know it\u2019s more than that<\/i>. And of course, it is more than that. Far more.<\/p>\n<p>The poet <a href=\"http:\/\/poems.com\/special_features\/prose\/essay_lee.php\" target=\"_blank\">Li-Young Lee wrote an essay<\/a> in which he says this: \u201cI felt that they [great poems] saved my life. Am I stupid? Am I one of those idiots who goes around saying that poetry saved my life? His poems, I can say this, saved my life. And I bet they saved his life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many of us, probably most of us, could substitute the word \u201cmusic\u201d into this statement of Li-Young Lee\u2019s. If music didn\u2019t save us from a literal or even emotional death, maybe it gave meaning and shape to a young life that would have otherwise been spent listlessly, which is a kind of death. Or maybe it gave life to a special voice that has saved others.<\/p>\n<p>There is a young trumpet student in Kabul at ANIM (Afghan National Institute of Music) by the name of AhmadBaset Azizi (he goes by Baset). The school has received quite a bit of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/02\/02\/arts\/music\/afghanistan-national-institute-of-music-students-to-tour-us.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">press after its U.S. tour several years ago<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/12\/31\/world\/asia\/after-taliban-attack-in-kabul-a-music-teacher-keeps-playing.html\" target=\"_blank\">again, after a suicide bomber attack<\/a> during a concert. The Taliban&#8217;s target was the head of school, who survived, though a German concertgoer did not. After tireless efforts on his own part, and some guidance from others, Baset has been accepted at Interlochen with a scholarship, but has no financial means to attain the rest of his tuition and fees there.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t help but think about the times I feel\u00a0utterly ineffectual as a citizen of\u00a0this war-torn, crazy world. And here is a chance to make a difference to at least one young Afghani at the brink of a future in music, and at the brink of a new life in a peaceful country. With our help, music can save his life, and perhaps many more lives through him. Please consider joining me to help him pursue his dreams. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/xmgqpp5r\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to donate.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few years ago, I posted about the helplessness I often feel as a musician in the face of world events. I remember feeling it keenly for the first time as a student in New York.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/?p=1453\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1453"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1462,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions\/1462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelashornstudio.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}