Afghan students attending ANIM receive a full academic curriculum while immersed in the study of traditional Afghan musical instruments and training in modern orchestral performance. Foreign instructors offer classes and instructions in western music.
Dr. Ahmad Sarmast (left), Director of the Afghan National Institute of Music, warns students to take security precautions in the wake of a suicide attack in the downtown area of Kabul.
Afghan classical music often relies on the sitar, a stringed instrument brought to the royal court in Kabul by Indian musicians in the nineteenth century. Here, an Indian husband and wife team are teaching sitar to students.
A British oboe instructor marks a score sheet for an Afghan student during class.
A trumpeter practices his notes in one of the school’s studios.
A young woman plays the lute-like rabab, a uniquely Afghan musical instrument, during an instruction class at the Afghan National Institute of Music in Kabul.
Afghan girls practice their recorders with an instructor.
A female student practices her bowing technique on a cello under the watchful eye of a Korean-American instructor.
A young woman practices the violin.
A seventh-grade pianist poses before resuming her practice at the Afghan National Institute of Music in Kabul.