Welcome friend! Today I am joining Over the River PR’s May Virtual Book tour for the non-fiction book, Playing for Freedom: The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl by Zarifa Adiba and Anne Chaon, translated by Susanna Lea Associates. Here is what the book is about:
Zarifa Adiba, Anne Chaon,Susanna Lea Associates (Translator) | Goodreads
As an Afghan girl, Zarifa Adiba has big, unfathomable dreams. Her family is struggling, her country mired in conflict. Walking to school in Kabul, Zarifa has to navigate suicide bombers. But Zarifa perseveres, nurturing her passion for music despite its “sinful” nature under Taliban law. At sixteen she gains admission to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and at eighteen she becomes the lead violist, co-conductor, and spokesperson for Zohra, the first all-female orchestra in the Muslim world.
Despite Zarifa’s accomplishments―which include a stunning performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland―her future in music demands a reckoning with her life back home. Some of her friends from Zohra are forced to marry, a few either disappear or are killed in bomb blasts, but Zarifa continues to study so she can live her dream and the dreams of her friends who are taken so soon. Her so-called “bad girl” identity puts her at odds with her culture and her family.
Playing for Freedom is the deeply compelling story of a young woman who dares to compose a masterpiece even with all odds stacked against her.
Playing for Freedom – Book Review
Reading about cultures and countries vastly different from the two that I call home is a hobby of mine. Over the course of my reading journey, I have gained much insight from memoirs like Baghdad Burning (Iraq) and The Last Nomad (Somalia). Fictional narratives like What Strange Paradise and Exit West also provide a look into the refuge experience and the aftereffects of war.
Through Playing for Freedom, Zarifa Adiba, took me on a unique journey about music and experiences of being an Afghan. I met a passionate young girl who adores music and wants to pursue dreams that many in her country and culture would dissuade her from. She has support from her mother and aunts but living with her uncles and a society with strict rules around women and conduct, she has to hide her interests.
Zarifa does a really good job of presenting the situations, her dilemmas and how she comes out of them. She makes friends wherever she goes and highlights the efforts of her teachers and family who want to see girls with her talent succeed and make a name, rather than following the traditional path of marriage.
From the very beginning Zarifa highlights how diverse Afghanistan is. While traveling to the US for the first all-female orchestra in the Muslim world, she learns how the diversity in other countries often gets condensed into larger groups in the West, giving a much more simplified picture of the cultures. She elaborates on the perception people had of her, the things that surprised her, the people she met and the challenges she faced. The response to her performance from her family, her countrymen and women is also shared in detail and how this one concert changed the course of her life.
Playing for Freedom took me on a journey from Afghanistan to the US to Pakistan to Kyrgyzstan. Zarifa explores the history of Taliban in Afghanistan, the fear it instills based on the values it stands for and what this means in particular for the Afghan women and girls. It is an informative read with thought-provoking questions and insights into a world that I did not know much about. If you enjoy stories of resilience and courage, don’t miss out on this one.
Add this to your Goodreads or purchase on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org.
About the Author
Zarifa Adiba is the lead violist and co-conductor of Zohra, Afghanistan’s first (and only) all-female orchestra. She studied at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, the only music education entity in Afghanistan in 2017. In She is currently studying International Politics at both Bard College and American University of Central Asia. She is an activist for girls and education and has been featured in USA Today; a TEDtalk, “Spreading My Wings Through Music”; FRANCE 24’s English-speaking channel, and Forbes’ “30 under 30 in Asia” in 2022. She has also been a speaker at the Tory Burch Summit, the Experience Afghanistan Summit, the Afghan-American Conference at George Washington University, and the International Guild Summit. Playing for Freedom is her first book. Since 2023, Zarifa Adiba has been living in New York where she works at a theatrical management company, and she plans to graduate from college this spring.
Recent Talks by Zarifa to check out
- Forbes 30 under 30: https://www.forbes.com/profile/zarifa-adiba/?sh=682f9b3e4a82
- USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/humankind/2017/02/07/young-afghan-women-risk-their-lives-play-music/97562668/
- TEDtalk: https://www.ted.com/talks/zarifa_adiba_spreading_my_wings_through_music
- Tory Burch Summit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxqE9l3qaJw&t=1060s
- FRANCE 24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07YgKpzUoWg
Many thanks to Over the River PR for giving me a chance to highlight this book on my blog in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for reading my thoughts. 🙂
Check out other reviewers on the tour:
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