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Youths’ options put on display

Youths’ options put on display

Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council Afghan Dance Group members Setarah Qasimi, Rezwana Sultani, and Sahar Bunyadi, all 12. Photo by Louise Donges. SUNRAYSIA youth got a chance to see what services Mildura has to offer yesterday at Henderson Park. A total of 19 youth services were on display at the first For Youth by Youth Expo organised by Mildura Rural City Council’s Youth Action Committee. Stalls on the day included Donate Life, SuniTafe, La Trobe University, the Na

Afghanistan celebrates 98 years of independence

Afghanistan celebrates 98 years of independence

Photo by Anadolu Agency. This article describes Attan dance and Chob Jangi dance (likely referring to Chopbazi dance) taking place in the city of Kabul in celebration of Afghanistan's 98th Independence Day anniversary on August 19, 2017. KABUL, Afghanistan - Thousands of young Afghan men, wearing traditional dresses and holding the tri-color national flag, flocked at a park in the capital Kabul to mark the country’s 98th Independence Day anniversary Saturday. A rare wave of j

“New Happiness”: Afghan Student Union Shares Nowruz with the Community

“New Happiness”: Afghan Student Union Shares Nowruz with the Community

Afghan Student Union flag at the University of Utah. Photo by Mckenzie Alder. On Wednesday, March 22, the Afghan Student Union (ASU) at the University of Utah hosted its second annual Nowruz celebration. Nowruz recognizes the Persian New Year every March on the vernal equinox. Nowruz has been observed for nearly 3,000 years and is an official holiday in 13 countries, including Afghanistan. The festivities began at 6 p.m. with music, food and dancing. Approximately 250 people

Attan

Attan

THE STORY Attan is nationally seen and Qarsak is now also now seen as national. Of course, there are these ultra-nationalists who have not to do with Qarsak because they only want to dance Attan. So in Afghanistan, there are over 48 ethnic groups and over 200 languages, and also Hazaras speak Hazaragi, as Tajiki ... but there are also regions, or Hazara in the north who speak Pashto completely ... the stems are totally mixed . The Baluchis in the north speak Dari but with a P

Reflecting on a changing world with the help of the Attan

Reflecting on a changing world with the help of the Attan

As the world experiences a particularly intense period of political, economic, and social change with the rapid movement of people and ideas, there are of course a lot of questions about our identities that many (if not all) of us are looking for answers to. For example, what does increased diversity of all kinds, brought with waves of migration over the last several decades, mean for personal and societal cultural identity? How do we reconcile old traditions with emerging tr

The spirit of dance

The spirit of dance

The pursuit of a passion for dance is fraught with risk to lives and livelihood for Afghan dancers, writes Madhavi Puranam. Nooriya Habibi and Obaid Zazai and a team of Attan dancers from Afghanistan are in Hyderabad for the first International Dance Festival mounted by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) with Prasar Bharati, Telangana government and Doordarshan as the organising partners. As they enthusiastically shared about the Afghan culture, you wonder what culture

Photos: Afghanistan's diverse dance moves

Photos: Afghanistan's diverse dance moves

This article is a photoessay of different dances practiced by Afghan community members in Afghanistan. All photos cited in this article published by WION News are by Associated Foreign Press. Be sure to visit the full article to see all photos featured. Photo by Associated Foreign Press. Afghan dancers perform a traditional dance 'Attan' at the Kabul Stadium during the start of a football tournament. Photo by Associated Foreign Press. Afghan Sikh men perform their traditional

Sol Joel Park hosts Earley St Peter’s School Association south Asia festival

Sol Joel Park hosts Earley St Peter’s School Association south Asia festival

Hanna Hussain, organizer of Earley St. Peter's School Association cultural showcase in Sol Joel Park. Photo by Reading Chronicle. Families enjoyed a taste of South Asia during a special fundraising event last week. The Earley St Peter’s School Association organised the cultural showcase in Sol Joel Park with the help of South Asian community groups. Hanna Hussain organised the event which helped explore Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Afghan culture.

Attan

Attan

THE STORY Afghans, the only thing that would be like deep rooted in our culture is something like the attan, that men used to do before they go to war. We have something called the attan milli, which is the real traditional attan that actually men dance to not women. But women learn it now. So it's different, it's complicated, you have to learn the beats of the drums, know how to dance to it. So regular attan that you do at like a wedding, it's just simple. They'll come they'

Attan

Attan

THE STORY Here outside Afghanistan at weddings, I haven't noticed great differences between Attans. But in Afghanistan it is different because they have many different kinds of Attan. Every tribe has a different variety. If the Attan is mixed with both men and women, only men and women related to each other would dance with each other. I don't really dance, but I like to watch. If you do not dance, you are more the listener than the speaker. When I watch Attan, I understand s

Attan

Attan

THE STORY "Milli Attan" is our "national dance" because it indeed belongs to Afghans since the start of the millennium. No matter what struggle has come to Afghanistan, Tajikis, Uzbek, Turkmen, Arabs and all ethnicities alike have done the milli attan. In Afghanistan this national dance is automatically connected to an instrument called " Dohl." This is a drum. You cannot do attan without the drum. Interestingly enough, this instrument and dance are always so linked with anot

Attan

Attan

THE STORY The attan is the Afghan national dance. Pashtuns started the attan. I know that it was for the Pashtuns to forget about war. All the Pashtun soldiers united against everything through the attan. Dance is a way of connecting to your soul. My family and I talk by phone and Facebook a lot. In 2008, I was there for the summer for 2 and a half months. Language is definitely a thing that’s hard. I know Dari, and I’m learning Pashto, but a lot of people just speak one or t

Attan

Attan

THE STORY The national dance (Attan) is a symbol of Afghans. Attan at weddings can thus be a symbol of joy, and above all, a symbol is a unit of the society. In order to experience this unity, Afghans dance on the date of independence from the British. This day is very important and young people and old people would always dance to it. There are different types of Attan, sort of by tribe that people dance. Attan used to be danced to address disputes between different tribes.

Attan

Attan

THE STORY The Attan now has a national feeling. Attan is the only thing about which people can unite. Everyone gets up to dance Attan because then they really need to take part. Other folk dances have very different meanings and stories. Solo dances have very different meaings. In Kabul before the war, there was also the cinema and theater, and also very many dances. There are a few cultural groups in Hamburg and now in 2001 there are more humanitarian cause. The music school

Attan

Attan

THE STORY Attan is a symbol of unity. It not only belongs to a single province but to all of Afghanistan. In the north, some Attan movements can’t be done because men have to have long hair to do them, which only men in the south have. In the south it is a professional dance. It is practiced in Pakhtia, Ghazni, Kandahar and Khost. Women are not allowed to dance there. Simply by nature people learn Attan through family. Most people dance outside.Iran and India have a very stro

Attan

Attan

THE STORY At the Hamburger-Afghanistan Woche (a German-Afghan conference about Afghanistan), I've learned in the course of this seminar how to dance Attan because in the evenings we were awake until two, three, four clock in the morning, and where we danced so well. I have learned dancing at this seminar because I could practice every day and very much. So now that I’m glad to be working in Afghanistan as of three years ago, if there is the occasion when there is a wedding or

Attan

Attan

THE STORY Attan is a very militaristic dance. Very much value lays on rotation movement in the dance, the rotation around itself and its own axis that has a certain body movement. If you can do it, it means you have a certain body control, a particular design, a certain component of physics that your body understands, and if you have not the body, then you can not perform the movement. THE STORYTELLER Location: Hamburg, Germany Age: 40 Gender: Male Ethnicity: Pa

Chopbazi

Attan

Attan

THE STORY Eastern Afghans are mostly Pashtun, and dancing definitely Attan because they are very proud. Other groups dance Attan, but Pashtuns in any case. For example, at Attan, the women take other clothes with only Attan. Women sing for Attan at weddings. It's an obsession. You have to make Attan just right. Young people also pay very careful attention. What I also find interesting is that you cannot actually do Attan right without long hair. But Islam actually forbids lon

Attan

Attan

THE STORY A lot of attan songs are patriotic. They’re help us to get in touch with our roots when we’re away from our country. My mother said, “When I was in Afghanistan, I didn’t even like attan.” But now she does. It’s in a circular formation, so you forget about where you’re from really. It’s about embodying the moment. No matter what, people have respect for it. It’s a dance of warriors and pride for the country. It usually happens at the end of a party. At weddings, both

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