ATTAN DESCRIPTION

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 in Afghanistan which is called Harabat. They wanted a cultural association founded in Hamburg with as a music school, but there was no support. In Holland there are many groups that are organized and are about to start a school. The war has changed many things: the language, the music, the art, the images. Afghan dances are quite different. Weapons are all used for joy in dance, and that is always misunderstood.

 

Dance has many meanings in Afghanistan. It's always been looked at with uncertainty. Since the war, Afghanistan is culturally much more conservative. The Ambassadeur Malia Zurzakkar to Germany has written a paper on the differences between German and Afghan communities. I also organize a celebration at the end of the year in December on Afghan culture. We [Afghans] live that out and we can not explain that with our words. We feel the dance with our bodies and must declare it with our words. All cities in Germany are quite different in the form as Afghan culture develops itself. In Hamburg, Afghan culture is much more alive than in other cities in Germany.