Qu Qu Qu Barg-e-Chinaar: Children’s Songs from Afghanistan
After decades of upheaval in Afghanistan, this moving collection of sixteen children’s folk songs is being returned to a new generation of Afghan children to be sung and passed down for generations to come.
Originally collected by Peace Corps Volunteer Louise Pascale and published by Kabul Press in 1968, the songs have all but disappeared from the Afghan culture. Sixteen songs have now been recorded by the celebrated Afghan musician Vaheed Kaacemy and a group of Afghan children after much research and rehearsal. Eight of the songs are from the original songbook; the others were collected and/or composed by Vaheed. The latest edition includes lyrics in Farsi, Pushto, Uzbeki and Hazara; English translations and transliterations; musical notation; children’s drawings; and a 60-minute CD, all for $17.95.
With support from the National Geographic Society, Ayenda: Afghan Children Initiative, and many generous individuals, more than 14,000 free copies have already been distributed to children at schools, family centers, and orphanages across Afghanistan. Additional printings are planned to return this cultural heritage to thousands more children in Afghanistan and in Afghan communities around the world.
On Sunday, April 11, 2010,
FAC invites you to a free lecture and video presentation by Louise Pascale, A Hopeful Note: Preserving and Returning Traditional Songs – The Story of the Afghan Children’s Songbook Project
2–4 pm at Sherrill Library, Room B,
on the Lesley University/Episcopal Divinity School Campus,
99 Brattle Street at the corner of Mason Street (entrance on Brattle Street)
near Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA
Listen to a few tracks ...
Order the songbook and CD
Order your copy of Qu Qu Qu Barg-e-Chinaar: Children’s Songs from Afghanistan. Profits from sales go toward printing more songbooks and distributing them to children and families in Afghanistan.
Contribute to the Afghan Children’s Songbook Project
You can help return these songs to the people of Afghanistan by making a tax-deductible donation to the Afghan Children’s Songbook Project (ACSP). Contributions can be made by check, credit card, or stock donation.
Checks should be made payable to Folk Arts Center of New England. Please note “Afghan Children’s Songbook Project” on the memo line of your check and mail it to:
Folk Arts Center of New England
42 West Foster Street
Melrose, MA 02176-3811
To make a donation by Visa or MasterCard, contact the FAC office at 781-662-7475.
Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. The Folk Arts Center of New England is an incorporated 501(c)(3) organization.
Sixteen songs have now been recorded by the celebrated Afghan musician Vaheed Kaacemy and a group of Afghan children after much research and rehearsal. Eight of the songs are from the original songbook; the others were collected and/or composed by Vaheed. The latest edition includes lyrics in Farsi, Pushto, Uzbeki and Hazara; English translations and transliterations; musical notation; children’s drawings; and a 60-minute CD, all for $17.95.