Bareh Watan, Hazar Dafa (For the Homeland, a Thousand Times Over) By Heela Naqshband

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As part of Notes for Tomorrow, we asked five Las Vegans if they wanted to help us create one of the exhibition’s artworks, Amrita Hepi’s Soothsayer Serenades, a project that invites participants to curate playlists that can be shared on social media. Hepi asks each person to title their playlist with “a provocation.” In this essay, Heela Naqshband reflects on the inspiration behind her playlist, Bareh Watan, Hazar Dafa (For the Homeland, a Thousand Times Over).

https://spoti.fi/3dZpjlF

Bareh Watan, Hazar Dafa (For the Homeland, a Thousand Times Over) By Heela Naqshband When asked to participate in Amrita Hepi’s Soothsayer Serenades project and curate a list of songs inspired by “the action of dancing together,” my immediate thought was the attan. The attan is a traditional folk dance that is considered the national dance of Afghanistan, where I am from. I was born in the capital city of Kabul in 1979, and, because of the Soviet invasion, my parents and I hurriedly left after my first birthday. They never anticipated that for my entire life the country would be engaged in some form of conflict. It’s been over a year since the country fell once again to the Taliban, and alongside an economic collapse, a government run by warlords, and extreme famine, girls cannot attend school past sixth grade, women are heavily restricted from society, and art, music, and dancing have been banned. Again. Over the summer I attended the wedding of a dear family friend. I remember going to her parents’ wedding when I was a teenager, and, though decades have passed between the two celebrations, both weddings were a beautiful display of our culture and provided a way to connect to our traditions, as is the case for many immigrant families. This wedding was even more special as it was the first one I had gone to since the start of the pandemic. Everyone was so happy to see each other. But, aside from the camaraderie, live music, and delicious food, my favorite part of Afghan weddings is the attan. While friends and family tear up the dance floor all night long, the attan happens towards the end of the evening and it’s a dance that anyone can do, even someone like myself, the shy kid who always ran away when asked to dance at parties and is still not the most confident dancer.


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Bareh Watan, Hazar Dafa (For the Homeland, a Thousand Times Over) By Heela Naqshband by Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art - Issuu