CFA Staffer Andrew Chatfield invites you to two events with Veronica Doubleday, Visiting Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Emotional Expression in Women’s Music-Making in Afghanistan:

Veronica Doubleday is an expert on the music of women in Afghanistan. In her colloquium, she will consider the emotional impact of songs and dance performances, looking especially at domestic and wedding music. Ms. Doubleday draws mainly on her research in the western city of Herat, where she worked with amateur and professional performers, including her principal teacher, vocalist Zainab Herawi. She also makes reference to the findings of researchers, performers, poets, and film-makers with women in other areas of the country. She will examine the themes of romantic and familial love, religious devotion, humor, protest, and celebration, with particular reference to Persian-language songs.

Date: Wednesday, December 3 – Today
Time: 4:15 – 5:15 PM
Place: CFA Hall
Cost: Free

Concert with John Baily—Women’s Traditional Songs from Afghanistan:

London vocalist Veronica Doubleday will draw on her deep knowledge of women’s music-making in the Afghan city of Heart, offering insight into their expressive world. She accompanies her singing with the traditional women’s instrument, the daireh frame drum. Her Persian-language texts cover themes of love, spiritual devotion, humor, and protest. Her husband John Baily, Emeritus Professor of Ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths, London University, accompanies her, playing the two-stringed dutar lute.

In the 1970s, Ms. Doubleday undertook research on the lives, beliefs, friendships, and activities of women in the city of Herat while a resident there with Mr. Baily. They learned to perform Afghan music as a technique of ethnomusicological research, and since then have performed concerts and given academic presentations around the world.

Date: Wednesday, December 3 – Today
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Place: CFA Hall
Cost: Free