Afghanistan National Institute of Music
The Afghanistan National Institute of Music is a school of music in Kabul, Afghanistan. It was founded by the Afghan-Australian ethnomusicologist Dr. Ahmad Naser Sarmast, and offers a curriculum combining the tuition of both Afghan and Western music. ANIM is a co-educational institute.
Per an agreement between Sarmast and the Afghan Ministry of Education, the school accommodates both exceptionally talented students and underprivileged children.
In 2013, ANIM's Afghan Youth Orchestra toured the United States, including performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 2014 a suicide bomb attack at a student concert killed an audience member and the bomber, and injured many more including Dr. Sarmast, who was nearly killed and lost some of his hearing. In 2015, the first Afghan female conductor, 17-year-old Negin Khpalwak, held her first concert with an all-female ensemble.
a third of the 250 students are female and the proportion is growing; in 2019, Sarmast will take its all-female Zohra Orchestra on a European tour.
