Founder of Afghanistan National Institute of Music: I cannot imagine a society without music

“I cannot imagine a society without music, it would be a dead society, I don’t know how it could survive. You can’t take music out of the hearts of people” - Ahmad Sarmast, the founder and director of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, told the Guardian after the Taliban overtook Afghanistan. The Institute also encompasses the Afghan Women’s Orchestra, which has become a “symbol of the emancipation of women”.