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From The Desk Of El Perro Del Mar: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s “Sonita”

A visit to a musical instrument museum with her toddler son inspired El Perro del Mar’s Sarah Assbring to recalibrate her pop sensibilities and work on what would become KoKoro. It was a “please-touch” museum where they could play the instruments, and Assbring fell in love with the percussion used in Indonesian gamelan music, and with harps from Asia and Africa. KoKoro looks outward, both musically and lyrically, to the world, and rather than a tender clinch, it’s a wholehearted bear hug of global pop sounds. Assbring will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on her.

sonita

Assbring: A few years ago I saw the heartgripping documentary Silencing The Song: An Afghan Fallen Star about Setara Hussainzada, a young woman competing in Afghanistan’s first season of Afghan Star, a talent show modeled on American Idol. The film documented the breaking down of an outspoken and confident young woman by the conservative religious laws that govern the country and its community. I was so shaken by this girl’s story. Her willpower seemed so strong, but in the end she was defeated. As any one would be. And then recently I saw Sonita, a film about Sonita Alizadeh, a young Afghan refuguee in Iran trying to seize her destiny and dreams through music. Sonita wants become a rapper and writes songs about the reality she and her female classmates face of being sold and married off to strangers. Bear in mind: Singing is forbidden for women in Iran. Sonita refuses to be silenced and decides to go against all laws to fulfill her dream and to make a change. Such a powerful woman and such an inspiring film!

Video after the jump.