Amir, shot during the height of the Afghan civil war in the 1980s, investigates and portrays the life of Afghan refugees living in and around the city of Peshawar in northern Pakistan through the experiences of the musician Amir. The aspirations of Afghan refugees are expressed through their political songs dealing with the civil war in Afghanistan, with exile, with Afghan nationalism and with the Islamic revolution. In highly charged and tragic circumstances, music can be used in very direct ways, both to promote solidarity and as an agent of catharsis.
Direction
Ethnomusicologist captures what war reporters miss.
Sound
Political songs that ache with exile and defiance.
Director
John Baily
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Peshawar became the unlikely capital of Afghan music during the 1980s Soviet-Afghan War, with refugee musicians preserving traditions that war threatened to erase.
Director John Baily was literally a pioneer of 'applied ethnomusicology' — he didn't just study these musicians, he advocated for their resettlement.
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