Anna Safemuse – Safemuse

“Landless Tree” – migration, destruction & resilience, EP debut by Ghawgha Taban

Anna Safemuse — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 17:39:19 +0000

"Landless Tree" - EP debut by Ghawgha Taban

March 2, 2023

Photo credit: Camilla Norvoll

"Landless Tree" - migration, destruction and resilience, EP debut by Ghawgha Taban

In her first EP release, Ghawgha Taban sings about a “tree without a land”. About an eternally displaced body filled with memories of migration both as a direct personal experience and as a legacy of generations of “Afghan-Iranians” or “Afrans”. A strong debut from Ghawgha, a brave singer who, together with some of Norway’s leading musicians, Anja Lauvdal (keyboard), Morten Qvenild (keyboard etc.) and Paal Nilssen-Love (percussion), conveys frustration, anger and hope.

Photo credit: JLE/ Safemuse

In April 2022, Ghawgha was welcomed as a guest artist to Safe Music Haven Harstad, a city in the north of Norway dedicated to welcoming persecuted musical artists under the ICORN Cities of Refuge Network and Norsk PEN’s program in Norway, and in cooperation with Safemuse. Since her arrival she has worked on the development the repertoire for the EP “Landless Tree”, and more is to come. The recording is produced by the Safemuse label LIDIO with support from The Audio and Visual Fund (Fond for lyd og bilde) and the City of Harstad, and is a musical triptych that invites the listener to the experience of younger generations of “Afrans”, as a complex legacy of migrations, destruction and resilience.

Photo credit: JLE/ Safemuse

Ghawgha does not use the established term Afghans for the people of Afghanistan, but mixes both Afghanistan and Iran to refer to herself; “Afrans”. This clarifies a complicated, multi-layered recent history. Afghans originally refers to specific groups of Pashtuns, one of the largest ethnic groups in modern society in Afghanistan. But Ghawgha is Hazara, a large minority in both Afghanistan and Iran, who have been persecuted and subjected to genocide since 1880 by Afghanistan’s Pashtuns. King Abdur Rahman Khan (1880-1901) ordered several raids against Hazaras, which resulted in the extermination of a significant part of this population, through direct massacres and through the rape and enslavement of Hazara women. As a group, the Hazaras became the target of brutal political and societal racism that is still ongoing.

Photo credit: JLE/ Safemuse

“Away from home” is a traditional Hazara lullaby from Bamiyan, the site where the Taliban blew up the two giant Buddha statues in March 2001. Although it is often interpreted as an act of religious fundamentalism, the reasons behind this are much more intricate, and also clearly linked to the identity politics set in motion by Abdur Rahman Khan’s genocide and destruction of Hazara culture. The tune is a Hazara folk tune that reached Ghawgha through oral transmission, against all odds.

More information at LIDIO

© Safemuse Organisation - Oslo/Norway

FRI KUNST 2023 – under autoritære regimer

Anna Safemuse — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 17:20:22 +0000

FRI KUNST - under autoritære regimer: 3. mars

February 8, 2023

FRI KUNST – under autoritære regimer, fredag 3. mars 2023.

Safemuse inviterer til den årlige markeringen av Fri Kunst på Riksscenen – en feiring av kunstnernes unike posisjon til å beskrive, utforske og utfordre vår tidsånd, og til å belyse og avkle maktutøvelse som på ulike måter forhindrer eller nekter kunstnerne friheten til å skape og fremføre.

Vi markerer med en dagskonferanse som inkluderer sterke kunstneriske innlegg og bidrag, og der vi også slipper tre nye SAFE-kortfilmer med møter mellom ulike kunstnere med svært ulike forutsetninger til å kunne være kunstnere.

Tema er Fri kunst under autoritære regimer. På Riksscenen løfter vi frem historier og erfaringer fra sensurerte, forfulgte og truede kunstneres liv, for så å spørre:
– Hva kan vi gjøre?
– Hvilke strategier kan vi finne for internasjonal solidaritet og konkret handling?

Årets program vil veksle mellom ulike kunstneriske bidrag fra Safemuse’ residenskunstnere og faglige samtaler for så å avsluttes med en plateslipp-konsert med den afghanske hazara-sangeren Ghawgha Taban, fribymusiker i Harstad, i samspill med Anja Lauvdal og Marianna Sangita A Røe.

PROGRAM

12:00 – Velkomst: Ane Carmen Roggen, Riksscenen og Celina Jerman Bright-Taylor, Safemuse

12:05 – Åpningstale: Marianne Borgen, ordfører i Oslo

12:15 – Kunstnerisk appell: Jae Nyamburah, artist

12:25 – Dans: Carlos Catun/ «Gato» (Guatemala), tidligere residenskunstner hos Safemuse

12:30 – The State of Artistic Freedom: Sverre Pedersen, styreleder i Freemuse,

12:45 – Visning av .SAFE-kortfilm #2.2: Nikan Koshravi & Arash Ilkhani (Iran), Confess/ tidligere fribymusikere i Harstad i samtale med Anders Odden, artist

12:50 – Panelsamtale om levde erfaringer: Kunstnere deler fortellinger om livet under autoritære regimer, diskuterer verdien fri kunst og kunstneres rolle i samfunnet. Ghawgha Taban (Afghanistan), fribymusiker i Harstad, Sina Winter (Iran), tidligere residensmusiker hos Safemuse. Moderator er Sara Christophersen, PRIO. (Denne panelsamtalen foregår på engelsk)

13:45 – Pause

14:10 – Waves of Future: Presentasjon av Safemuse sine residensprogram.

14:20 – Visning av .SAFE-kortfilm #2.1 av Chong Wang (Kina), residenskunstner hos Safemuse i samtale med Ellen Horn, skuespiller, tidligere teatersjef og kulturminister

14:30 – Panelsamtale om kunstnerisk ytringsfrihet i autoritære regimer: Utfordringer og tiltak som kreves for å støtte kunstnere. Hvilke muligheter finnes det lokalt, nasjonal og globalt?

Celina Jerman Bright-Taylor, daglig leder, Safemuse, Eivor Evenrud, Leder for kultur- og utdanningsutvalget (Ap), Oslo kommune, Astrid Kvalbein, rektor ved Norges Musikkhøgskole, Sofie Marhaug, Rødts stortingsgruppe. Moderator: Laila Bokhari, statsviter og tidligere statssekretær.

15:20 – Kort oppsummering: Jan Lothe Eriksen, Safemuse. Visning av .SAFE-kortfilm #2.3: Ghawgha Taban i samtale med Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir, artist

15:30 – Pause

15:50 – Konsert: Ghawgha Taban – vokal (fribymusiker i Harstad), Anja Lauvdal – tangenter og Marianna Sangita A. Røe – perkusjon

16:30 – 17:30 – Vi samles med litt mat og drikke

Fri Kunst faller sammen med den internasjonale Music Freedom Day, som er en global markering og feiring av kunstnerisk frihet for musikere 3. mars hvert år, initiert av Freemuse i 2007 og med lokale feiringer av kunstnerisk frihet over hele verden.
Safemuse har markert Music Freedom Day årlig siden 2015 med konferanser og konserter – først i Harstad og i Oslo fra 2017. I 2023 markerer vi, i tillegg til 3. mars på Riksscenen, med nettbasert aksjon på sosiale medier.

Vi serverer lett mat og drikke, og det vil være sosial samling etter programmet er ferdig. Velkommen!

Tid: 3. mars kl. 11:30 – 17:30
Sted: Riksscenen, Oslo
Fri entre/påmelding: Påmelding Fri kunst 2023forms.office.com

En del av den internasjonale markeringen av Music Freedom Day

Med støtte fra Fritt Ord, Norsk kulturråd og Harstad kommune

Meet our new staff members

Anna Safemuse — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 11:44:53 +0000

Meet our new staff members

January 25, 2023

Edvard Valberg and Anna Talbot are Safemuse´s newest members. Edvard and Anna started working in January and will take part in Safemuses projects and activities until autumn 2023.

Edvard Valberg is the singer of the punk band Honningbarna. The band has received awards such as Spellemannprisen, Bendiksenprisen and P3Gull, and they have toured internationally for ten years. He holds a bachelor and master´s degree in musicology from the University in Oslo. His master thesis revolves around chaos as an artistic practice and explores the framework of establishing an artistic actionism based on the experiences from his own artistic practice and post-structuralist theory. Edvard will be working on developing workshops, talks, seminars and exhibitions, as well as putting the artists in residence in contact with local artist.

What does artistic freedom mean to you?

“The freedom to create is to me both a universal and local, at the same time determined and stumbling, struggle for us all to invent new – or bring back forgotten – ways of becoming human. By exploring imagery, sound, touch and movement art hits us like sensory epiphanies and shapes new ways of being. This makes art a life-affirming and unpredictable force and makes art dangerous in the eyes of authorities. Artists have been easy pickings for regimes through the ages, and they continue to be so; the freedom and safety of artists is diminishing. Although this suppression might stem from different power dynamics in different societies it has similar results: the world becomes more stale, hostile, boring and inhumane. I very much look forward to working alongside my colleagues at Safemuse to create spaces for artists to do what they have to do.”

Anna Talbot is a jewellery artist who lives and works in Oslo. She has a bachelor´s degree in art history and literature from the University of Bergen, a bachelor´s degree in jewellery, silversmithing and allied crafts from London Metropolitan University and a MFA in metal and jewellery from Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She has exhibited extensively both in Norway and internationally, with four solo exhibitions and she has been part of several group exhibitions and worked as a curator. She has also made several public art commissions for schools. Anna has received several grants and awards, in 2015 she was awarded a 10-year work grant and in 2017 she received The Scheibler Award for Crafts. She has worked as an artist in residence in London, as a teacher at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, with exhibitions at The National Library and has also been on the board of RAM Gallery and The Norwegian Association of Arts and Crafts. Anna will be working with communication, social media and general administration.

What does artistic freedom mean to you?

“Artistic freedom lies at the core of all artistic practice. To be free to create, express yourself and show your work without fear of censorship and persecution is fundamental to all artistic expression. Art should be a safe space to ask important questions and challenge norms, power structures and the establishment.

Art can be a way of building understanding, cooperation and acceptance of each other across borders, languages and societal structures and this is something that has to be protected.

As an artist who has exhibited all over the world and met people from all walks of life, I see the unique position of artists and the importance to protect their rights, freedom of expression and to be able to live freely without fear of persecution and censorship.

I look forward to working with the team at Safemuse and learning more about the different challenges and experiences artist from all over the world encounter.”