Fanoos Ensemble: Presenting Art of Afghanistan

Friday, November 10, 2023

Concert: 7:30-8:30pm
Q&A: 8:30-9:00pm
Reception: 9:00-10:00pm

The New School
Jazz Performance Space
55 West 13th Street, 5th Floor

Fanoos Ensemble is Ahmad Fanoos, Elham Fanoos, and Mehran Fanoos. Fanoos Ensemble was reunited in the U.S. in December 2021 after five years apart, and made their U.S. debut in the spring of 2022, one year after the flight to freedom from the Taliban. Fanoos Ensemble’s mission is to unite people and cultures from all over the world through their music, while embodying and sharing Afghanistan’s rich cultural and musical heritage.

Ahmad Fanoos, father to Elham and Mehran, is a renowned musician and exponent of progressive ideals. Because of this, his life, livelihood and family were threatened by the Taliban. He escaped from Kabul on a Fox News evacuation flight in the closing weeks of the US presence in Afghanistan in late August, 2021 and reunited with his sons later that year. He currently holds a New University in Exile Consortium “University in Exile for Afghan Artists Fellowship” at The New School and is an artist in residence at Artistic Freedom Initiative.