Beyond Skin and The Duncairn host concert for Musicians at Risk in Afghanistan, supported by The National Lottery
4th February, 2022
Beyond Skin and The Duncairn hosted the Musicians at Risk Concert on 29 January, an evening of music highlighting the plight of refugees & musicians at risk in Afghanistan. Both The Dunciarn and Beyond Skin are funded by The National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and on the night they welcomed artists from different backgrounds to share their music and experiences including Afghan musician, Yusuf Mahmoud and his son Ariz, Amita Ravikiran, Robin Korevaar, Daragh Lynch (Lankum) and Iona Zajac.
The Duncairn and Beyond Skin are supporting the Campaign to Protect Afghanistan’s Musicians and, closer to home, The Campaign to End Direct Provision. This event was a collaboration between The Duncairn and Beyond Skin, in partnership with ICFAM, MARRS & the Schweitzer Institute.
Darren Ferguson, Chief Executive, Beyond Skin, “Here in Northern Ireland we’ve designed a very unique Artists and Musicians at Risk Resettlement Scheme to support people that are in asylum seeking status or refugee status. What we’re trying to do is to make sure that musicians and artists are protected, the heritage of their musical traditions continues and if possible, to get people out of Afghanistan to other countries to be safe but also to bless those countries they go to with their musical heritage.”
Yusuf Mahmoud, musician, said, “Since the Taliban has come into power in Afghanstan, the music has stopped and there is no music allowed and musicians living in Afghanistan don’t have jobs as they’re not allowed to play music. We’re trying to raise some money to help these musicians through the very difficult and cold winter.”
Gilly Campbell, Head of Community Arts and Education, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, added, “The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is proud to see two of our funded organisations, supported by The National Lottery, joining forces on this important cause and we congratulate them and all the musicians involved, in bringing much-needed awareness to these campaigns. Both The Duncairn and Beyond Skin excel at supporting our local musicians, offering them a vital platform to be heard and seen. With this concert it’s heartening to see them extend their reach beyond Northern Ireland to help musicians in need in Afghanistan who are facing unimaginable difficulties at this time.”
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvYr9rk9qEM
To make a donation to the cause visit: https://localgiving.org/charity/beyondskin/project/afghanistan/