Afghan Women Solidarity Concert (4PM)

Sonita Alizadeh, Elaha Soroor, Zarifa Asghar, Eva Kearney, Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey, Al MacSween, Nolan Donnelly, Shahbaz Hussain and Saphwat Simab perform at two special Belfast concerts with the Ulster Orchestra in solidarity with Afghan women, to end oppression and violence against women and girls, in solidarity with Afghan women.

On International Women’s Day 8th March, Belfast will host the Afghan Women Solidarity Concert. A Beyond Skin production, the concert will take place in the Foyle Foundation Hall at Ulster Orchestra at Townsend, Townsend Street, Belfast.

Music is currently banned by the regime in Afghanistan. Girls are not allowed to go to school and women have no rights, not even the right to speak in public. Violence against women and girls is encouraged by the regime and child girls for sale for marriage is a growing industry. Belfast was awarded UNESCO City of Music status three months after the Taliban took control of Kabul and banned music.

Featured performers include Afghan rapper, film-maker and activist, Sonita Alizadeh, who was sold into child marriage at the age of 10 (a growing industry in Afghanistan), Afghan-Northern Irish music duo, Zarifa Asghari & Eva Kearney, Hazara singer Elaha Soroor and Alaskan composer/conductor Dr Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey.

IMPORTANT TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for this event are purchased on a donation basis towards the work of Beyond Skin supporting Afghan women and girls. The Box Office system permits that a donation can only be made for one ticket at a time, so if you wish to purchase multiple tickets, you will be required to make that number of single-ticket bookings and each ticket must have a monetary value.

On the purchase page, the word 'Free' below General Admission indicates that seating for this event is unreserved. The venue has seating on both ground floor and in an upper balcony - access to the balcony is via spiral stairs, so if this is likely to prove difficult, please select a ground floor seat.

Each performance will last approximately one hour. Under 3s are not permitted and under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

About the Artists

Sonita Alizadeh
Sonita was sold into child marriage at the age of 10 and escaped at the age of 16 when her viral music video, ‘Daughters for Sale’, helped her secure a scholarship to study in the United States. Through her music and advocacy work, Sonita has campaigned for women’s rights and against child marriage. She has received the MTV Europe Music Generation Change Award and the BBC 100 Women award. A feature film ‘Sonita’ was released in premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the festival's World Documentary Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Sonita, who learned English upon coming to the U.S., graduated from Bard College in 2023. She is preparing to pursue a master’s degree in politics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 2025.


Zarifa Asghari & Eva Kearney
Zarifa fled Afghanistan to find safety in Northern Ireland took her hand to songwriting through a music project with Beyond Skin and partners, Feile and Oh Yeah Music Centre. She was introduced to Eva, one of Northern Ireland's rising music stars also known as Aqua Tofana. They have become a formidable songwriting duo recently recording their debut EP 'Afghan Girl' at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios. Eva has been touring and performing with her band that includes her partner Nolan Donnelly who will also be performing with Eva and Zarifa at the concert. Eva has been using her music to speak out about violence to women and girls and Afghan women oppression.


Elaha Soroor 
Elaha is a Hazara singer, composer, and activist. Born into a Hazara family from Afghanistan in Iran, Elaha grew up with a layered cultural identity, shaped by the resilience and challenges of her community in exile. Her career took off in 2009 on Afghan Star, where her fearless performances made her a household name but also exposed her to significant risk. As an outspoken advocate for women’s rights and ethnic representation, she faced threats that ultimately led her to relocate to the United Kingdom, where she has continued to develop her artistry and activism. Her collaboration with the music collective Kefaya resulted in Songs of Our Mothers (2019), an award-winning album reinterpreting folk songs traditionally sung by women of Afghanistan. Most recently, Elaha created Bread, Work, Freedom! an anthem made in collaboration with composer Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey, pianist Al MacSween and Afghan rapper Sonita Alizadeh.
 

Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey
The collaborations with members of the Ulster Orchestra have been scored by Alaska-born conductor Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey. Since first travelling to Afghanistan in 2018, Cayenna has worked particularly closely with Afghan musicians, composers, and conductors to create work that has been described as ‘mesmerising, moving and original’. In collaboration with Afghan composer Arson Fahim, Cayenna commissioned and premiered eight new orchestral works by Afghan composers in 2022—work that was featured by BBC Radio 3’s ‘Music Matters’. Cayenna serves as the Conducting Fellow of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, is the Director of Performance at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, is the Academic Lead for the OAcademy, a global online music conservatory, and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield.

A fringe programme of events surrounding the concert will include events with schools, youth organisations, businesses and women in music with the theme of ending violence against women and girls. The concert and fringe programme is supported by a consortium of businesses, foundations, individual donors and agencies. Find out more on Beyond Skin's website.