ATEFEH EINAILI (Manchester, UK)

Sketch to I am from Nowhere for Solo Accordion

Sketch to Give me my voice back ​

This piece is going to start with a closed mouth,  later on the mouth is going to be opened. This is indicated by the crossings in the first part of the sketch. This was a project in my university about protest. I had a Santoor in this piece. First I intended to play the Santoor under  the chador,  but later I realized that is it impossible to play in that condition. I changed my mind and conveyed the feeling I had in mind through a video of my eyes protesting, which I presented behind myself. However, I had a friend wearing a chador standing at the door during the whole piece observing us. In Iran there are people like this when you show your ticket before a concert. They check your ticket, but they also check if your hijab is arranged correctly. I wanted to show that part of the concert halls in Iran. If there is a female singer on stage in Iran, only women are allowed to go to that concert, men can’t. The whole process of that performance is on this one page. It’s not just a piece.

(Transcript of an online interview)