simorgh 2

Call to musicians for submission of works to the 3rd Simorgh Peace Prize

7 May 2013

 

The 3rd Simorgh Peace Award shall concentrate on the works of musicians and innovative young people who have not had much chance of presenting their creativity.

Simorgh Peace Prize was established as an initiative of Armanshahr Foundation in 2009. The 1st Simorgh Festival concentrated on the works of poets and writers and the 2nd Festival to independent publishers in Afghanistan. Besides, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Culture and Tajikistan National library were awarded the Simorgh statue for their publishing achievements and establishing a safe haven for books and reading.

We demand 365 days of peace, not a day less, but a day more!

To mark the World Peace Day, having  endured war, losses and injustice, having gone through storms and miseries, we wish to remember that the fabulous  Simorgh, whose feather is a cure for every pain and a herald of freedom and justice, has not nested behind Mount  Qaf. We are, the 30 Wise Birds, and we shall be the creator and guard of enduring peace and the saviour if we are diligent and believe in ourselves.

The third round of “Simorgh” is a call to bring the message of peace through music to the ears of listeners, who have not heard but the roaring of rifle and sound of bullets for many years, and are eager to hear a sound that would not harrow the soul. Militarism, torture and ill-treatment as well as all other forms of violence and destructive intervention have not left any corner of our geography untouched in this century. There have always been booted people who had nothing on their minds but the captivity of human beings.

This Peace award is a present of hope to peace activists worldwide to help this people regain their dignity; it is a tune for the ones who have not heard anything but war drums for a long time.

Simorgh is a vast home for artists, whose Orphic voice and touching sounds have occasionally, in parallel to all hatred and violence, transferred the people of this widespread geography to their ideal and beautiful world, away from the ugly reality of their surroundings.

We ask all the artists involved in the music industry (songwriters, composers and singers) to join us to build this home!

Works submitted to the Festival Secretariat should endeavour to counter war, militarism, discrimination, torture and despotism, and to promote peace and love. It is to be understood that we are not seeking to shout slogans in this Festival. We wish to bind people to each other by means of arts and to take steps to reject violence. In this Festival, judgement shall not be based on registration and professional backgrounds.

The jury shall select songwriters, composers and singers and award them the Festival’s azure statue.

 

How to take part in Simorgh Peace Prize Festival

Participating artists may send their works to the Festival Secretariat in the following two forms up to 7 June 2013

  1. 1.       Residents of Afghanistan may deliver their works as audio or visual files on DVDs to any one of the following two addresses:
  • Armanshahr Foundation Office, 195  Sarak Panjom, Kucheh Ghasabi, Baharestan, Kabul
  • Armanshahr Foundation Office, Jaddeh Posht-e Ghomandani Amnieh, ruberuye Talar Haydari, Herat
  1. 2.       Residents of Afghanistan and other countries may send the links to their works in audio or visual forms to the following: jayezeh.simorgh@openasia.org

 

Works submitted to the Festival Secretariat must be accompanied with the following details in full. Otherwise, they shall not be considered in the Festival.

 

Fill in the following questionnaire and send it to us with your work

Name:                                                                         Surname:

Date and place of birth:

Nationality:

Sex:

Occupation:

Telephone:

Address:

E-mail:

Website/blog:

Youtube URL:

Brief history of artistic activity:

Armanshahr /Open Asia is a non-governmental, non-profit and independent organisation of active citizens, which is not affiliated to any economic, political, religious, and ethnic group or any government. It strives to create the proper channels to fulfil social demands for democracy, human rights, justice and rule of law as well as take cultural initiatives, and publish books to facilitate the collective consciousness of the citizens. It endeavours to achieve solidarity, progress and peace through exchange of ideas and dialogue in the region.

Contact us:

Mail: jayezeh.simorgh@openasia.org

Telephone: Afghanistan +93787195212; +93700427244; International +33662153297

Website: http://openasia.org

Simorgh Peace Prize blog: http://jayezasimorgh.blogfa.com