(Web Desk) - The Afghan Youth Orchestra (AYO) will now be allowed to perform in the UK after the Home Office reversed its decision to deny the group visas for entry.
The AYO was due to perform at the Southbank Centre in London on Thursday as part of its Breaking the Silence tour, and the venue’s South Asian Sounds festival, before going on to perform concerts in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.
The Sama Arts Network, which organised the tour, confirmed that the Home Office had U-turned on its decision on Monday evening to deny the AYO entry visas.
Sama artistic director Jay Visvadeva told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight programme: “The good news has travelled to me from Portugal, that the Home Office has finally seen light of the day.”
The group – an ensemble of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) – had expressed its “profound disappointment” over the visa refusal in a statement on ANIM’s website, and called on the Government department to reconsider its decision.
The statement added: “The visa refusal not only dealt a significant blow to the young musicians’ aspirations but also deprived these young musicians an opportunity to raise awareness through music about the gender apartheid against Afghan women and denial of cultural rights of the Afghan people by the Taliban.”
Dr Ahmad Sarmast, head of ANIM, said he was “delighted” to learn of the U-turn, adding: “The new decision of the Home Office will enable members of the AYO not only to share the beauty of Afghan music with the audiences in four
UK cities, but also to make music with young British musicians who join us in each city and further this latest development allows these young musicians to raise awareness about the ban of music in Afghanistan and systematic denial women rights by the Taliban.”
The group fled Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban, and its musicians have lived and studied in Portugal, where they were granted asylum, since December 2021.