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With a sense of showmanship that would have impressed Freddie Mercury, Salahdeen, aged seven, struts his way

through a passionate rendition of “We Will Rock You” — all part of the learning process at Kabul’s “school of rock”. Founded two years ago in a living room in the Afghan capital, the school has grown into a busy youth club based at an arts centre with a recording studio and 35 students mastering singing, the guitar and drums. The walls are covered in murals of local life and musical heroes such US duo The White Stripes, while the garden outside is decorated with graffiti paintings including one of a woman in her veil.

“This is the only place in Afghanistan to learn rock music,” Omar Paiman, 18, a spiky-haired fan of Linkin Park, told AFP. “I am really interested in guitar, and I have had lessons for seven months. My family didn’t want me being a singer or a musician because Afghan people don’t have a good opinion of rock music.” “Some people threaten to kill artists. My dad is a construction engineer and wanted me to follow him,” Omar added as he strummed through a few chords of the Bob Dylan classic “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”.

The Taliban outlawed almost all music during their 1996-2001 rule of Kabul, and Afghanistan remains a conservative country with widespread suspicion of Western influences. But rock school founder Humayun Zadran said that the hunger among young people for a blast of electric guitar became clear when teenagers clamoured to get involved with jam sessions that he held at his home with friends. “Kids were asking ‘how do you play this riff?’ and ‘how do you hold this note?’. It got bigger and bigger and we thought about opening a proper rock school.

“We started with a couple of guitars, half a drum kit and seven students.” Zadran says that finding kit, funds and teachers to keep the project afloat is a constant battle. “Getting in-struments in this country is impossible,” he said. “We have either carried them in from outside, or friends who bought a guitar in the US have left it here as a donation. “You can’t just go out and

buy a set of strings or pick up a guitar.”

‘Music is an unreachable desire’Despite such limitations, Kabul city does

boast a lively rock scene, with mainly male crowds drawn to loud, angry music that expresses their frustration and experience of decades of war. Zadran is the proprietor of the arts centre where the rock school is housed — and he also helps run the annual Sound Central music festival. “It’s growing, there are more mu-sicians, there are more concerts happening,” he said. “You have to be optimistic to do something like this and I’m very optimistic about after 2014 (when US-led foreign forces pull out).”

Perhaps Salahdeen could develop from sing-ing Queen songs into being a real frontman one day. Or Meena Yousufzai, 22, could charm an audience with her gentle violin music. Meena is still learning the basics, but she knows she is lucky to be able to take up an instrument when many of her friends are banned by their protec-tive parents.

“It is very difficult and it is not very common here, particularly for girls, to learn music. Girls can go to school to learn how to read and write, but music is an unreachable desire,” she said. “Most of my friends are interested to learn, but they don’t have family permission. To learn an instrument is a great feeling.” For Sulyaman Qardash, lead vocalist for top local band Kabul Dreams, the most important message for begin-ners is not to just copy the West but to find a new sound as the country enters an era without NATO combat troops out on patrol.

“I’m not that Afghan who you saw on the TV with a turban or that Afghan caught up in explosions every day,” he said. “Kabul sound is a mixture of a lot of things. The rhythm is differ-ent, the tempo is different. Musically we are in the middle of nowhere.”—AFP

Kabul’s School of Rock Offers Lessons for Life

Afghan music students chat and

practice the guitar at “Kabul School of

Rock” in Kabul.Afghan music student Meena practices the violin.

Afghan music student Qais Sadat, 22, practices the guitar.

In this picture taken on October 22, 2013, Kabul School of Rock’s direc-tor, Robin teaches drums to an Afghan music student at “Kabul School of Rock” in Kabul.—AFP photos

Afghan music student Omar

Paiman, 18, prac-tices the guitar.

The director of the Keanu Reeves 3-D film “47 Ronin” says he hopes his adaptation of a true Japanese

story becomes a Hollywood block-buster. Film director Carl Rinsch, Reeves and co-stars appeared together in front of a Tokyo audience yesterday. The film is based on an actual historical event during the Edo Period known as “Chushingura.” It involved a lord who was wrongfully put to death and his followers - ronin - who sought revenge.

Rinsch said he took on the film subject and sat down with Keanu Reeves about two years ago. They

wondered how they were going to take on a popular Japanese tale and do it justice. Rinsch said they decided to make the story their own, making “it a Hollywood blockbuster and see it through that lens.” “These themes of revenge, loyalty, perseverance, were things we knew from the very beginning were universal,” said Rinsch, who is making his directorial feature debut with the film. Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada stars as the main supporting character, Kuranosuke Oishi, a leader of the men. Sanada said that during the filming Reeves became more and more of a samurai, while

the character he played became more “wild” in style.

Sanada said Reeves and himself hoped to depict the friendship of two characters, which transcended borders and social positions, in the film. Reeves said “47 Ronin” is a story where people “share this journey to reclaim their land, their honor, their way. It was very special to me to be part of it.” Reeves, who grew up attracted to martial arts movies, makes his directorial debut this year with the martial arts action movie “Man of Tai Chi.” The film “47 Ronin” premiers in Japan on Dec. 6 and opens in US theaters on Dec 25.—AP

Canadian actor Keanu Reeves appears at a press conference.—AFP

Keanu Reeves film based on true Japanese story

Marvel superhero Thor hammered rivals for a second straight week-end at the North American box

office, industry estimates showed Sunday. “Thor: The Dark World,” the latest block-buster based on Marvel’s iconic comic book character, took a hefty $38.5 million in its second weekend, figures from Exhibi-tor Relations showed. Starring Australian heartthrob Chris Hemsworth as the ham-mer-wielding son of Odin, the movie is a follow-up to the franchise’s 2011 money-spinning first installment, “Thor.”

With its strong opening weekend—helped by the phenomenal success of 2012’s $1.5-billion hit “The Avengers,” which saw Thor join forces with other characters—the film has taken in a total of nearly $147 million. Debuting strong in second place was romantic comedy “The Best Man Holiday,” a sequel 15 years in the making to “The Best Man,” in which

the college friends reunite over Christmas and reignite romance and rivalries. The film, starring Monica Calhoun and Morris Chestnut at the head of an ensemble cast, took in $30.6 million.

“Last Vegas,” starring Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline on a seniors’ bachelor party to Sin City, was a distant third, with $8.9 million, while animated comedy “Free Birds” was fourth with $8.3 million. In fifth, screwball Jackass comedy “Bad Grandpa,” took in $7.7 million in its fourth week. “Gravity”—with Oscar-winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts adrift in space after a devastating accident—held steady in sixth place with $6.3 million during its third weekend in theaters.

Meanwhile, science fiction blockbuster “Ender’s Game” tumbled to seventh place in its third week. The film, adapted from Orson Scott Card’s 1985 novel and starring

Harrison Ford, earned $6.2 million. The critically acclaimed drama “12 Years a Slave,” regarded as an early contender for Oscars glory, was in eighth with $4.7 million. Paul Greengrass’s “Captain Phillips,” a thriller starring Tom Hanks as a cargo ship captain captured by Somali pirates, earned $4.5 million. The film is based on the 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama container ship. British romantic comedy “About Time,” starring Domhnall Gleeson as a love-struck time-traveler, rounded out the top 10 with $3.5 million.—AFP

‘Thor’ stays Marvel-ous atop box office

L I F E S T Y L E TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013

M u s i c & M o v i e s