Join us on Saturday, June 24 from 2–4pm for a live music presentation I Also Want to Be an “Iranian Woman” from Iranian multi-instrumentalist Kamila Thunder. She will play the ney (traditional Persian reed flute), an instrument that she feels resonates with her gender challenges of “hearing the voice of both a woman and a man whispering in her ear.”

Thunder interprets those voices into two completely different musical timbre sounds, like a feminine and a masculine voice having a conversation and singing together—as they are both deprived of great culture and in search of beloved freedom.

This program is presented in collaboration with Diaspora Arts Connection as part of the public programming for YBCA’s ongoing exhibition  طراوت | TARAVAT—which highlights the voices, struggles, and personal stories of artists in the Bay Area who are carrying the torch of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and LBGTQIA2S+ rights globally.

Thunder dedicates this performance to courageous Iranian women enduring prolonged suppression, hoping her presence sends a message of tolerance and freedom to Iranian society, while sharing the beauty of the secret notes that have been played underground with broken instruments for 1400 years.