German violinist calls on governments to support musicians fleeing Afghanistan

Ulla Benz, a German violinist, has started a project that aims to help the hundreds of Afghan musicians fleeing the Taliban.

A statement from Benz reads: 'The situation in Afghanistan for musicians and artists is tragic, and extremely dangerous. In the past weeks the Taliban have been destroying instruments, and now musicians are also being persecuted, their homes burned and people killed.

'A WhatsApp group of over 160 Afghan musicians is full of cries for help ... Some of these musicians have also been victims of previous ISIS bombings.

The project aims to rescue these musicians from Afghanistan and offer them a safe place to live. Benz has a compiled a list of more than 300 musicians and, currently, this list is available from the foreign ministries of Mexico, Italy, Germany and the USA.

Benz concludes: 'We know that not one government can take them all these musicians in, so we want to try to get help from everywhere.

'Musicians and politicians from the UK are needed to help support this project to rescue musicians from Afghanistan – can anyone help?'

For more information contact:

Ulla Benz, ulla_violin@yahoo.de

Tel: +49 170 5988913

www.ullabenz.com