Sonoric Reflection w/ Elaha Soroor and Rojin Sharafi
Women’s Resistance in Art and Music
Rojin Sharafi © Hessam Samavatian
This event is the closing program of the Symposium on Women’s Resistance, Art and Cultural Diplomacy at
the CEU in collaboration with AIL.
This edition of Sonoric Reflection celebrates the resilience
and creativity of women artists from conflict-affected regions. Through music and performance, the concert highlights artistic
journeys shaped by resistance, exile, and the struggle against erasure. It invites audiences to experience art as a form of
cultural diplomacy, where voices long silenced are heard, amplified, and carried forward.
The event offers a space of solidarity, honoring women whose artistic expressions challenge oppression, preserve
cultural heritage, and reimagine possibilities of peace and transformation.
Elaha Soroor is an
Afghan singer and composer, born in 1988 to a family of refugees in Iran, who later returned to Afghanistan. She gained national
recognition through the TV talent show Afghan Star and is known for challenging conservative norms and promoting women’s rights
through her music. Soroor is a member of the London-based ensemble Kefaya and was included in BBC’s 2024 "100 Women” list
for her influence and advocacy, notably writing the anthem Naan, Kar, Azadi! to encourage Afghan women facing
oppression.
Rojin Sharafi is a Tehran-born, Vienna-based sound artist, composer, and performer
working across electroacoustic music, noise, and experimental electronics. Her visceral sonic language blends analog, acoustic,
and digital tools, exploring tension, rupture, and transformation. Praised by The Wire for her “thrilling, variegated” sound
world, Sharafi’s latest album O.O.Orifice follows critically acclaimed releases including Urns Waiting to be
Fed (2019), Zangaar (2020), and Kariz (2021). She also performs with the folk futurist ensemble HUUUM.
Her work has been presented internationally, from London to New York, affirming her as a vital voice in experimental music.
The event is curated in cooperation with Seema Sridhar of the Central European University.
