Authors

Louise Pascale

Louise Pascale, Professor at Lesley University, has worked for over twenty-five years in the field of arts and education. Motivated by a long-held passion and concern for preserving traditional music, Louise has spent the last nine years republishing a songbook, Qu Qu Qu Barg-e-Chinaar: Children’s Songs from Afghanistan, initially created while she served in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan from 1966 to 1968, and creating a second songbook, Awasana See Sana, as well as accompanying teacher’s guides for both songbooks. Due to over twenty years of war and oppression in Afghanistan, these children’s songs were almost completely eradicated from Afghan culture. As a result of this project, 50,000 copies of the songbook and 7,500 accompanying teacher’s guides have been distributed to elementary schools, orphanages, and family centers across Afghanistan and embraced not only as a music text but a support for basic literacy. The English edition of the songbook, published by National Geographic Society in 2007, was part of a yearlong exhibition, Hidden Treasures of Afghanistan, which opened at the National Gallery in Washington, DC on May 25, 2008.