The sounds of classical Persian music used to fill the rooms of the Honiak Music Academy in Tehran: the deft plucking of the setar, the ringing of the santur.
It was the pride and joy of Iranian musician Hamidreza Afarideh, who opened the school two years ago with his wife, Sheida Ebadatdoust. They had poured their hearts and money into creating a space that felt like a haven for their 250 students, who ranged in age from toddlers to the elderly.
Now, he says, it has all been “wiped out.”
An Israeli airstrike hit the building housing their music school, along with several other businesses including a maternity clinic, on March 23. The building was located on the east side of the Iranian capital, less than two kilometers (1.3 miles) from a military air base.
There was nobody in the music center at the time – Afarideh and Ebadatdoust closed the school not long after the US and Israel launched their joint attack on Iran, to protect their students and staff from relentless bombardment.
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