
Playing for Freedom
The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl
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Narrated by:
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Zarifa Adiba
About this listen
A passionate musician growing up in the war-torn streets of Kabul takes her forbidden talents abroad in this triumphant memoir from debut author Zarifa Adiba.
As an Afghan girl, Zarifa Adiba has big, unfathomable dreams. Her family is poor, her country mired in conflict. Walking to school in Kabul, Zarifa has to navigate suicide bombers.
But Zarifa perseveres, nurturing her passion for music despite its “sinful” nature under Taliban law. At sixteen she gains admission to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and at eighteen she becomes the lead violist, co-conductor, and spokesperson for Zohra, the first all-female orchestra in the Muslim world.
Despite Zarifa’s accomplishments—which include a stunning performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland—her future in music demands a reckoning with her life back home. Many of the girls in Zohra are forced to marry, but Zarifa yearns to study, travel, and explore her independence. Her so-called “bad girl” identity puts her at odds with her culture and her family.
Playing for Freedom is the deeply compelling story of a woman who dares to compose a masterpiece even with all odds stacked against her.
©2021, 2024 Éditions Robert Laffont S.A.S (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2024 by Susanna Lea Associates.Critic reviews
“Zarifa Adiba's joy and hopefulness shine through her story and in every word she speaks from her memoir. Zarifa has big dreams to play the viola, conduct an orchestra, go to Harvard, meet Michelle Obama. She also faces major obstacles as she grows up in a country that doesn't value girls and opposes any musical expression. Zarifa earns money for her family by teaching English in Kabul. Her English is perfect but with an Afghan accent and a slightly singsong intonation that infuses authenticity and charm. Zarifa navigates complicated family relationships, especially with her mother, that sadden and infuriate her and underlie all her achievements and challenges. Listeners will both root for her and fear for her.” —AudioFile Magazine
“Adiba passionately supports education for all girls…Her unpretentious, earnest style as she recounts her life story with a matter-of-fact tone is as endearing as it is engaging. A must-have for any collection, especially in school and academic libraries. This memoir celebrates the power of one young woman to make a difference by speaking up and daring to be herself.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“Adiba writes with feeling and genuine pride in herself and her Afghan cultural heritage, and will touch the heart of anyone spending time in her company.” —Booklist
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Funny in Farsi
- A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
- By: Firoozeh Dumas
- Narrated by: Firoozeh Dumas
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father's glowing memories of his graduate school years here.
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The melting pot, next generation
- By Jerry on 02-15-08
By: Firoozeh Dumas
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American Imam
- From Pop Stardom to Prison Abolition
- By: Taymullah Abdur-Rahman
- Narrated by: Taymullah Abdur-Rahman
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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By the time he was twelve, Taymullah Abdur-Rahman (born Tyrone Sutton) was a rising pop star, recruited as part of the RB group Perfect Gentlemen, with a top-ten hit, national teen magazine covers, and an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. However, after his music career peaked, Abdur-Rahman found himself back home, with little to show for his success. He quickly became a teen father struggling to survive in Roxbury, MA. Seeing Islam as a way out of his hard-scrabble environment, he happily converted.
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Both/And
- A Life in Many Worlds
- By: Huma Abedin
- Narrated by: Huma Abedin
- Length: 21 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The daughter of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals and advocates, Abedin grew up in the United States and Saudi Arabia and traveled widely. Both/And grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, motherhood - and work - with wisdom, sophistication, grace, and clarity.
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Amazing book, absolutely recommended!
- By Prerit Pramod on 11-05-21
By: Huma Abedin
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The Beauty of Your Face
- A Novel
- By: Sahar Mustafah
- Narrated by: Lameece Issaq, Michael Braun
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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A uniquely American story told in powerful, evocative prose, The Beauty of Your Face navigates a country growing ever more divided. Afaf Rahman, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, is the principal of Nurrideen School for Girls, a Muslim school in the Chicago suburbs. One morning, a shooter - radicalized by the online alt-right - attacks the school.
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wonderful read!
- By Tana Beverwyk-Abouda on 08-04-22
By: Sahar Mustafah
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My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird
- New Fiction by Afghan Women
- By: 18 Afghan Women
- Narrated by: Sitara Attaie
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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A woman's fortitude saves her village from disaster. A teenager explores their identity in a moment of quiet. A tormented girl tries to find love through a horrific act. A headmaster makes his way to work, treading the fine line between life and death. These and more original, vital, and unexpected stories hail from extraordinary voices rooted in Afghanistan's two main linguistic groups (Pashto and Dari), and were developed over two years through the writer development program Untold's Write Aghanistan Project.
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Absolutely outstanding
- By Charlie Woodside on 10-21-22
By: 18 Afghan Women
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Good Girl
- A Novel
- By: Aria Aber
- Narrated by: Mozhan Navabi
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, nineteen-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist. Then in the haze of Berlin’s legendary nightlife, Nila meets Marlowe, an American writer whose fading literary celebrity opens her eyes to a life of freedom.
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The Realism
- By elizabeth on 02-20-25
By: Aria Aber
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Dancing in the Mosque
- An Afghan Mother’s Letter to her Son
- By: Homeira Qaderi
- Narrated by: Ariana Delawari
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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An exquisite and inspiring memoir about one mother's unimaginable choice in the face of oppression and abuse in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Devastating in its power, Dancing in the Mosque is a mother's searing letter to a son she was forced to leave behind. In telling her story—and that of Afghan women—Homeira challenges you to reconsider the meaning of motherhood, sacrifice, and survival. Her story asks you to consider the lengths you would go to protect yourself, your family, and your dignity.
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Excellent story
- By Llij on 07-20-21
By: Homeira Qaderi
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Born with Wings
- The Spiritual Journey of a Modern Muslim Woman
- By: Daisy Khan
- Narrated by: Daisy Khan
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Raised in a progressive Muslim family in the shadows of the Himalayan mountains, where she attended a Catholic girls' school, Daisy experienced culture shock when her family sent her to the States to attend high school in a mostly Jewish Long Island suburb. Ambitious and talented, she quickly climbed the corporate ladder after college as an architectural designer in New York City. Though she loved the freedom that came with being a career woman, she felt that something was missing from her life. One day a friend suggested that she visit a Sufi mosque in Tribeca.
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Enlightening read.
- By Cheryl Cousins on 04-23-23
By: Daisy Khan
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Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion
- A Novel
- By: Bushra Rehman
- Narrated by: Bushra Rehman
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Razia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friend, Saima, by her side. When a family rift drives the girls apart, Razia’s heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima, a new girl in her close-knit Pakistani-American community. They embark on a series of small rebellions: listening to scandalous music, wearing miniskirts, and cutting school to explore the city.
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Lovely story
- By Carol on 04-19-24
By: Bushra Rehman
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Nights of Plague
- A Novel
- By: Orhan Pamuk, Ekin Oklap - translator
- Narrated by: Amira Ghazalla
- Length: 29 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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It is April 1900, in the Levant, on the imaginary island of Mingheria—the twenty-ninth state of the Ottoman Empire—located in the eastern Mediterranean between Crete and Cyprus. Half the population is Muslim, the other half are Orthodox Greeks, and tension is high between the two. When a plague arrives—brought either by Muslim pilgrims returning from the Mecca or by merchant vessels coming from Alexandria—the island revolts.
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TOO Long!!!
- By Rachel Bahadir on 07-31-23
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
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Where Sleeping Girls Lie
- By: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
- Narrated by: Natalie Simpson
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In Where Sleeping Girls Lie—a YA contemporary mystery by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, the New York Times-bestselling author of Ace of Spades—a girl new to boarding school discovers dark secrets and coverups after her roommate disappears.
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Unpredictable
- By Myya Mixon on 03-02-25
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The Lion Women of Tehran
- By: Marjan Kamali
- Narrated by: Mozhan Navabi, Nikki Massoud
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation. Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.”
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Wonderful story Awful Narration
- By Sogol on 08-14-24
By: Marjan Kamali
What listeners say about Playing for Freedom
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tatyana Drotenko
- 04-29-24
Great details
Fascinating read.
Written and narrated by Zarifa Adiba about her life in Afghanistan. Zarifa lived in a typical Afghani household, secretly attended the only music school in the country, conducted for the only all-female Orchestra in the country, while working to be the sole provider for her family from early teens.
Fascinating read with so many details about the life of women and girls in Afghanistan amidst wars, Taliban, poverty, Islamic rules, lack of education, complicated relationships after arranged marriages (often within extended families), and very rare opportunities for a better future available to very few who overcome their fears or risk their lives to pursue their dreams.
It was great to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for some, but left me heartbroken for so many that do not get an opportunity to break out of that difficult life. The only minus for me is that Michelle Obama was mentioned too many times and even her book was promoted.
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- Monica
- 05-06-24
A worthy read
A moving memoir. I loved that the author narrated her own story. I'd recommend this book.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-05-24
I'm so inspired
Zarifa is my new role model - she has inspired me to pursue my interests, and to encourage others to do the same, for the sake of a brighter future. I hope Michelle Obama has listened to this book, written and read by her biggest fan :)
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- Heidi R.
- 05-14-24
Wonderful!
This was a great book. I'm reminded why I love memior. Beautifully done and I wish the very best future to Zarifa!
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