Pakistan

In 2018, Amie was part of a Texas-based team that was awarded a grant by the American Institute of Pakistan Studies. Led by Dr. Michael Hirsch, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Huston-Tillitson University (in Austin) the team conducted training workshops on social science, education, and ethnomusicology research methods for diverse junior faculty selected by Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission. These were held at Punjab University, Lahore; HEC Resource Commission, Khanaspur, Khyber Pakhtunkwa; and Fatima Jinnah Women’s University, Rawalpindi. Amie also completed a residency as visiting artist-scholar by the National Academy for Performing Arts (NAPA) in Karachi where she gave a sitar performance and led a workshop on doing ethnography. In addition while in Karachi, she performed upon invitation at Peace Niche/T2F, opened for renowned Qawwali ensemble Fareed Ayaz-Abu Mohamed at their annual Munshi Rahimuddin Birth Anniversary celebration, and presented a lecture-demonstration on Hindustani music to elementary school students at Ilmester Academy. In Lahore, she followed up on her interest in advocating for marginalized artists by participating in a program held at Fountain House that is part of an ongoing project to empower members of the Khwaja Sira (transgender) community, particularly seniors.

You can read a review of her performance at the National Academy for Performing Arts here.

Power99

In Islamabad, adjacent to Rawalpindi, following a visit by the team to Power99 FM, a progressive digital radio station dedicated to empowering people in under-served areas of northern and central Pakistan through interactive radio education broadcasts in multiple lesser-spoken regional languages, Amie accepted an invitation by the station directors to do an interview and performance on the nighttime music program. Amie’s performance in Islamabad, has been shared online by Power99.live. https://youtu.be/PUHdXx7JsgM

At the end of 2019, Amie visited Pakistan for the third time. She traveled to Hunza, a remote northern mountain region, where she visited the innovative Leif Larsen Music Academy in historic Karimabad, dedicated to the preservation of the traditional music of the Hunza people. She is embarking on a pilot research project on this community. She also conducted a 2-day workshop on ethnomusicology at Fatima Jinnah Women’s University, which included a sitar and tabla concert, in addition to coaching students to prepare multidisciplinary performances which they presented at the end of the workshop.