I arrived at the Kennedy Center in Washington for the performance of ensembles from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and was amazed to see the sheer number of people enduring a line that stretched a full hallway, three deep, to get tickets. One would have thought the crowds came for a rare Hollywood sighting. But the diverse audience showed up for a different kind of performance that was making waves across the social media landscape and by word of mouth. More than 2,000 people patiently waited in line, in hopes of securing a seat.

As an Afghan-American, it was a rare occasion and a proud moment to see the number of Afghans from the diaspora turning up to support the young artists, as well as representatives from embassies, non-profit organizations and the U.S. government. Usually the Kennedy Center’s 6 pm daily performances are on one of the two Millennium Stages in the grand foyer, but this special event was slated for the Concert Hall, which normally hosts the National Symphony Orchestra and other major music groups of world renown. It was positive and a little daunting to see so many friends and supporters of Afghanistan’s arts and music, enough to fill the 2,465-seat Concert Hall.

Once the lights dimmed and the performance started, the first tune immediately brought fond memories of family gatherings in Virginia when my uncle would bring out his tabla, a percussion instrument popular in South and Central Asia. He’d gather us around for music, and one of the most popular requests was always “Da Zemong Ziba Watan,” the same song that was now playing in front of me on the Kennedy Center stage. It’s a popular and widely recognized Afghan tune with origins extending back 40 years to the late Salim Sarmast, a famous musician in Afghanistan who formed and conducted orchestras and arranged music for them, drawing on a fusion of Afghan and Western instruments. He also is the father of Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, a native of Afghanistan who studied in Moscow and Melbourne, Australia, who returned to his home country in 2008 to found the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.

The Afghan ensembles highlighted other famous Afghan and Western tunes as well. Among the performers were a youth orchestra, a traditional ensemble and a combination of the traditional plucked instruments, the sitar and sarod. They performed at the Kennedy Center with the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras.

I left Afghanistan for Zimbabwe in 1992, when I was eight years old, and ultimately came to the Washington area as a teenager in 1999. As I sat back and watched the concert, it was refreshing to see so many familiar faces from the Afghan diaspora, young and old, humming along, obviously reminiscing about the days when Afghanistan was a peaceful country and probably wondering when music again will hold its rightful place in society there, to be enjoyed by all in a peaceful and secure country.

The performance at the Kennedy Center is part of a two week tour organized by the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Afghan Education Minister Farooq Wardak and Afghanistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Eklil Hakimi, introduced the institute and its ensembles, citing the dramatic strides the country has made in education and the fact that girls now attend school again, a privilege denied them under Taliban rule.

The institute’s success “shows that talent can come from Afghanistan’s young men and women when given the right opportunities,” Hakimi told the audience.

The work of the institute and its students should be a symbol of national unity in Afghanistan, said Said Jawad, a former Afghan ambassador to the U.S. who now runs a foundation in Washington that focuses on expanding educational opportunities for Afghan students at home and abroad.

“The artists’ faces represented the beautiful mosaic of Afghan diversity. Their bond of music crossed boundaries and helped to unite the 2,500 audience members as well,” Jawad said in an e-mail after the concert. “The beautiful and patriotic songs of these young musicians represent Afghanistan’s long cultural traditions, but also these national songs represent a pan-ethnic, pan-linguistic Afghan identity.”

Afghans domestically and abroad share many concerns for the future of Afghanistan with regards to the 2014 transition. Despite the many advances made over the past twelve years, a lot of challenges remain, yet people have found a source inspiration and hope through music after four decades of war and conflict.

Afghans have long cherished music, a sentiment reaffirmed by the Afghani National Institute of Music, the country’s first to provide educational opportunities for gifted young Afghan musicians since the fall of the Taliban. In addition to training in music theory and Western and Afghan instruments, the school offers its students the Ministry of Education curriculum. About a third of the students are girls, and half the students are from orphanages or are former street kids. Very few of the students had any musical knowledge before they joined the school.

Under the guidance of Dr. Sarmast, led by violin instructor William Harvey and clarinet instructor Ustad Farid Shefta, the Institute combines Afghan and Western instruments that combine for unique sounds and rhythms, with a repertoire of popular Afghan and specially arranged Western classical compositions. Prior to arriving in the U.S., Institute musicians performed throughout the capital Kabul, including for President Hamid Karzai.

They also recorded songs for broadcast on national television. One of their first performances in the U.S. was at State Department, where new Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed them on his first official day in office. From there, the group went on to play at venues across Northern Virginia.

The entire performance can be viewed at the Kennedy Center website. The musicians also traveled to New York and Boston for more performances.

What do you think might help music survive and thrive in Afghanistan’s transition during the coming years? Tell us your thoughts about this and about the concert by submitting a comment below.

Hodei Sultan is a program officer for Afghanistan and Pakistan programs at USIP.