![\"'Had](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-130312315,imgsize-949534,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/-.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNEW DELHI: In the shattered remains of his 15-year-old music school, Iranian musician Hamidreza Afarideh sat on a debris-laden floor, drew his bow and played with a kamancheh, what he called \u201cthe last sound\u201d of a life\u2019s work reduced to dust.Weeks after a strike destroyed Honiak Music Academy, Afarideh walked back into the hazardous ruins on April 7, 2026, and recorded a haunting video that quickly travelled far beyond Tehran, capturing his moments of deep grief after an airstrike on March 23 left the academy razed and severely damaged. <\/p>\n Once a classroom, Honiak Music Academy is now a field of rubble.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cToday was the last day to say goodbye to my school. I wanted the last sound that remains in this place to be the sound of music\u2026not explosions and missiles,\u201d Afarideh wrote the same day, in a now viral post. Within days, his images and clips had racked up millions of views across Instagram, X , Youtube and TikTok, prompting a flood of multilingual reactions online, with many seeing it as a stark reminder of the human cost beyond military headlines, triggering widespread calls to “stop war.\u201d <\/p>\n Honiak Music Academy before the strike.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Speaking to TOI<\/span> from Tehran, Afarideh recalled the day of the attack. \u201cI felt that a very important part of our memories, and sounds that could have continued in that space\u2014sounds that many artists could hear, see, and live with for years\u2014were suddenly destroyed by a missile and a drone.\u201d The academy, built over a decade and a half by Afarideh and his wife, Sheida Ebadatdoust, was what he calls \u201ctheir shared life project.\u201d\u201cWe worked with very limited resources, relying only on our dreams and dedication to build this academy. Losing it suddenly is extremely hard. All our hard work, efforts, continuous actions to bring people closer to music and instruments was lost in a single night. It is very difficult to accept. Everything we built over so many years… This loss will take years to process.\u201d <\/p>\n Once a classroom, Honiak Music Academy is now a field of rubble.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Despite the risk of collapse, he returned to the damaged building. \u201cI knew it was very dangerous\u2026 but I felt that if I didn\u2019t record this sound, it would stay in my heart forever. I might not stay (alive) afterwards\u2026 I felt I had to go there and make this the last image and the last sound remaining from the safe space we had created.\u201dFor years, the academy buzzed with the laughter of children, warm chatters of parents, and the layered sounds of Persian classical music. Since the attack, says the teacher, \u201cThat sound disappeared.\u201d For Afarideh, the viral moment has brought global attention\u2014but also underscored, he says, \u201cthe reality of war and destruction\u201d faced by his 250 students\u2014ranging from toddlers to the elderly\u2014and 22 teachers. His video has become a global plea for recognition of the cost of war not just in bodies and infrastructure, but in art, memory, and the fragile ecosystems of creativity that take decades to build and minutes to erase.Shaped over a decade, he calls the place a \u201csecond home\u201d where students came not just to learn music but to feel seen and held\u2014for them, too, the loss has been personal. \u201cStudents, who were to return someday, are now scattered, shell\u2011shocked, and struggling to process what happened. One child crossed the building with his mother and didn\u2019t speak for hours afterwards. All students are going through similar feelings.\u201dYet even in devastation, Afarideh insists on the universal power of art. \u201cMusic\u2026 is a symbol of freedom,\u201d he said. \u201cIn times of war, it can heal\u2014even if only a little\u2014the pain of those who have lost everything.\u201d<\/div>\n![\"-\"](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-130312354\/.jpg\" "\\"Once")
<\/p>\n![\"-\"](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-130312373\/.jpg\" "\\"Honiak")
<\/p>\n![\"-\"](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-130312399\/.jpg\" "\\"Once")
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