- Afghanistan
- Joined ILA in 2026
- Legal Services
Soraya Hossaini is an Afghan singer, Rubab player, and fashion designer whose work moves fluidly across music, design, and advocacy. Born in Tehran to an Afghan refugee family and now based in Germany, she is 28 and came to music through Western instruments — electric guitar and classical piano — before finding her sound in the Rubab, blending Afghan traditional music with rock.
In 2017, she returned to Afghanistan for the first time as a member of Arikayn, the pioneering Hazara rock band whose performances in Kabul and Bamiyan were captured in the documentary The Forbidden Strings. Alongside her music, she founded Surryhouse, a fashion label celebrating Afghan craftsmanship and textiles. Through every medium, Soraya carries the voice of Afghan women and stands for the freedom of artists silenced in their own countries.
Soraya is one of the artists supported by AFI-ILA. Alongside our partners at Beyond Skin, we championed her participation in Northern Ireland’s Fleadh Cheoil 2026 — from artistic selection to overturning an initial visa refusal — and supported her as Artist in Residence at the European Forum Alpbach 2026.