Yo-Yo Ma plays Mozart with Afghan refugees in Portugal

By HELENA ALVES
Associated Press

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Celebrated U.S. cellist Yo-Yo Ma has joined refugees from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in the Portuguese capital Lisbon for a performance of Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. Ma joined young Afghan and Portuguese musicians on a small stage Tuesday at the National Conservatory, where the refugees who arrived last December are studying. Portugal granted asylum to a 273-person group, including some 150 students, from the music institute as they fled Afghanistan in the wake of a Taliban takeover last August. Ma had a hand in helping them get out. The Taliban seized power when the U.S. and NATO ended their 20-year military presence.