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Suzanne Steele recalls a winter where dozens of children in a Kabul refugee camp froze to death.

Embedded with the Canadian Forcesin Afghanistan as Canada's War Poet, Steele wanted to give voice to those children and the countless others who have died due to war in that country.

In thesymphonic piece, Afghanistan: Requiem for a Generation, which is having its Vancouver premiere Friday, Steele attempts to do that with a choir of Langley children.

The music was written by composer Jeffrey Ryan. Steele wrote the words.

"It was extremely important for me that their voices were heard," she told On The Coast's Lisa Christiansen. "If we could rain thousands and thousands of tons of ordinance on the desert, against each other, why can't we rain blankets for these children?"

Steele's requiemis the product of her time as an artist in the war torn nation with the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry from 2008 to 2010.

The Vancouver-born Steele says the traditional Catholic song for the dead is the most appropriate way of expressing what she witnessed duringthat time.

The day after Remembrance Day 2010 was when Steele began working on the project with Ryan, the composer,who is also based in Vancouver.

They spent two yearson it, attempting to capture the experiences of soldiers and civilians.

Suzanne Steele (centre) with Canadian soldiers training at CFB Wainwright before deploying to Afghanistan. (warpoet.ca)

"We try to evoke the response after a soldier steps on an [improvised explosive device]," Steele said. "I asked Jeff, could we have SOS in Morse code embedded into? Dit-dit-dit-daht-daht-daht-dit-dit-dit."

Ryan says the hour-long requiem, performed with a children's choir, an adult choir, four soloists and an orchestra in four languages English, French, Latin and Pashtun was challenging to put together.

But it's also important, he says, especially because of its timing.

"It's [about] 100 years since World War I, the war that supposed to end all wars," he said. "I think it's really important to remind everyone these things are still happening, that 'the war to end all wars' didn't end all wars.

"What are we going to do about that?"

With files from CBC Radio One's On The Coast

War poet Suzanne Steele (left) and composer Jeffrey Ryan are the collaborators behind Afghanistan: Requiem for a Generation. (Lisa Christiansen/CBC)

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled:Canadian war poet tells story of Afghanistan in requiem with VSO

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Canadian war poet tells story of Afghanistan in requiem with VSO - CBC.ca