Mohammad Ahmadi VOA News July 5, 2017 A council of Shi’ite religious leaders in Bamyan province in central Afghanistan banned a local musical festival, calling it “Harram” or against Islamic law, while many other religious leaders hailed it as art and a cultural event. Local officials say that despite the disagreement with religious leaders, the
DW: The reality TV competition “Afghan Star” is Afghanistan’s most popular television show. The first female finalist so far was a young woman from a Taliban stronghold. Her success has put her life in danger. Click here to read more (external link).
PRI: Sulyman Qardash and I are in a rehearsal studio in Oakland. He’s the lead singer and guitarist of Kabul Dreams, one of Afghanistan’s first rock bands, and picks up a guitar to play me the song “Saturated Hope” off their newest album. Click here to read more (external link).
ANI: Spice Digital Limited, a Spice Connect company recently announced to become the platform and service provider for Roshan Afghanistan to launch a Music Karaoke product. The collaboration is intended to increase the music portfolio of Afghanistan, through which their subscribers can access a huge content playlist. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 22, 2017 Sayed Jamal Mubarez, a rapper from northern Afghanistan who makes a living as a barber, has won the Afghan Star competition. The singing talent show similar to American Idol has been running for 12 years on Tolo TV, offering viewers some relief from daily news of insurgents and
Reuters: An 18-year-old female novice singer and a 23-year old barber-turned-rapper are the unlikely finalists of a televised talent contest providing Afghans a welcome distraction from the daily bloodshed in their country. The two are vying to become the next “Afghan Star.” This year’s season is the most tradition-breaking yet in a deeply conservative country where
Tolo News: Afghanistan’s first and only women’s orchestra, Zohra, has been awarded the Freemuse Award 2017. The orchestra is comprised of a group of students from the National Institute of Music (ANIM) in Kabul. The Afghanistan music industry is currently facing tremendous challenges following years of oppression under the Taliban and decades of war, which has
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 21, 2017 Afghanistan’s first all-girl orchestra performed a concert in front of world leaders at the closing of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 20. The group of 30 musicians aged 13 to 20, known as Zohra, performed parts of Beethoven’s 9th symphony as well as popular
AFP: In the face of death threats and accusations that they are dishonouring their families by daring to perform, the women of Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra are charting a new destiny for themselves through music. The group is set to be catapulted onto the world stage with a performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
ANI: Panel discussion, film screening and Sufi music marked the 32nd SAARCCharter day which was observed in the South Asian University. Renowned filmmakers like Rahul Roy and Prasanna Vithanage from Sri Lanka were present during the panel discussion on “Cinema and Society in South Asia”. Afghanistan being a very strategic part of South Asia, the cinema