[HANASHIR:16610] "Kol (Isha) Afghanistan"

[Shirona <shirona...>]

  Afghan pop singer breaks TV taboo 

  Broadcaster airs woman singing for first time in decade

         
        
       

  The Associated Press

  Updated: 4:45 p.m. ET Jan. 13, 2004

  KABUL, Afghanistan - The video was old and the song well-known, but the sight 
of an Afghan woman — clad in a shiny red dress and simple headscarf — singing 
on Afghan television sparked a wave of excitement and a backlash of 
conservatism. The four-minute track by pop idol Salma was broadcast Monday, the 
first time Afghan state television has aired a female singer in over a 
decade.Only Kabulis wealthy enough to own a TV and lucky enough to have 
electricity at the crucial moment could see the broadcast, but it provoked the 
first cultural struggle since a new constitution declared Afghanistan an 
Islamic republic nine days ago.Parwais Nasari, a 25-year-old cooking potato 
waffles at a Kabul market stall, said he was sipping green tea after dinner 
with his family when Salma appeared, singing a Pashto-language ode to the 
beauty of the Afghan mountains.“We sprang up, gathered around the screen and 
turned up the volume,” he said. “We were very happy. I hadn’t seen anything 
like it since communist days.”But one of Afghanistan’s deputy supreme court 
justices was not amused.“This mistake should not be repeated,” Fazel Ahmed 
Manawi told The Associated Press. “In the constitution there is an article that 
says things that go against Islam are not allowed.”

  Pre-Taliban tunes
  Female singers, some in short skirts, were a common sight on Afghan 
television in the 1980s, the decade of Soviet occupation.Moscow’s withdrawal in 
1989 and the triumph of Islamic fighters three years later put an end to that. 
And the Taliban who captured Kabul in 1996 went further, banning television and 
all non-religious music.Now, two years after the Taliban were swept from power 
by U.S. military might for sheltering Osama bin Laden, music again blares from 
Kabul’s buses, taxis and stores.Bootleg compact discs of Salma and other 
favorites such as Farhad Darya — another singer based in Germany — are 
available for a dollar at booths across the capital.Indian movies, heavily 
romantic and dotted with songs by unveiled young women, are a must-see on state 
TV for many urban families. But the sight of an Afghan woman was still a shock.

  Conservatives fight the trend
  Conservatives have not let the changes pass without a fight.

                    • Torn by conflict
                    Afghanistan's tumultuous history
                   

             

       
  Until recently the national broadcaster was controlled by the Northern 
Alliance, the faction that defied U.S. orders by marching into Kabul after the 
Taliban fled.Conservative-minded television station managers sparred repeatedly 
with the more liberal Information and Culture Ministry until a new state TV 
director was installed last month.Abdul Rahman Panjshiri, the TV station’s 
foreign relations director, said the channel — the only one available without 
cable or satellite in Kabul — wanted to show more female singers.“It’s normal — 
man without woman is incomplete. How could we keep them off television?” he 
said. “We’ll have to see how people respond, but hopefully it will become 
regular.”But that could also depend on a brewing struggle between the 
government and the Supreme Court.Manawi said the court has sent a letter of 
protest to the information and culture minister, invoking the country’s new 
charter.But the minister, Makhdom Raheen, said he hadn’t received it, and the 
judges had no right to intervene.“These things are up to the minister to 
decide,” he said.Religious conservatives at the grand council that ended Jan. 4 
granted President Hamid Karzai the strong presidential system he sought. But 
the accord includes a stipulation that no law can go against the “provisions” 
of Islam — wording Western rights groups say could provide a way for the 
supreme court to impose a hard-line interpretation of the law.Nasari, the stall 
owner, said the judges should stay out of the music debate. But other Afghans 
oppose female singers.One Kabul woman said she hadn’t seen the disputed video 
because of a power outage, but thought it was wrong. “My husband is very 
religious,” she added by way of explanation, refusing to give her name.A group 
of Northern Alliance commanders covered a whole spectrum of opinion: one saw no 
problem with women singing on TV; another said women should only appear veiled; 
a third insisted Afghanistan needs strict Islamic law.“If you’re talking about 
a Western society, it’s fine. But we spent 20 years fighting a holy war for 
Islam,” said the third commander, who also refused to give his name. “God and 
the Prophet said women should not sing.”