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AFGHANISTAN Sorted according to date: Afghanistan: Short video about music and 'community censorship' In a short documentary video about music and 'community censorship' in Afghanistan, the 19-year-old Afghan singer Mariam says she gets verbal abuse all the time Journeyman.tv 14 July 2008 Afghanistan: New media restrictions according to Sharia law A letter from the Ministry of Culture and Information stated that "everything which is against the Sharia laws should not be printed, broadcasted, audio/video telecasted" 21 April 2008 Afghanistan: Restrictions on music discussed in parliament A commission for cultural and religious affairs in Afghanistan's lower house of parliament suggested to impose new restrictions on music and dance performance 02 April 2008 Afghanistan: Singer becomes symbol in the struggle for music freedom 18-year-old Lima Sahar has placed herself in the middle of Afghanistan's continous gender and music struggle. She could become the winner of the tv show 'Afghan Star' 13 March 2008 Afghanistan: Singing ban is illegal, says governor During Music Freedom Day 2008, governor Ata Mohammed Noor announced that he would try to solve the problem with the ban preventing male artists from singing at weddings 04 March 2008 Afghanistan - special report: The cage is singing Freemuse Special Report, 'The cage is singing', is an in-depth report with ten video interviews and a book about music censorship in Afghanistan - past and present Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Aiab Gul Delshad Video interview with the head of Afghanistan's Music Union, who is a famous folk singer. He was arrested once, and imprisoned and tortured another time, because of two songs Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Aziz Ghaznawi Video interview with an authority on music administration in Afghanistan. He talks about how music was censored within Radio Television Afghanistan Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Baktash Kamran Video interview with the lead singer in Kamran Music Group. He speaks about his experiences with music prohibition during the Taliban period in 1996-2001 Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Farhad Darya Video interview with Afghanistan's star singer who gives examples of songs which were censored in the period of communist parties in Afghanistan, starting from 1979 Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Fazl-u-Rahman Wahdat Video interview with a Pashto folk singer and board member of Afghanistan Music Union. He speaks about the problems which a praisal singer faces when a regime changes Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Ghazal Ahmadi Video interview with an Afghan film actress who explains that she stopped learning how to play the guitar because it became too problematic for her Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Nairez Video interview with one of the singers who were forced to sing praisal songs for the Taliban regime. He speaks about his problems with music censorship in this period Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Safdar Tawakoli Video interview with a Hazara folk singer who explains about his problems as a musician during the Mujahidin period where power in the capital of Afghanistan was fragmented Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Sahar Afarin Video interview with a 21-year-old Afghan singer who explains how she has been discouraged from music due to pressure from many sides. Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Zhakfar Hussaini Video interview with a music censor. He worked as a censor in Afghanistan Writers Association in Balkh in 1986-1992 Samay Hamed 25 February 2008 Afghanistan / UK: Film festival celebrates banned music A film festival in Edingburgh entitled 'Reel Afghanistan' celebrates the Afghan art form which was banned by the Taliban: music 18 February 2008 Afghanistan: Female musicians put their lives in danger A report from a music school in Kabul is a story about the kind of difficulties and dangers female musicians face in present day Afghanistan. They must work in secret Fariba Nawa, San Francisco Cronicle 15 January 2008 Afghanistan: Broadcast of Colombian singer censored A performance by the Colombian pop star Shakira has provoked a row between the Afghan government and the country’s independent media Tom Coghlan, Daily Telegraph 20 November 2007 Afghanistan: Bomb hits music shop A bomb exploded in a music shop in a small town in Eastern Afghanistan and hurt the shopkeeper AFP 23 October 2007 Afghanistan: Famed exiled singer returned after 18 years One of "Afghanistan's living treasures", Ustada Farida Mahwash stepped foot in Afghanistan for the first time in almost two decades to give a series of benefit concerts San Francisco Chronicle 23 October 2007 Afghanistan: Wedding musicians out of work because of religious ban Musicians in the Balkh province are out of work since a new fatwa - a ban - was issued on wedding parties by a religious council in July 2007 Ibrahimi Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, IFWP 30 August 2007 Afghanistan: Music download shop attacked, two killed Two people were killed and several wounded by a bomb that exploded in a music download shop in Afghanistan's south-eastern town of Khost on 22 April 2007 09 May 2007 Pakistan: Fear and persecution follows Afghan musicians The fear and persecution which forced Afghan singers to leave their country now has followed them to their exile in Peshawar in Pakistan Marvaiz Khan, Freemuse 04 April 2007 Pakistan: Fine for playing music in taxi, music shop attacked The Taliban in Pakistan's in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan are imposing a fine of 500 rupees for any one playing music in public, reports several news agencies 03 March 2007 Mirwaiss Sidiqi: Music in Afghanistan 2006 Video interview with Mirwaiss Sidiqi about the situation in Afghanistan in 2006 concerning music - and the Taliban's religous ban on music Mik Aidt 11 January 2007 Afghanistan: Fewer music prohibitions on religious grounds Excerpts from a report on the situation in Afghanistan by U.S. Department of State, entitled “International Religious Freedom Report 2006”, released on 15 September 2006 28 September 2006 Afghanistan: Singing about women critised by imam Afghan DJ Besho has been criticised by an influential cleric among Afghanistan’s religious élite: "Singing about women and guns is certainly not allowed." 08 May 2006 Afghanistan: First female music performance in a decade As the first female singer to take to the stage in Afghanistan in more than a decade, Tajik singer Maniza Daulat performed for 1,500 male fans in Kabul Online - International News Network 25 January 2006 Afghanistan: Strict self-censorship on Afghan music tv No rap and no sexy content. These are the rules for the producer of a popular music television program in Afghanistan. Interview Ole Reitov 10 January 2006 Afghan Children CD: 'Alocha' A CD by and for Afghan children has received massive coverage through Afghan and international media. 15 songs recorded with Hadia Rastagar and a childrens choir 14 December 2005 Afghanistan: Tolo TV wins Reporters Without Borders' yearly prize Afghanistan's main privately-owned TV station, Tolo TV, wins the ‘2005 Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France Prize’ 12 December 2005 Afghanistan: Seven musicians killed by gunmen The popular singer Qhurban Nazar and six musicians have been killed by gunmen in northern Afghanistan, reports BBC News BBC News 26 September 2005 Afghanistan: music tv presenter receives asylum in Sweden Presenter of the Afghan music show ‘Hop’, Shakeb Isaar, has received asylum in Sweden. 12 September 2005 Afghanistan: Musicians unite against censorship 130 Afghans have established a new musician’s organisation, the Afghanistan Music Foundation, to fight against music censorship and oppression of musicians Mik Aidt 25 May 2005 Afghanistan: 24-year-old female presenter of music show killed On May 18, 2005, ex-TV presenter Shaima Rezayee, 24, was shot in Kabul by unknown men. Her killing is possibly linked to her presenting of the music show ‘Hop’. 19 May 2005 Abdul Samay Hamed: Censorship conference in Afghanistan In this interview the Afghan poet Zhakfar Hussaini explains the way song lyrics were censored in the communist periods in Afghanistan Samey Hamed 26 February 2005 Breaking the Silence: Afghanistan documentary out on DVD Breaking the Silence - the award winning documentary from 2002 by Simon Broughton on music after the fall of the Taliban is now available on DVD 06 December 2004 Afghanistan pulls cable channels Cable TV channels showing raunchy Bollywood movies and foreign music videos have - again - been taken off air in Afghanistan by the government BBC 12 November 2004 Afghanistan: The sound of music After the silence of the Taliban years, Afghanistan is beginning to hum again Miami Herald 27 May 2004 Afghanistan: Ban on local women singers lifted More than two years after the fall of the Talibans, state television has broadcast for the first time footage of an Afghan woman singing Radio Free Europe 14 January 2004 Musicians claim police harassment Pakistani musicians living near the country's border with Afghanistan have complained they are being harassed by hardliners attempting to stamp out music and movies BBC 08 April 2003 Dangerous Music Listen to 2nd World Conference on Music and Censorship broadcast from Radio Netherlands . Interviews with Gerald Seligman, Executive Committee member of Freemuse, Farhad Darya ( Afghanistan), Sanar Yurdatapan (Turkey) Radio Netherlands 08 January 2003 Afghan music: Concerto for shattered instruments, broken lives and new dreams Article on charity concert, organized by Freemuse report writer John Baily, and the BBC documentary 'Breaking the Silence - Music in Afghanistan' Independent 10 March 2002 Breaking the Silence: Music in Afghanistan BBC documentary by Simon Broughton on music after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan 01 March 2002 Ethnomusicological research in Afghanistan: Past, present, and future Extensive article by John Baily on musical life in Afghanistan John Baily 01 March 2002 U.S. Funding Effort to Preserve Afghan Music US preservation grant launched a project to record the music of Afghan musicians now residing in Pakistani refugee camps US State Department 11 January 2002 Taliban Killed the Radio Stars Extensive article on the future of music in Afghanistan after the Taliban Village Voice 16 November 2001 The hills are alive With the rout of the Taliban, Afghanistan is once again resounding to the sound of music. But why does the lifting of the ban have such significance? Guardian 15 November 2001 A culture muted By banning music, the Taliban have removed an important force for unity. Article include interview with John Baily, who wrote the Freemuse report on music censorship in Afghanistan Guardian 13 October 2001 Just chant Music is high on the list of activities banned by the Taliban. Article on the Freemuse report on censorship of music in Afghanistan Reuters 04 May 2001 Press launch: Afghanistan report launched in London Afghanistan report launched in London 01 May 2001 Afghanistan: The talibans have banned all music Mr. Naim Majrouh's speech at the 1st Freemuse World Conference on Music and Censorship in 1998 01 January 2001 Key documents: Afghanistan: Short video about music and 'community censorship' In a short documentary video about music and 'community censorship' in Afghanistan, the 19-year-old Afghan singer Mariam says she gets verbal abuse all the time 14 July 2008 Afghanistan - special report: The cage is singing Freemuse Special Report, 'The cage is singing', is an in-depth report with ten video interviews and a book about music censorship in Afghanistan - past and present 25 February 2008 Aiab Gul Delshad Video interview with the head of Afghanistan's Music Union, who is a famous folk singer. He was arrested once, and imprisoned and tortured another time, because of two songs 25 February 2008 Aziz Ghaznawi Video interview with an authority on music administration in Afghanistan. He talks about how music was censored within Radio Television Afghanistan 25 February 2008 Baktash Kamran Video interview with the lead singer in Kamran Music Group. He speaks about his experiences with music prohibition during the Taliban period in 1996-2001 25 February 2008 Farhad Darya Video interview with Afghanistan's star singer who gives examples of songs which were censored in the period of communist parties in Afghanistan, starting from 1979 25 February 2008 Fazl-u-Rahman Wahdat Video interview with a Pashto folk singer and board member of Afghanistan Music Union. He speaks about the problems which a praisal singer faces when a regime changes 25 February 2008 Ghazal Ahmadi Video interview with an Afghan film actress who explains that she stopped learning how to play the guitar because it became too problematic for her 25 February 2008 Nairez Video interview with one of the singers who were forced to sing praisal songs for the Taliban regime. He speaks about his problems with music censorship in this period 25 February 2008 Safdar Tawakoli Video interview with a Hazara folk singer who explains about his problems as a musician during the Mujahidin period where power in the capital of Afghanistan was fragmented 25 February 2008 Sahar Afarin Video interview with a 21-year-old Afghan singer who explains how she has been discouraged from music due to pressure from many sides. 25 February 2008 Zhakfar Hussaini Video interview with a music censor. He worked as a censor in Afghanistan Writers Association in Balkh in 1986-1992 25 February 2008 Afghanistan: Female musicians put their lives in danger A report from a music school in Kabul is a story about the kind of difficulties and dangers female musicians face in present day Afghanistan. They must work in secret 15 January 2008 Pakistan: Fear and persecution follows Afghan musicians The fear and persecution which forced Afghan singers to leave their country now has followed them to their exile in Peshawar in Pakistan 04 April 2007 Afghanistan: Interview with Jamshid Matin X This is an interview with Jamshid Matin X – a presenter and producer for a daily music show and a Top 10 music show – who fled to America because of death threats 01 June 2006 Afghanistan: Bittersweet success of secret girl band The Afghan girl group, ‘Burka Band,’ continues to receive media attention and draw new fans, even though they are no longer active. 13 October 2005 Afghanistan: Musicians unite against censorship 130 Afghans have established a new musician’s organisation, the Afghanistan Music Foundation, to fight against music censorship and oppression of musicians 25 May 2005 Afghanistan report Post Scriptum, 2003 Post Scriptum by John Baily to the report: "Can you stop the birds singing?" The censorship of music in Afghanistan 24 September 2003 Afghanistan report launch: welcome speeches Speeches at the launch of the Freemuse report “Can you stop the birds singing?”, London 2001 01 May 2001 Freemuse report on censorship of music in Afghanistan "Can you stop the birds singing?" Freemuse report on the censorship of music in Afghanistan. Abstract, full report (PDF) and musical examples 01 May 2001 Afghanistan: The talibans have banned all music Mr. Naim Majrouh's speech at the 1st Freemuse World Conference on Music and Censorship in 1998 01 January 2001 Links: Afghanistan Online Extensive site with information on Afghanistan´s culture, history and politics