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Afghanistan:
Singing ban is illegal, says governor
The governor of Balkh province, Ata Mohammed Noor, said that the decision of the religious council to ban singing of young male artists in weddings is illegal. He promised to solve this problem soon.
Ata Mohammed Noor's statement was sent in a message on the occasion of the annual Music Freedom Day, 3 March 2008, which was marked in Afghanistan by a number of cultural and media institutions in the country.
Tolo TV – Afghanistan's most popular tv channel – announced the day on its morning programme, and the presenters of two other music programmes on Tolo TV, M&U and HOP, appeared on screen wearing Freemuse T-shirts. They said that "cages cannot silence the singing of birds".
In the Balkh province, the Afghanistan House of Culture held a concert and conference to mark the day.
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| Related reading on freemuse.org |
| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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