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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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