News stories world-wide News 2011 News 2010 News 2009 News 2008 News 2007 News 2006 News 2005 News 2004 News 2003 News 2002 News 2001 About music censorship About Freemuse Publications Study room Activities Links Press room

NEWS15 November 2001 The hills are alive No sooner had the Taliban left Kabul than the city resounded to the beat and keening melodies of Indian and Iranian songs, together with the long-hidden favourites of the Afghan popular canon. Music-kiosk merchants whipped out their bootlegged cassettes and pushed aside the only kind of music the Taliban allowed: unaccompanied male voice choirs singing dirges. Extensive article, including interview with report writer John Baily. Story from The Guardian Related reading Afghanistan: They play rock music in Afghanistan - and get away with it The multinational rock trio White City from Kabul explains what it involves to play rock music in today's Afghanistan 15 August 2011 Afghanistan: Witnessing a resurge in music Pashto music can now be heard in almost every nook and corner of Afghanistan, reported PRlog 24 November 2010 Afghanistan and Pakistan: Understanding the Taliban's campaign against music Ethnomusicologist John Baily and Freemuse executive director Marie Korpe speak about the Taliban’s campaign against music and musicians in Afghanistan and Pakistan 23 June 2009 Afghanistan: Music programmes lead to arrest 0n 24 March 2009, Afghanistan’s attorney general office arrested the manager of Amroz TV because of the station's broacast of certain music programmes 25 March 2009 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 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 15 January 2008 Afghanistan: Bomb hits music shop A bomb exploded in a music shop in a small town in Eastern Afghanistan and hurt the shopkeeper 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 23 October 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: 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 10 January 2006 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 26 September 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 26 February 2005 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 12 November 2004 Afghanistan: The sound of music After the silence of the Taliban years, Afghanistan is beginning to hum again 27 May 2004 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 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 01 March 2002 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: Official sacked over concert with singers without headscarves The organiser of a concert where the singers appeared on stage without headscarves was fired after religious elders had complained that this was inappropriate 08 April 2011 Afghanistan: Music stores have become a new target A string of music stores have become a new target for militants suspected to be Taliban enforcers - even in once-stable havens such as Jalalabad 06 September 2010 Afghanistan: Ban on women singers debated in Herat A 'Morality and Knowledge Association' recently established in Herat wants to ban women's voices from the airwaves, reported Jean MacKenzie and Rateb Muzhda from Herat 15 March 2010 Afghanistan: Afghan idol: 'My life is under threat' Lima Sahar charmed her way into the third spot of the 2008 version of the wildly popular 'Afghan Star' competition. Now in exile, she fears for her life 01 April 2009 Afghanistan: Musicians kidnapped by Taliban Six Afghan musicians have been kidnapped by the Taliban for defying a ban on music 17 December 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: 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 20 November 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 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 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: Wajiha Rastagar Interview with Afghan singer Wajiha Rastagar about how she sees the present situation in the country today 30 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 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: 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 14 January 2004 Afghanistan report launch: welcome speeches Speeches at the launch of the Freemuse report “Can you stop the birds singing?”, London 2001 01 May 2001 Somalia: Al-Shabaab bans music like the Taliban Somalia is starting to resemble Afghanistan under the Taliban, where hard-line Islamist militia bans music and movies and forbids the public from watching sports on TV 23 August 2010 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