For five years, from 1996 to late 2001, the Taliban banned
all music in Afghanistan. If musical instruments were discovered by the Taliban
Office of the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, they were
destroyed. But with the overturn of the Taliban, private television stations
emerged, including Tolo network, which began broadcasting its own version of “American Idol,” called “Afghan Star.” The movie Afghan Star, tells the story of the third season, and follows four finalists. We know we’re not in Kansas
anymore when we notice the security guards armed with Kalashnikovs, and the
ushers using rubber truncheons to control the crowd. Also, a contestant notes with
pride that there were more than 2,000 entrants, with “even three women.”
We know that not only are we not in Kansas anymore, but not
anywhere even remotely close to the U.S. as a female singer named Setara
warbles “Your eyebrows are like a scorpion’s sting, and they belong to somebody
else … they belong to somebody else.” Setara lands in very hot water when she
bops across the stage and snaps her fingers, with her head scarf falling down. A
firestorm of controversy erupts at her immodest behavior. And to Western eyes
it’s odd that after appearing on television in front of millions of Afghans,
she must don a burka before venturing out of the studio to go home.
Afghan Star, is a fascinating mixture of the humorous (the
set for Afghan Star, resembles that of a high school prom, circa 1973), and
the sobering (a young man being interviewed says simply that Setara “deserves
to die,” for dancing on stage). This is a world where something that seems so
simple and fun in the United States, like a talent show, is fraught with
genuine significance and danger in Afghanistan. Afghans vote for their Afghan Star favorite using mobile phones, and for many, it has been their first
experience in participatory democracy. And when a Pashtun contestant hugs a
contestant from Hazara, news is made.
As to the pop music itself, it was definitely foreign to my
ears, but melodic and with often startling lyrics. But it wasn’t until the
movie credits were rolling that some exotic and quite wild-sounding music played,
and I wondered if it wasn’t the real music of Afghanistan that we were finally
hearing.
Afghan Star trailer:
