Afghan Star 2: Music, tradition and the Taliban
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2019
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The TV talent show Afghan Star has been running for 14 years, and has never been won by a woman singer. This year one of the two finalists is an 18-year-old girl – if she wins, it will be a historic breakthrough for the country. Sahar Zand meets finalist Zahra Elham, who has received death threats for singing on the show, and Afghanistan's most famous woman pop star Aryana Sayeed, a judge in the competition, who is constantly accompanied by an armed guard. She also visits the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, which is defying tradition as well as the Taliban in teaching musical instruments to young women.
Afghan Star is much like any other TV talent show – except that its context is a war zone. The studios are guarded by bomb-proof gates and snipers, and the participants arrive by armoured vehicle. It is watched by millions throughout the country – and has led the way in a resurgence of music in Afghanistan despite constant threats.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Afghanistan's annual TV competition to find a country's best |
| 0:03.0 | to go to go to go to go to go |
| 0:05.0 | sahroh al-Ham. |
| 0:07.0 | Afghanistan's annual TV competition |
| 0:11.0 | to find a country's best young singer has reached its grand climax. |
| 0:15.3 | The finalists are a 19-year-old boy, Wassim and Wari, and an 18-year-old girl, |
| 0:20.7 | Sahra Elham, and the competition has never been won by a woman. The live votes have been |
| 0:26.7 | coming in. First was winning. Then Zahra's votes almost doubled and she was ahead and now they're 50-50. |
| 0:35.0 | I'm so hard-sand with Afghan stars here on the BBC World Service and this is |
| 0:40.5 | Zahro's big song. And my In this program we're going to hear the women's story. |
| 1:07.4 | In this program we're going to hear the women's story. |
| 1:10.6 | Afghanistan is facing fights on many fronts. |
| 1:13.2 | Right now, the Afghan officials are negotiating with the Taliban. |
| 1:17.2 | If the Taliban do come back into power, it's feared everything will go back to how it was |
| 1:22.1 | before they left in 2001. |
| 1:24.4 | No free speech, no music, and no educational rights for women and girls. |
| 1:29.2 | The women who are putting themselves forward now to try and change Afghan society are suffering |
| 1:34.0 | for it big time. The Afghan star finally Zara has gone to huge lengths not to |
| 1:39.8 | upset the more traditional and conservative viewers of the program. |
| 1:43.0 | She's always covered up with very little her or no hair showing and when she sings she hardly moves. |
| 1:49.0 | Basically, she does nothing that could remotely be interpreted as dancing. |
| 1:53.4 | But nevertheless, Zahra is still being regularly attacked on social media |
... |
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