“Afghan Star” Names Rafi Naabzada the Winner

When “Pop Idol” debuted on ITV just a few weeks after the Al Qaeda murders in New York and Washington, it was most unlikely to spawn an Afghan version of the singing contest. In those days in Afghanistan, the Taliban reactionaries were in charge, and like most fundamentalists of any stripe, they couldn’t bear the idea of people having fun. Music and dancing were banned to say nothing of kite-flying. Earlier this week, “Afghan Star” picked a 19-year-old ethnic Tajik named Rafi Naabzada as its winner. The Taliban, should it ever return to power, will have a hard time undoing what the show had done for Afghanistan.

Democracy and economic development are all well and good, but they only set the stage for a happy life. Being in control of one’s life and having enough to eat are the necessary but not sufficient conditions for joy. Music and dance, though, are hardwired into the human soul, and when they are forbidden, every human soul withers a little.

Toward the end of 2001, the first thing that happened when the Northern Alliance entered a city as they drove out the Taliban (with help from US Special Forces) was the reappearance of long-hidden radios. One of the fastest growing businesses in those days was the sale of cassettes and CDs as well as the equipment on which to play them.

Lima Shahar, who finished third and was the highest finisher among women, told Farouq Samim for Time, “Only the name is new. Everything else in the program already existed in our culture. We have famous singers and musicians. Despite so many decades of crisis and war, Afghan Star proves that we used to have music culture, and we will have it again.” A woman singing in a Afghan TV contest, well, as judge Monesa Shirzada Hassan said, “the biggest achievement in the third season of ‘Afghan Star’” was Ms. Shahar’s success. The director, Saad Mohseni agreed, “This season of ‘Afghan Star’ will do more for women’s rights than all the millions of dollars we have spent on public service announcements for women’s rights on TV.”

Unlike their British and American counterparts, the contestants in “Afghan Star” probably won’t live out their lives in material splendor. First prize was $5,000 and a record deal for one album. That is incidental, though. Where people are allowed to sing, they are allowed to dream, and once a person is allowed to do that, much becomes possible, and even inevitable.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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