Rockbites: Taliban militia continue attack on musical expression

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September 2001 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

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Taliban militia continue attack on musical expression
21 September 2001

(We originally published this article in June of this year)

Afghanistan’s hardline, fascist Sunni Islamic Taliban militia, who seized control of the country starting in 1993 following decades of intra-mujahideen feuding and disorder, have worked to destroy many facets of Afghani culture including art, books, and even the National Archives. They’ve made a special project of destroying traditional musical instruments, banning all non-religious music, and 'punishing' musicians who don’t adhere to their policies.
    Other elements of the Taliban agenda include denying women the right to work or drive cars, and forcing Hindus to wear prominent identity labels on their clothing, directly reminiscent of Hitler’s Nazi policy from sixty years ago of labeling Jews with yellow stars of David.
    The Taliban’s cultural censorship and denial of expression followed on directly from the policies of the Communist regime which seized power in a 1978 coup. The Communists instituted and enforced Soviet style music and dance, and promptly executed at least one high profile musician, the legendary Afghan composer Nainawas. Popular singer Ahmad Zahir died in a suspicious car accident a year later.
    The Taliban’s attack on culture appears, to Western eyes, absurd in the extreme. In 1995 they lynched television sets, destroying them and then hanging them in public from utility poles. They search vehicles to find and destroy musical cassettes. Weddings take place without music. Radio stations broadcast only Taliban-approved religious or military songs.
    Three weeks ago Taliban paramilitary squads seized instruments from a group of more than 80 men protesting Taliban rule. The men had also cut their beards, violating Taliban code. The squads burned the instruments and 'punished' the men according to state radio, who the same week reported that the Taliban had 'detained' 41 prople for possessing music cassettes.
    In 1998, Naim Majrooh, director of the Afghan Information Center and editor in chief for the USA publication Afghanistan Quarterly, delivered a speech to the first world conference on music and censorship in Copenhagen, alerting the world to the extent of human rights violations being committed in his home country. And just last month, British musicologist Dr. John Baily issued a 52 page report titled 'Can You Stop The Birds Singing? The Censorship Of Music In Afghanistan.' Both documents are available from the Copenhagen based Freemuse Web site, dedicated to freedom of musical expression as a human right. | Dr. John Baily's paper (PDF) | | Baily paper summary | | Speech from 1st World Conference on Music and Censorship, 1998 | | Freemuse | | top of page |

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