Members of the artistic community in Afghanistan have expressed fears about their personal safety, basics rights and liberties, including their right to freedom of artistic expression. 

Artwork by Shamsia Hassani. Licensed: CC BY-SA 4.0. On 15 August 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and occupied the Presidential Palace in the Afghan capital of Kabul. Four days later, they declared the creation of the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’.   In the wake of this change of the political regime, members of the …

Afghan pop star Aryana Sayeed carried on with her concert in Kabul on 19 August 2017 after the venue was changed due to pressure from religious clerics.

In 2017, Freemuse began its Let Women Sing campaign, shining a spotlight on female artists, who face some very violent and direct censorship restrictions globally. The right to perform at a festival isn’t the same for everyone. In some countries, female musicians are censored, attacked, threatened or even killed, simply …

A packed concert hall in Geneva witnessed concert master Marjan Fidaee receive the 2017 Freemuse Award on behalf of Zohra, the Afghan Women’s Orchestra.

Zohra, 2017 Freemuse Award winner, is the first & only all women orchestra in Afghanistan & are the first women to learn music in the country in 30+ years.

Zohra, 2017 Freemuse Award winner, is the first & only all women orchestra in Afghanistan & are the first women to learn music in the country in 30+ years.

Afghan Star   A Channel 4 Documentary Foundation production in association with Tolo TV Directed by Havana Marking With the singers Setara Hussainzada, Rafi Nabaazda, Hameed Sahkizada, Lima Sahar, Daoud Sediqi In English, Dari and Pashtun with English subtitles. Running time: 88 minutes Distributor: Zeitgeist Films Film website: Afghanstardocumentary.com Afghanistan. 2008 …

Local Ministry of Information and Culture authorities in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan have banned women’s songs from being broadcast across local media, directly affecting the 11 radio stations in operation in the area, reported Afghanistan’s TOLONews on 23 May 2016. Head of Wranga Radio in Kandahar told TOLONews …

On 25 May 2015, the British newspaper The Guardian published an article which brings an update on what happened with Dr Ahmad Sarmast, a music professor who founded the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and who was seated in the front row when, on 11 December 2014, a suicide bomber …