Star turns in Afghanistan

OneWorld UK

By Daniel Nelson

“In Afghanistan”, says the ad for Afghan Star, “you risk your life to sing.”

That’s an attention-grabbing line, and Afghan Star deserves your attention.

The film-making is fairly pedestrian and the formula unoriginal: recent documentaries that used the same approach - following the final stages of a knock-out competition and weaving in the personal stories of the contestants - include Mad Hot Ballroom (a New York schools dancing competition), Air Guitar Nation (guitarists without instrument bid to be judged the best in the world), and Spellbound (a spelling contest).

But few of this documentary’s predecessors have as compelling a story to tell as Afghan Star: after three decades of conflict, TV and singing are unbanned, pop culture is resurrected and a local version of Pop Idol hits the screens. That itself amounts to an absorbing and exciting cultural revolution, but two even spicier ingredients are added: three women are among the 2,000 hopefuls and viewers can vote for their favourites by mobile phone.

Most people Afghanistan had never seen a female singer; and for many, texting their choice was their first encounter with democracy. As performers are voted out, some of the surviving contestants bid for votes with publicity drives indistinguishable from the razzamatazz of a political campaign, including posters, door-to-door canvassing and appeals to ethnic loyalty.

Not surprisingly, the nation stops to watch.

Then one of the two remaining women, Setara, does something so shocking that the country is stunned. Her fellow contestants warn that there will be consequences. Religious authorities discuss her action and press for the show to be scrapped. Death threats are made. She goes into hiding.

It’s a gripping tale – and that’s before the final sing-off to decide the winner.

Afghan Star is an unpreachy way of giving an insight into Afghan realities, of the country’s ethnic diversity, of the gap in attitudes between young and old, of the problems faced by women, of the desire for peace (“our aim is to take people’s hands from weapons to music”, says the show’s presenter). Fascinating fun.

* Afghan Star is screened at the The Ritzy, Brixton Oval, on 20 March 2009, at the ICA, the Mall, SWI (http://www.ica.org.uk) on 21, 27-31 March, at the Frontline Club on 23 March and at the Royal Society of Arts, 8 John Adam Street, London, WC2 (7451 6868) on 24 March. It will be on TV (More4) on 7 April