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FARHAD DARYA
Singer and Composer (Afghanistan)
17 January 2002

"The music is the strongest weapon ever. You could send your message through it's magic, as far and as deep as you want.
It brings hope!
That's why all dictators are afraid of it's magic, it's power. So they try to ban it - they try to censor it."

Farhad Darya


Award winning and most popular Afghan musician and composer Farhad Darya interviewed by Martin Groß and Marc Helfers in Hamburg on the 26th of December 2001. The film clips are presented on this website by courtesy of Martin Groß and Marc Helfers.

click for videoPart I
Farhad Darya, please tell us about how music was banned in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime...


click for videoPart II
Your song "Kabul Jan" (Beloved Kabul) was the first song to be played in Kabul when the Talibans had left. What can you tell us about that song?


click for videoPart III
What is your opinion on the work that Freemuse is doing?

Farhad Darya - Official web site

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Read more:

Human Rights for Musicians – Impressions & Descriptions: Farhad Darya
Testimonial by Farhad Darya in the anniversary publication 'Human Rights for Musicians - Ten Years With Freemuse'
30 January 2009
Afghan singer Farhad Darya poisoned in Los Angeles
On December 31, 2005, Farhad Darya fell ill and had to interrupt his concert. He was rushed to hospital where the doctors found remains of poison in his body
17 January 2006
Farhad Darya (2002)
Award winning and most popular Afghan musician and composer Farhad Darya interviewed by Martin Groß and Marc Helfers
17 January 2002
Afghanistan: Bomb blast at Farhad Darya's concert
A bomb blast at a concert by Afghanistan's top singer held in Herat wounded at least 13 people on 14 September 2010, reported ABC News
30 September 2010
Afghanistan: They play rock music in Afghanistan - and get away with it
The multinational rock trio White City from Kabul explains what it involves to play rock music in today's Afghanistan
15 August 2011
Farhad Darya
Video interview with Afghanistan's star singer who gives examples of songs which were censored in the period of communist parties in Afghanistan, starting from 1979
25 February 2008
Dangerous Music
Listen to 2nd World Conference on Music and Censorship broadcast from Radio Netherlands . Interviews with Gerald Seligman, Executive Committee member of Freemuse, Farhad Darya ( Afghanistan), Sanar Yurdatapan (Turkey)
08 January 2003
Afghanistan: Witnessing a resurge in music
Pashto music can now be heard in almost every nook and corner of Afghanistan, reported PRlog
24 November 2010
Afghanistan and Pakistan: Understanding the Taliban's campaign against music
Ethnomusicologist John Baily and Freemuse executive director Marie Korpe speak about the Taliban’s campaign against music and musicians in Afghanistan and Pakistan
23 June 2009
Afghanistan: Music programmes lead to arrest
0n 24 March 2009, Afghanistan’s attorney general office arrested the manager of Amroz TV because of the station's broacast of certain music programmes
25 March 2009