Breaking the Silence: Music in Afghanistan (USA)

(59 min; 2002; English/Dari with English subtitles)
Director: Simon Broughton

Recipient of the Documentary Prize, Golden Prague Festival in 2022

The Taliban's prohibition of music was the most severe in history. Apart from unaccompanied chants, all music was banned and instruments were broken and burnt. This film documents the remarkable moment when the country was reconnected with its musical culture. Shot in Kabul and Peshawar (Pakistan) in January 2002, two months after the fall of the Taliban, this film is an introduction to the music of Afghanistan and the way it's been caught in the crossfire of conflicting regimes over the past 25 years. The film features, Sarinda-player Mashinai, forced to work as a butcher under the Taliban; singer Aziz Ghaznawi, who had no option but to sing for them; female singer Naghma, whose tapes flooded the Kabul bazaar as the Taliban fled; rare footage of Sufi gatherings where Islam and music fervently meet; Ensemble Kaboul, the best of the traditional Afghan groups in exile, formed when the very survival of Afghan music seemed under threat.