: Cry Freedom: The Story of Singer Farida Mahwash

: Cry Freedom: The Story of Singer Farida Mahwash March 16, 2002

A concert last week at London’s Royal Albert Hall featured prominent Kabuli singer Farida Mahwash and has shed new light on her life in post-Soviet Afghanistan. Mahwash was once awarded the title of “ustad” in 1977 by the ministry for information and culture (controversial because the honorific is normally reserved for men). But by the time the communists took over, she was targeted for her rebel sympathies, and later targeted by the same mujahideen for being a woman singer. Like many other Afghan singers and musicians over the past 20 years, she has sought asylum in the West, which has subsequently introduced new audiences to her music.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.  He is based in London, England.


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