Last night, The Captain (my man) and I went to the Encounters Film festival at the Waterfront to watch 'Afghan Popstar'. It is a BBC documentary that follows 4 contestants, from different ethnic groups, in a pop idol type show, in Afghanistan. Dancing and singing has been illegal in Afghanistan, until recently. 2 of the contestants were men, from different races. (Didn't realize that Afghanistan was once divided into 5 segments, according to ethnicity. Only knew a little bit about it from reading The Kite Runner.) 2 were women. One was very 'rebellious' and received death threats after dancing on stage. Being a MASSIVE fan of the American pop idol (it is the biggest show on earth, 90 million people voted in the last final. Adam was robbed. Anyway.) it was a shocker to see that the Afghan version was no more fancy than the average High school play. Being able to vote by sms was also the first time many of the young people had ever experienced 'democracy'. A man sold his car to help fund one of the contestants' poster campaign. At the finale, there were men with guns outside, women didn't wear scarves and the 2 finalists hugged each other. It was an eye opener. I would love to visit Afghanistan one day, it is an awesomely interesting and beautiful place. (Be awhile before a blondie can venture through those streets I reckon.)
It was crazy then to come home from watching a woman risk her life to dance and sing, to switch on the T.V and see MJ's funeral. Really cool how music can liberate just about anyone.
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