Waheed at “Afghan Warrior” states that “Around 80% of the Afghan people are happy that the US overthrew the Taliban and installed a democracy”. After the hardships of the Russian invasion followed by the horrific Taliban, Afghanis are certainly due all the joy they can get.

It is heartening to see these pictures of young Afghanis grooving to Farhad Darya, darling singer of the various ex-pat Afghani communities and now a major star in Afghanistan. These pictures are from his concert there last May at Ghazi Stadium. In them one can see shaved men and burkha-less women enjoying themselves in the stadium known for ghastly acts of torture under the Taliban. These are happier days in Ghazi.

Darya has a beautifully rich and agile voice. If you can wade through the odd semi-hysterical ballad with cheezy casio backup, his bridge between modern sensibilities and traditional Afghani music sung in Dari, Pashtu, Hazaragi, and Uzbek is a charming testament to better times in that troubled country.


Pictures taken from Farhad Darya’s official site without permission