Afghan singer Aryana Sayeed comes home for women

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Star braves threats

Each time Aryana Sayeed, one of Afghanistan’s most famous singers, returns to the country of her birth, she braves threats and endures scrutiny right down to her choice of clothes.

Still, she returns often, as much to encourage women in a restrictive country as to share her music, a mix of pop and traditional songs.

“It’s really hard for me as a female singer to carry on with my work in Afghanistan with the type of pressure that I have on my mind, the threats that I get on a regular basis, the attacks on social media,” she said in an interview in Kabul.

“I get messages, scary ones actually.”

Aryana, as she is usually known, had just finished performing last week on Afghan Star, a televised singing competition.

In 2017, Aryana enraged conservative Afghans when she was photographed wearing a self-coloured dress at a Paris concert. Clerics threatened that she would be killed if she returned to perform a scheduled concert in Kabul.

She performed anyway.

“People love to hear her voice. But they don’t love her,” said filmmaker Sadam Wahidi, who is working on a documentary about Aryana, who is often compared to Hollywood reality star Kim Kardashian.

Aryana’s success in Afghanistan and among Afghans living abroad illustrates how much the treatment of women has changed since the 2001 ouster of the Taleban by US-led forces. But the vitriol she draws shows how intractable some attitudes remain.

Rejected

Born in Kabul, she fled Afghanistan’s civil war at age 8 with her family, stopping in Pakistan, then Switzerland. After the family’s asylum case was rejected, they hired a smuggler to get to London, and settled down.

Aryana, 34, now splits her time between Kabul and Istanbul.

In her home city, Aryana travels by armoured vehicle, but more often she lives in isolation.

“I’m basically a prisoner in my own room,” she said. “All I do is go to my room and back to the set and record the show.”

Women have gained the right to work and girls can attend school since the Taleban government fell.

It is a stark contrast to life under the hardline Islamists, when women were banned even from appearing in public without a male relative or with faces uncovered. Playing musical instruments was also forbidden.

Still, rural Afghanistan remains more conservative than the cities, and many people object to Aryana’s clothing and her promotion of women’s rights.

“Aryana Sayeed’s concerts are not in accordance with our society and Islam,” said Layeq Khan Wahdat, 26, a resident of Paktika province.

Aryana’s latest return to Afghanistan came as the United States discusses peace with the Taleban to end the 17-year war. The prospect of re-integration of the Taleban is chilling to the singer.

“That’s so scary even to think about it,” she said. “I don’t want to accept that this is my last concert. If they come with the same mindset, I’m afraid the rights of women will be taken away from them again.”

The Taleban have said their return to Afghan society would be less harsh and that they do not oppose women’s education or employment; however they are against women wearing “alien culture clothes”.

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The Grammy-nominated producer, whose real name is Jamal Jones, sued Brown in February claiming breach of contract, saying he has not been paid under the terms of a 2015 agreement and asked for damages in excess of $75,000.

Brown’s attorneys responded on Monday with a countersuit, claiming the producer has made millions off Brown’s success based on a fraudulent contract and misled him about their agreement. (Agencies)

Brown is seeking unspecified damages.

An attorney for Jones did not immediately return an after-hours message seeking comment on Monday.

Brown is one of country music’s rising stars, with multiple No. 1 hits including “Heaven” and “What Ifs”, and was the first artist to simultaneously chart atop all five Billboard country charts. His self-titled debut on Sony Music Nashville in 2016 was certified platinum and his sophomore effort, “Experiment”, debuted at No. 1 on both the pop and country charts last year.

Jones has worked with Usher, The Pussycat Dolls, Nicki Minaj and more and filed the lawsuit under his company Zone 4. Jones’ lawsuit claims that he was using his connections in the music business to help develop Brown as a new artist, but Brown said Jones never recorded any of his songs, even though he is still credited as an executive producer on Brown’s songs. (Agencies)

By Orooj Hakimi and Rod Nickel

This news has been read 13610 times!