Free Speech, International, Religion, Society

The Day the Music Died: Taliban Ban Music and Then Execute Leading Afghan Folk Singer

Roughly 50 years ago, Don McLean released his son song, “American Pie” with its famous line about “The Day the Music Died.” It was a reference to when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson died along with pilot Roger Peterson in an airplane crash. For Afghans, the day the music died coincided with the Taliban takeover of their country. Nothing drove home that fact than the horrific killing of Afghan folk singer Fawad Andarabi, who was executed by the Taliban for playing music.

The singer’s son said that the Taliban came to their farm and shot his father in the head. They targeted him because of his fame for playing the ghichak (above), a bowed lute, and preserving the traditional songs about his country.

While the Taliban told the media it would investigate, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid emphasized that “Music is forbidden in Islam.” Just days before, he announced to the media that music was banned. It was one of the first things the Taliban did after retaking power.  Music was also banned under Taliban rule from 1996 until 2001.

You can see one of the last folk songs of Andarabi here as he sings of “our beautiful valley.”

Christians, other religious minorities, homosexuals, feminists, journalists and others are being reportedly hunted down. Now Afghans will face the tyranny of the Taliban like a lost generation without even the solace of the music of their homeland:

Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again

…

And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died

74 thoughts on “The Day the Music Died: Taliban Ban Music and Then Execute Leading Afghan Folk Singer”

  1. It’s laughable reading some of lies and those distorting this into an attack on Christians and Americans. All the Neo Marxist, Leftwing, Atheist fools will be on their knees soon begging for a time when persecuting Christians was their biggest issue. You will all realize Christians were your best friends. The Christians left you be free to destroy the world and only complained about it. It’s becoming apparent they should have smacked you down with extreme prejudice and damn your feelings and “freedom”.

    Oh and for the Branch Covidians; masks are useless and dangerous to the health of those being forced to wear them. If you’re brainwashed and so fearful over nothing then do what you need to do to keep yourself feeling content. Leave those of us non mentally disturbed and normal people alone. Our natural antibodies are 13 times more capable of keeping us healthy and free from the Sino Flu. This is why many medical professionals are bucking the status quo and are against the vaccine mandates. It’s only the medical corporatists beating the drums like the Teacher Unions. This is a giant payoff by the foreign controlled Democrat Party. It’s time to leave your Messiah Fauci in the dust and learn real science. You have no right to stomp on my my civil liberties based on legal precedence and more importantly, my Constitutional rights! Such foolishness!

  2. Our own Americans, threatened the Dixie Chicks, didn’t kill them, but sent death threats, still do. Also our far-right so-called Christian leaders call out music all the time, past and present. Using religion against music or thought is always a tool in oppression tactics. Oh yeah, also death threats against voter poll workers is all the rage now, in America.

    1. Get back to me when an American Christian kills a folk singer, or any singer for that matter, merely for just singing.

      1. Dead is dead no matter if by the sword or telling people NOT to wear a mask.

        1. Masks offer limited protection for droplet spread, when following strict protocol. They offer no source control for other, more common transmission modes. At best, they have a random effect. At worst, they increase infection rates. They offer a placebo effect with empathetic appeal, viable legal indemnity, and a false sense of safety. They are promoted on the basis of cargo cult science in politically congruent environments.

          1. Well stated. Can only add this: no one is telling anyone else to not wear a mask. Anyone can wear a mask if they choose, one doesn’t need the government to give permission first.

    2. I’m so glad you can so easily point the finger back at Americans who say bad things and subtly ask us to hate Christians, but NEVER ONCE gave a thought it concern about people WHO MURDER MUSICIANS BECAYSE THEY ARE MUSUCIANS as a full scale SOCIAL POLICY, you f@cktwattle.

      1. Christophobes. Genderphobes. Transhumanitarians. They subscribe to the nominally “secular” Pro-Choice religion that denies science, denies women and men’s dignity and agency, conflates logical domains, and reduces human life to a negotiable asset.

  3. “While the Taliban told the media it would investigate, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid emphasized that ‘Music is forbidden in Islam.'”

    – Professor Turley
    ______________

    Freedom and free people must be protected and perpetuated.

    The “manifest tenor” of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights of the American Founders is unassailable, definitive, natural and God-given, and, therefore, universal.

    Islam must be codified as criminal.

    The universe must be relieved of Islam.

    Neutralize them all; let God sort them out…for the sake of rationality; for the sake of sanity.

    1. Islam isn’t a religion
      It is a perversion
      All murderers welcome the words of hate and bring fear to those who are not believers
      It is against our Lord Jesus so it is against the True Americans citizens !!!
      IN JESUS’S NAME

      1. Islam is a religion (i.e. behavioral protocol), that in union with a leftist (i.e. single/central/minority, democratic/dictoarial) ideology, is prone to indulge progressive (i.e. unqualified, monotonic) liberal (ii.e. divergent) ideology.

  4. Jonathan: The killing of Afghan folk singer Fawd Andarabi is horrifying. The Taliban think such music is “un-Islamic”. What will happen to the members of the all female Afghan orchestra? We can only wonder in horror. We should recall that in 1996, when the Taliban first took control, they blew up the famous Buddha statues. The Taliban are not big on preserving musical traditions or cultural artifacts.

    That said the US does not have clean hands regarding the protection of cultural traditions. After the US invaded and occupied Iraq nothing was done to protect against the massive looting of museums or other important archeological sites–or to prevent objects from being sent out of the country. When asked about the extensive looting Donald Rumsfeld quipped: “Stuff happens!”. For Rumsfeld with victory go the spoils of war. Hey, The Nazis did it in WW11 so no big deal. Prior to the war the Bush administration was warned by cultural experts it had a duty under international law to prevent looting. Under the 1954 Hague “Convention for the Protection in the Event of Armed Conflict” it says the parties to a conflict must “under take to prohibit, prevent and, if necessary, put a stop to any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of and any act of vandalism directed against cultural property”. Bush/Rumsfeld ignored the Convention. As a result Iraq’s National Museum was left unprotected and it was looted. Much of Iraq’s national treasure found its way into the hands of wealthy US collectors. Marketing stolen art and cultural artifacts is a big time business in the US. The US has returned over 17,000 stolen artifacts to Iraq but many are still missing. One of the sad legacies of our occupation of Iraq.

    Now our 20 year occupation of Afghanistan was a fool’s errand. You can’t impose so-called Western “democracy” on what is basically a tribal society that imposes the death sentence because of their interpretation of Islamic law. While the occupation ended today the Biden administration will continue drone strikes against “suspected” ISIS-K targets inside the country. Just yesterday a US drone struck a car in Kabul–killing 10 nearby civilians including women and children. Just “collateral damage” I suppose. (Does anyone suspect the intel for this strike was provided by the Taliban who consider ISIS-K their sworn enemy?) Strange how former enemies now become allies. During our 20 years of occupation thousands of Afghan civilians were killed by similar US strikes–no doubt why the population feared the US more than the Taliban and why they were able to sweep the country in a matter of a few weeks. While the killing of Fawd Andarabi was indeed “horrific”, as you say, what about all the civilians that needlessly were killed by US military strikes? Don’t recall you ever complaining about those “horrific” killings. When the US conducts it’s next air strike from “over the horizon” and kills innocent Afghan civilians I hope you will also call those equally “horrific”. I am not sanguine about that prospect.

  5. The Biden administration’s position on the Americans it abandoned in Afghanistan:

    We didn’t strand any Americans.

    And if we did, it’s normal to do so.

    Arguing in the alternative is a legal strategy — not a cover for abject incompetence.

  6. What mad fool gave the Taliban with a list of Americans and Afghanis trying to flee the country?

    Whoever did that should be charged with aiding and abetting mass murder.

  8. Sincere condolences for the family of murdered Fawad Andarabi.

    Extremists chisel away art and architecture in their demands for asceticism.

    Here is a video of Andarabi singing an Afghani folk song in the mountains.

    https://youtu.be/dOuWXkW-i_4

    Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.

  9. Afghanistan should be a lesson to America that you can’t use military power to change the culture of a country, especially one that dates back for thousands of years. G.W. Bush invaded Afghanistan in a publicity move to make it look like he was “doing something” to “punish” those who were already dead for the 9/11 attacks. He was egged on by former Democrat necons who decided they’d be able to use Bush and Republicans to further their aims rather than remaining in the Democratic Party. Laura Bush was on television preaching about the “plight” of women and girls in the Muslim culture. We managed to piss off the Muslim world by our actions. Now the inevitable has occurred and we ran with our tails between our legs. At least it was the South Vietnamese who lost their country. The US military had been gone for more than two years. Furthermore, we never tried to change the Vietnamese culture. I detest Biden but there are a lot more people to blame than him and Republicans are just as responsible as Democrats. We’re a sick country.

  10. There’s no music in Afghanistan.
    There aren’t even any afghans.

    Ya can’t fix an idjit (idiot)!

  11. Saw on Craigslist

    “Nearly new military Humvees, Blackhawk helicopters, and other booty for sale. (They were a gift from our Western friends.)

    Bulk discounts available. Buyer pays shipping costs.

    Call: 1-800 Taliban”

    2. Did the temporary installation of a weak government by the US contribute this poor man’s execution? Was he, and others, given a false sense of security because he thought the Taliban were defeated forever?

      1. Yes, accompanied by extraordinary corruption, unconditional surrender, and premature evacuation, leaving a vacuum and opportunity for change.

    1. The woke regime subscribes to the Pro-Choice religion for human and animal lives. Some, Select [Black] Lives Matter.

    2. Working dogs . . . sorry, but I know more than a few dogs who are better people than people (looking at the Biden admin).
      There is a special place in hell for them.
      Heck, my pigs are better people then them. Way smarter too.

      Will contribute money to any one opposing the Biden admin in 2024 Dem or GOP. Might even volunteer my time too.
      And before anyone starts screaming “Trumpist!” I contributed to Tulsi Gabbard, twice and would of a third time if she did not drop out in 2020. She was a better candidate, and clearly has more leadership skills and experience than the so-called top tier who did not last as long, VP Harris.

    1. If you understand the genesis and history of islam you should realize that there can be no reformation. It is a military/power grabbing ideology masquerading as a religion. You are an idealist if you think, after 14 centuries, that there is anything other than what we have seen at the core of this pernicious movement. Name one, just one, non-islamic nation that has ever been grateful for having an islamic neighbor on their border.

      1. A religion or behavioral protocol. An ideology that favors single/central/minority solutions. A philosophy that denies women and men’s dignity and agency, and reduces human life to a negotiable asset for social progress. Social justice and cancel culture in a not so novel regime. Diversity [dogma] (e.g. racism), inequity, and exclusion. Some, Select [Black] Lives Matter

      2. One can still hope. The other two of the biggest three war-making religions in the world did, eventually.

        1. The nominally “secular” religions (i.e. behavioral protocol), responsible for more wars, conflicts, immigration, and lives lost, are progressing to fill the void.

    2. Ha Ha. “There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.” – Tayyip Erdogan.

    3. The crucial problem is that the Qur’an is taught as the literal word of Allah, verbatim. Therefore, there can be no reform in the eyes of extremists.

      It’s not written by prophets after receiving a vision. It’s supposed to have been written by Allah.

      Moderate Muslims are reformers, although they don’t think of it that way. They ignore about 2/3 of the Qur’an. However, strict observers consider them apostates. The punishment for apostasy is death. They are commanded to this even to their own family members. https://youtu.be/H6xnfyfRcxk

      I have known many American Muslims who are good people. They just ignore the sword verses. Yet they cannot reconcile how it can be OK to ignore most of the Qur’an if it was written by Allah.

      Every Muslim majority country is known for human rights abuses and high rates of slavery. That’s a pretty clear picture of the fruits of Islam as a theocracy.

    2. With any luck Sharia law will be imposed on the trolls on this forum.

      – Trans daughter of eb

  19. Thank you US Military Chief of Staff Millie, inept Biden Administration, (especially unkle Joe Biden) for enabling “EVIL” to re-emerge it’s ugly head in the World once more! Now, will you all PLEASE RESIGN?

        1. That is absurd. There is nothing Trump would have done differently to stop this. Also the US does not police murder around the world.

          1. You are delusional if you believe Trump’s withdrawal would have been like this debacle. The moment those Marines died, Trump would have leveled the Afghan Palace and all the Taliban leaders that were there. This is all on Bush and Obama. Bush started it to get Bin Laden, they killed him, Obama should have got out.

            1. Clinton, Obama, and now Biden in sustainable conflicts without borders and open abortion fields. Bush ended Clinton’s war. Trump ended Obama’s war. Time will tell if Biden’s choice will progress with equally catastrophic effect.

          2. Did we have a conflict when Trump was in office? Did one military person die? Trump would’ve made all the difference in the world. He is a leader. The demon dementia bed wetter in office now is not the President!! All need to go!! Not free they need to be locked up for treason. Then shot!!

            1. Yes, Biden is Obama 2.0. The only question is when his foreign policy will progress to another transnational war without borders (world war) and force [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] immigration reform (e.g. refugee crises). His unconditional surrender in Afghanistan has already reaped “benefits”.

      2. As long as conditions were met. Biden didn’t set any conditions. He had to do this because his owners want the country.
        But I do agree that if Trump wanted this he would have been wrong. He didn’t put up with this. Biden did. And since we won’t see white what would have happened under Trump- can you just agree Biden should resign for how HE f’d it up?

      3. Oralloy

        Do you people ever stop to think?

        It has been more than 7 months since Biden took office!!!

        Everything that happened in July and August is on Biden.

        Your “But Trump…” excuses sound dumber every day and today that excuse was just plain stupid.

      4. Under certain conditions only under certain conditions and he wouldn’t have left anybody behind at all

      5. With conditions. Trump had a strategy, Biden is an idiot who can barely stay awake.

      6. He agreed to withdraw depending on the conditions on the ground two days after an agreement was signed with them they attacked an Afghan compound two days later Trump dropped a few bombs on them the Taliban then asked for C-Spire and nothing ever happened after that until the day Joe Biden took office don’t even compare what Trump negotiated and what Biden renegotiated or I should say acquiesced to

      7. Oralloy:

        Trump did agree to withdraw.

        He negotiated the Afghanistan Peace Agreement. The Taliban violated that agreement. Trump had said if they did, then he would bomb them.

        1. Would Trump have flown out the military before civilians?
        2. Would Trump have prevented the military from leaving the airport to retrieve our people?
        3. Would trump have provided the Taliban with a list of Americans and Afghans who want to leave the country?
        4. Would Trump have refused to aid the Afghan army when the Taliban threatened their families, and told them the US didn’t have their backs, causing the army to throw down their American weapons?
        5. Would Trump have left our equipment and arms?
        6. Biden refused to follow Trump’s withdrawal plan and created his own. Well, how’d that go?

        Remember when Democrats said Trump was too mercurial to have the nuclear codes? Anger him, and he might nuke you. 4 years without a war. It is possible that terrorists and bad actors believed Trump would shock and awe them if they angered him, but they certainly aren’t afraid of doddering, bumbling Biden.

        Joe Biden threw out a great many of Trump’s policies and agreements. The fact that Trump agreed to a withdrawal does not mean that a) Joe Biden had no other choice but to do it and b) that this absolves him of all responsibility for overseeing this mission.

        It was Joe Biden’s Administration that ran this withdrawal. Yet in light of the absolute disaster, Biden wants to blame Trump, who had ZERO input on any of Biden’s decisions on how to run this.

        Example:

        Person A: We need to seize this enemy outpost.
        Person B: Brings a parade, a circus, and a clown show, and is destroyed. Whines, but it’s not my FAULT! Person A suggested this objective!

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