- Title: AFGHANISTAN: Afghan rapper wins fans with message of peace.
- Date: 18th May 2006
- Summary: DJ BESHO RAPPER SITTING AT TABLE IN EDITING ROOM DJ BESHO RAP VIDEO ON LAPTOP COMPUTER MORE OF RAPPER SITTING WITH ASSOCIATE WORKING ON HIS VIDEOCLIP AT LAPTOP
- Embargoed: 2nd June 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Afghanistan
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA9FRZCG50YM3LZE8EX040UZK11
- Story Text: Rap may have been born on the gritty, violent streets of American cities but Afghan rapper DJ Besho says he wants to send a message of peace to the new generation of war-torn Afghanistan.
And he has found some fans in the ultra-conservative country.
"His songs express our national unity and we like the kind of music he makes. He is young and talented and it's very interesting to listen to his songs," said Nasratullah, a Kabul resident watching Besho's video at a local restaurant.
"I like his songs (rap) it is very good music Kids and all young generation loves his songs.But in my opinion, it would be more interesting if he wore our own national dress," added Farhad Jan, another fan.
Besho, 28, looks the part with his baseball cap, dark glasses and combat trousers but he's no gangster. He says young Afghans should unite, stay clear of drugs and study hard for the benefit of the country. And he says the pirates who have already started copying his music should be jailed.
Besho first got hooked on rap as a boy while living in China. He heard a hit by Nigerian star Dr Alban and started singing along in his language. His friends laughed and told him he couldn't do Afghan rap.
Besho says he told his friends "It is easy and I will show you in 10 years'".
"I heard these songs from Dr Alban, you know 'Hello Africa tell me how we doing, hello motherland tell me how we doing.' You know this song? This song gave me felling you know - that I say - I can do something for the country maybe. 'Hello Afghanistan tell me how we doing, Hello motherland tell me how we doing,' something like this and it was that very feeling full music I thought I from this I could make something new," he explained.
"My message is peace, fight against drugs, you know , the people, they must try to learn something for this country, to love this country, you know it doesn't matter they do something for this country," said Besho in an interview at a Kabul's Tolo TV station where he was editing his new video.
Besho's real name is Bezhan Zafarmal. "Besho" is a family nickname. He was born in the northern Afghan town of Kunduz just before the country slipped into decades of war. One day he was going to get ice cream with a friend when a rocket hit, killing his pal.
Three of his uncles were killed in the war.
As violence consumed the country he left with his family, ending up in Germany where he has lived for the past 16 years.
Now he's back, brimming with energy and brash optimism.
But while Besho said he's encountered no negative reaction to his music, there are likely to be many opposing views about his music in deeply conservative Afghanistan where music was banned for decades during the Taliban regime and many religious leaders believe there is no place for music in Islam.
"No, I don't like music at all but this, in my opinion, is the all it takes for our young people to stay away from our own culture and forces them to follow the wrong culture or an alien culture," said a prominent Kabul Islamic cleric, Abdul Raouf.
Besho is being sponsored by Tolo TV, the hippest new television station to appear since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. It broadcasts a mixture of pop videos, entertainment and news and in Kabul, at least, he seems to slowly be winning over bemused fans. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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