Listening to the World - Afghanistan

The next stop on my tour is Afghanistan. Afghanistan's radio industry seems to be bounding back from what I will refer to as "infrastructure problems."

Much of the radio that I've found from there seems to be sponsored by either the BBC or Voice of America. I think that's cheating, so I kept poking about.

I was then able to find a number of stations that were religious or news-related. Finally I was able to come across a couple of music stations.

The first, Radio A.F.G., seemed to be precisely what I was looking for: a live stream that seemed to be working and music. There were a few breaks and the occasional bit of what sounded like comedy skits, but predominantly music. The music, to my ears, seems to mirror what I've experienced with the rest of Afghan culture (which is barely enough to have a decent opinion, so bear with me) -- by virtue of its location it seems to me to be a mixture of Indian, Muslim, and Russian influences, manifesting in that order. Different enough from Indian music to make me notice differences, (the instrumentation, for example), but a couple of hours in I was up for a curry run. I spent about three days total on this station and only heard one track that I could consider a cultural interloper: Zamfir's "The Lonely Shepherd" of all things.

On closer examination, Radio A.F.G. doesn't meet my criteria, however. It looks like it is web based, and the dj's aren't actually physically in Afghanistan. (There are two from Canada, one from the US, one from Denmark, and another from "Hollandistan" - there is a slot open, if you speak Pashto, this might be your big break!).

So continuing to search, I was able to find Arman FM, which broadcasts a signal to Jalalabad, Kabul, Mazar, Herat and Kandahar. Unfortunately, there is no live feed. There are a few mp3s, but the number of dead pages and my inability to find anything that is dated more recently than 2005 makes me a trifle concerned. So I have just signed onto their mailing list.