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Kaleidoscope recommends: Afghan Star! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:13
Speaker 1: Afghanistar Episode one, light camera action. Welcome back to Afghanistan.
0:25
Speaker 1: Please put your hands together for the host, the director,
0:29
Speaker 1: the producer, the.
0:30
Speaker 2: Man who built this show, Daoud Zidiki.
0:39
Speaker 3: It's around eleven o'clock. I'm so thirsty, I'm so angry.
0:45
Speaker 3: I'm so exhausted that I can't think about anything.
0:48
Speaker 1: It's September two thousand and five, just a few years
0:52
Speaker 1: after the Taliban were driven out of Afghanistan, and Daoud
0:55
Speaker 1: Sidiki has barely slept in days. He's been pulling all
1:00
Speaker 1: nighters to get the first episode of a new TV
1:03
Speaker 1: show out. It's called Afghanistar, and nothing like it has
1:08
Speaker 1: ever aired in Afghanistan before. But right now daoude is
1:20
Speaker 1: so exhausted he's about to pass out. So instead of
1:24
Speaker 1: sticking around to watch the show.
1:25
Speaker 3: Go live, I just drove to my house and went home,
1:30
Speaker 3: and my mom opened the door and I just went
1:34
Speaker 3: to the bit with my offsclots.
1:38
Speaker 1: Daoud collapses into a deep sleep and he doesn't wake
1:41
Speaker 1: until late the next morning.
1:44
Speaker 3: At that time, he didn't have the electricity at Cobble
1:47
Speaker 3: that much like I didn't have a chance to listen
1:49
Speaker 3: to radio or TV or anything.
1:51
Speaker 1: But as soon as he's up. He's in a panic.
1:54
Speaker 1: He has no idea how the show's been received. Are
1:58
Speaker 1: there people cheering in the street? M are calling for
2:01
Speaker 1: his head? He spent two sleepless months of his life
2:08
Speaker 1: on this thing. Did anyone even watch? Also, he's late
2:15
Speaker 1: for work, like really late. That would throw some clothes on,
2:22
Speaker 1: jumps in his car, his hand shaking as he turns
2:24
Speaker 1: on the radio, the chimes of the clock playing at
2:28
Speaker 1: the top of the hour, and then the.
2:35
Speaker 3: Headlines against afghanst Star.
2:42
Speaker 4: Afghanstar is one of the most shows in the country.
2:45
Speaker 2: This is a new type of show and the people
2:47
Speaker 2: are watching it, following it intensely, seeing only this time.
2:51
Speaker 3: Hours during generators long and starts. Oh my god, what happened?
3:06
Speaker 1: The answer to that question is going to define his life.
3:13
Speaker 1: It will take him on a journey from the back
3:15
Speaker 1: rooms of a makeshift TV station in Cobble all the
3:19
Speaker 1: way across the globe.
3:22
Speaker 3: I was a celebrity of the country everywhere. I was
3:26
Speaker 3: like on the skies.
3:29
Speaker 1: He will watch as his country is transformed.
3:33
Speaker 3: Lights, mikes and cameras.
3:35
Speaker 1: It's a different kind of battle in Afghanistan, one that
3:38
Speaker 1: has the whole nation watching. Osma because in the aftermath
3:45
Speaker 1: of the Taliban you still see rubble everywhere. There really
3:49
Speaker 1: was an American idol for Afghanistan.
3:53
Speaker 5: We cannot let the darkness come over us again. We
3:57
Speaker 5: have to fight back with music.
4:03
Speaker 1: Afghan Star helped heal a nation torn apart by violence.
4:08
Speaker 5: Between all the explosions and all the disappointment, that was
4:13
Speaker 5: light in the darkness.
4:19
Speaker 1: It allowed its people to fall in love with music
4:22
Speaker 1: again and eventually had them running for their lives.
4:29
Speaker 5: And knew he had the gun, And I said to him,
4:33
Speaker 5: if I get captured, please shoot me.
4:36
Speaker 6: In the head.
4:51
Speaker 1: I'm John Legend from Kaleidoscope and iHeart podcasts. This is
4:57
Speaker 1: Afghan Star.
5:01
Speaker 7: Then make a numba eat a go Damn Buddha, Let
5:07
Speaker 7: no more Ruda as maas John bad.
5:15
Speaker 2: Name Mother.
5:27
Speaker 1: Chapter one, Friday Night Lights. Every once in a while,
5:33
Speaker 1: there's a moment when the world seems to halt, when
5:38
Speaker 1: streets fall quiet and people call one another to stop
5:41
Speaker 1: everything and turn on the television. They gather in apartments
5:45
Speaker 1: and living rooms, huddle onto sofas and floors. They sit together, transfixed.
5:52
Speaker 1: You know these moments. The moon landing, a royal wedding,
6:06
Speaker 1: and Princess of weddings. These moments can be joyous and triumphant,
6:12
Speaker 1: like everyone watching as a hobble gymnast somehow sticks a landing,
6:26
Speaker 1: or unimaginable, like the day the towers fell and then
6:31
Speaker 1: it's flapped out.
6:32
Speaker 3: It looks like it's it at it's light.
6:34
Speaker 7: Tangle into the world's race that I can see.
6:36
Speaker 8: I can see flames now coming out the side.
6:38
Speaker 2: Of the building, and the smoke.
6:39
Speaker 1: Continuets to blow. These are moments of cultural importance, when
6:48
Speaker 1: everyone drops what they're doing to gather around a screen. Well.
6:55
Speaker 1: In Afghanistan, for about fifteen years, these moments have and
7:00
Speaker 1: every Friday night it's March two thousand and six, New
7:12
Speaker 1: Year's in Cobble. The city should be bustling, two lip festivals,
7:17
Speaker 1: I've gotten polo tournaments, old men wearing colorful clothes walking
7:21
Speaker 1: the streets, spitting poetry. People should be gathering in mosques
7:26
Speaker 1: to raise giant banners and cheer. But instead of it's
7:31
Speaker 1: a ghost town. The only signs of life are coming
7:35
Speaker 1: from a few houses and apartments, lights flickering from the windows.
7:41
Speaker 1: But look closer and you see why. In each of
7:45
Speaker 1: these homes there's a tiny television perched in the corner
7:50
Speaker 1: and huddled around its warm glow. Are people so many
7:55
Speaker 1: people packed in so tightly that you can barely see
7:58
Speaker 1: the ground. They're all there to watch Afghan Star. In
8:13
Speaker 1: one of these apartments, on one such sofa is Omit Nazami.
8:17
Speaker 1: He's relaxing now, but he's been fielding calls all day,
8:21
Speaker 1: trying to help his friends out.
8:23
Speaker 8: The people that they didn't have electricity. They keep calling,
8:26
Speaker 8: do you have power? You have electricity?
8:28
Speaker 1: Tonight?
8:29
Speaker 8: Can you tell me who is eliminated.
8:31
Speaker 1: To watch Afghan Star? People across the nation have pulled
8:35
Speaker 1: their resources and shared their homes.
8:38
Speaker 8: You could see a family member that he is sitting
8:40
Speaker 8: in a corner of the room and he's so upset.
8:42
Speaker 8: She's so upset, and they say, come on, have food,
8:45
Speaker 8: have dinner. No, I'm not doing well tonight. My favorite
8:48
Speaker 8: contestant just got eliminated.
8:50
Speaker 1: He didn't deserve it. Everyone takes it seriously because this
8:55
Speaker 1: show means everything to them. So why was watching a
9:05
Speaker 1: talent show so important to these people? Well, before we
9:09
Speaker 1: answer that question, maybe I should tell you a little
9:12
Speaker 1: bit about myself, because I know what you're thinking. Why
9:15
Speaker 1: is John Legend hosting a show about Afghanistan. Well, there's
9:20
Speaker 1: the talent show connection. For sure. You might have seen
9:23
Speaker 1: me on the Voice. You have so much passion that
9:25
Speaker 1: you also have discipline. I would love for you to
9:29
Speaker 1: be on the team of the defending voice champion. That's me,
9:37
Speaker 1: that's me, But this is about something deeper. Music is
9:42
Speaker 1: my life. When I was growing up, I heard it
9:48
Speaker 1: at home in the car. At church every Sunday, we
9:51
Speaker 1: would sing in the gospel choir. My grandfather was the pastor,
9:55
Speaker 1: my mother was the choir director, my grandmother the church organist.
9:59
Speaker 1: It was my the whole world. After college, I dropped
10:06
Speaker 1: out of a solid career in management consulting because I
10:10
Speaker 1: couldn't stop thinking about music. And then the other day
10:16
Speaker 1: I was reading the news and the story popped up.
10:20
Speaker 1: It had a crazy headline, the Taliban burned a pile
10:25
Speaker 1: of musical instruments because they're immoral. The photo showed four
10:32
Speaker 1: men standing around a fire, just a regular garbage fire.
10:38
Speaker 1: But then you look closer and you see strings, mangled guitars,
10:45
Speaker 1: the shelves of these beautiful harmoniums all charred up. I
10:52
Speaker 1: thought it. He's from Afghanistan's Ministry for the Promotional Virtue
10:55
Speaker 1: and prevention of vice, created a bonfire from a number
10:58
Speaker 1: of seased instruments and allowed speaker in her province over
11:02
Speaker 1: the weekend. The idea that anyone would destroy all these
11:10
Speaker 1: things that bring us so much.
11:12
Speaker 9: Joy and life. It's heartbreaking, but that image, it's the
11:20
Speaker 9: key to understanding why Afghanistar was so important, why a
11:26
Speaker 9: TV show could get a nation.
11:29
Speaker 1: To come to a halt. Because when the Taliban were
11:36
Speaker 1: in power the first time in the nineties, they did
11:41
Speaker 1: everything they could to rid the world of music. Clerics
11:49
Speaker 1: would tear out the ERDs of cassettes and string them
11:52
Speaker 1: up from trees. Morality police went around smashing radios and
11:58
Speaker 1: boomboxes with hammers. They conducted brutal raids on houses and
12:04
Speaker 1: terrified people into submission. Think about that for just one second.
12:12
Speaker 1: Think about all the songs you listen to today on
12:19
Speaker 1: your commute or bopping around the house. The music you
12:25
Speaker 1: heard in your car or hummed to yourself at the
12:29
Speaker 1: grocery store. Think about the soundtrack of your life, from
12:36
Speaker 1: the lullabies your mom sang, to road trips with friends,
12:42
Speaker 1: piano lessons to first dances. Try to picture all.
12:48
Speaker 9: Of that he raised.
13:00
Speaker 1: Think about the absence of music. That's what happened in
13:06
Speaker 1: Afghanistan on Silas. And the thing is, we tend to
13:22
Speaker 1: take shows like The Voice and American Idol for granted,
13:26
Speaker 1: shows that you binge when you want to zone out.
13:32
Speaker 1: But here in Afghanistan, Afghanistan became a beacon, a reminder
13:42
Speaker 1: to a shell shocked nation that it had permission, the
13:46
Speaker 1: freedom really to sing again, to use their voices. Chapter
14:11
Speaker 1: two An impossible Dream. So back to Dairud, the guy
14:17
Speaker 1: we met at the top of the show. Long before
14:20
Speaker 1: he set out to make Afghan star. He was already
14:23
Speaker 1: a badass when the Taliban banned music. He kept adding
14:27
Speaker 1: to his cassette collection, even though it could mean a
14:30
Speaker 1: jail sentence or possibly death. At night, He'd traveled to
14:36
Speaker 1: underground dance parties and hang out with Kabo's cultural dissidence,
14:39
Speaker 1: people who'd risk their lives for art. He watched Bollywood
14:43
Speaker 1: movies and fell in love with the heroes, and so
14:47
Speaker 1: once the Taliban fell, he was determined he wanted to
14:51
Speaker 1: be on screen, to be a star. And that's when
14:56
Speaker 1: he met someone who changed his life. I named Sad Mosenne.
15:01
Speaker 1: The walls are going to come to our rescue and
15:04
Speaker 1: perhaps it's time for us Afghans, ourselves in our own ways,
15:09
Speaker 1: to find a way out for the country. Sad had
15:12
Speaker 1: launched a radio station in Kabu and then a TV
15:16
Speaker 1: network that made news and soap operas and music shows,
15:20
Speaker 1: and it wasn't long before Daoud found his way to
15:23
Speaker 1: Sad's office to ask for a job.
15:26
Speaker 3: Oh my god, this is my place, that's where I
15:29
Speaker 3: want to be.
15:30
Speaker 1: The two quickly hit it off.
15:32
Speaker 3: We would like having jokes and fun and chit chat.
15:37
Speaker 3: Give us this chance to be ourselves.
15:40
Speaker 1: In a lot of ways. Sad story couldn't be more
15:42
Speaker 1: different than Daoud's. He left Afghanistan in the seventies. We
15:47
Speaker 1: took refuge in places like the US and Australia and
15:49
Speaker 1: Europe because we were forced out of our homeland. Then,
15:53
Speaker 1: in October two thousand and one, after American troops invaded
15:57
Speaker 1: Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime, So'd sinsed an opportunity.
16:02
Speaker 1: It feels like a calling to go back. In his
16:04
Speaker 1: mid thirties, at the time, Sad thinks this is it.
16:08
Speaker 1: Afghanistan doesn't have a stock market, the media is dead.
16:13
Speaker 1: He can do something. Before long Sad wants to change
16:18
Speaker 1: the whole culture of Afghanistan, and he knows there's no
16:22
Speaker 1: better way than through the small screen. He's determined to
16:26
Speaker 1: make a splash. He's going to import soap operas and
16:30
Speaker 1: put women news anchors on air. But most of all,
16:35
Speaker 1: he wants to try out a new kind of show,
16:38
Speaker 1: one that has never been seen in Afghanistan before American
16:43
Speaker 1: Idol but Afghan And as if that isn't hard enough,
16:49
Speaker 1: he wants to put it out in just a couple
16:51
Speaker 1: of months to beat any competition to the idea. The
16:56
Speaker 1: thing is, if this is going to work, Sad needs
16:59
Speaker 1: someone he can try to handle it, someone who loves music,
17:02
Speaker 1: someone who can pull favors and hustle to get this
17:05
Speaker 1: to air. And that's when he starts yelling for someone
17:10
Speaker 1: to get him daoude Chapter three, just go make a
17:24
Speaker 1: show to hear Daoud tell it. The conversation didn't take
17:30
Speaker 1: that long.
17:31
Speaker 3: And I remember exactly this sentence, like you said, I
17:36
Speaker 3: want you to make this show happen. I don't know
17:40
Speaker 3: how go and make this show for us. That was
17:43
Speaker 3: a big expectation, Like I knew this is not a
17:48
Speaker 3: small show, this is something big. I didn't know how
17:51
Speaker 3: to start, what to do, what will happen.
17:54
Speaker 1: Sad is watching Daoud carefully waiting for an answer.
17:57
Speaker 3: And after five to ten seconds pause, I said, okay,
18:02
Speaker 3: I will make.
18:03
Speaker 1: It, and then Sad hands him a DVD.
18:09
Speaker 3: He gave me Australian Idol DVDs and he told me
18:15
Speaker 3: go and watch this and try to make something like this.
18:19
Speaker 1: Okay, that's it. That's the only guidance. He had a
18:25
Speaker 1: few Australian Idol DVDs and now he has about sixty
18:30
Speaker 1: days to go make the thing. So he puts the
18:32
Speaker 1: DVDs into the machine and hits play.
18:35
Speaker 7: I'm just gonna find my note.
18:42
Speaker 1: What what sort of music do you like? To listen
18:44
Speaker 1: to it and lock everything. I leve all styles of music.
18:47
Speaker 2: App yes, mom, it's nothing kie.
18:54
Speaker 1: Immediately he starts scribbling down notes as fast as his
18:57
Speaker 1: hand will let him.
18:59
Speaker 3: The stages, the lighting, and I don't have any clue
19:02
Speaker 3: how it works.
19:04
Speaker 1: He's never done anything like this before, never produced a
19:07
Speaker 1: live show of any kind. He has so many things
19:11
Speaker 1: he has to figure out. Singers, stage lighting, He's trying
19:15
Speaker 1: to understand the format, the camera angles, the different components,
19:19
Speaker 1: and he's trying to work out what he should tackle. First.
19:22
Speaker 3: Okay, people are coming, and then audition happens, and then
19:27
Speaker 3: come to judges.
19:31
Speaker 1: He thinks maybe if he starts with a few judges,
19:34
Speaker 1: he can build from there.
19:36
Speaker 9: That's good.
19:36
Speaker 3: I thought, that's one of the eazy things that they
19:38
Speaker 3: can do in one or two days.
19:42
Speaker 1: Except with Afghanistar, nothing's ever that easy. Back in two
19:46
Speaker 1: thousand and five, Afghanistan didn't have pop stars. There were
19:50
Speaker 1: no cool girl groups, no singers that shot to fame
19:54
Speaker 1: on social media. Basically, not many good candidates to be
19:57
Speaker 1: a judge on a reality show. But Daoud has an idea.
20:02
Speaker 1: The one thing people hire performers for is weddings, so
20:06
Speaker 1: he starts reaching out to random wedding singers.
20:10
Speaker 3: I introduced myself and said, okay, this is the idea
20:13
Speaker 3: of we want to make a music talent show. I
20:16
Speaker 3: want you guys to be my judges.
20:18
Speaker 1: He promises to put them on air, make them famous,
20:21
Speaker 1: but all he's getting is blank stares. So Daoud explains
20:26
Speaker 1: it in more detail. He talks about the performances, the exposure,
20:31
Speaker 1: the spotlight.
20:32
Speaker 3: And they said no, we can't come to this show.
20:36
Speaker 1: Daoude is taken aback. He can't get his words out
20:39
Speaker 1: fast enough.
20:40
Speaker 3: Why why this is a good opportunity. You guys can
20:43
Speaker 3: gain more name for yourselves and that will help you
20:46
Speaker 3: to reach more people and people will know you.
20:49
Speaker 1: But these singers haven't seen a show like this and
20:51
Speaker 1: they don't think it will work. Nothing Daoud says can
20:55
Speaker 1: change any of their minds. He's completely deflated. This was
20:59
Speaker 1: supposed to be the easy part. And that's when he
21:04
Speaker 1: gets another call from Sad. Sad tells him not only
21:08
Speaker 1: do I need you to find male judges, I also
21:11
Speaker 1: want a female judge.
21:14
Speaker 3: When he said that, a break almost I said, what
21:18
Speaker 3: you are talking about, Sade? What's going on with you?
21:21
Speaker 3: Do you know you're an abon'stan. There was still people
21:28
Speaker 3: supporters of Toliban, people with different opinions, more traditional, more religious.
21:36
Speaker 3: They were against these ideas.
21:40
Speaker 1: Daoud is losing it on the phone. He's thinking that
21:43
Speaker 1: Taliban have only just left blue jeans, women returning to schools,
21:48
Speaker 1: that stuff is just starting to come back. But putting
21:52
Speaker 1: a woman on TV in a position of power that
21:56
Speaker 1: feels like something this society isn't ready for yet. The
22:01
Speaker 1: task feels so insane. He can't stop himself from yelling
22:05
Speaker 1: into the phone.
22:06
Speaker 3: I can't find a man to be a judge of
22:09
Speaker 3: our true you are asking me to find a woman.
22:12
Speaker 3: Are you crazy?
22:15
Speaker 1: But sah, he's an optimist. He knows he's asking too
22:19
Speaker 1: much of Daoude, but he's also got a lead, an
22:24
Speaker 1: aspiring politician, and he says, just talk to her.
22:31
Speaker 3: She was like shocked, what are we talking about. I'm
22:36
Speaker 3: not a musician. I'm not a good choice for this.
22:40
Speaker 1: But as Daoude keeps talking to her, he sees an opening.
22:44
Speaker 3: I said, okay, I see you in a different interviews
22:49
Speaker 3: and says thing about the presence of women and the
22:52
Speaker 3: society in media and politics and all the things. If
22:56
Speaker 3: you are not participating, then tomorrow, don't blame me if
23:01
Speaker 3: I don't have any lady, any representative of women in
23:06
Speaker 3: my show.
23:07
Speaker 1: One guilt trip later and she's on board. That's one
23:11
Speaker 1: judge down. Then Daoud's colleague suggests an old singer from
23:16
Speaker 1: the villages, so Daoud gives him a call.
23:18
Speaker 3: He just cuted me in the middle and said, you
23:20
Speaker 3: guys are paying me. I said yes. He said, don't
23:23
Speaker 3: worry about don't explain to me. I will come whatever
23:25
Speaker 3: the show is.
23:27
Speaker 1: He's so in need of money that he doesn't even
23:29
Speaker 1: let Daoud finish his pitch.
23:31
Speaker 3: Okay, I have two judges, he.
23:34
Speaker 1: Just needs three to pull this off. So he approaches
23:37
Speaker 1: a local music shop.
23:38
Speaker 3: On it there was a guy he was okay singer
23:42
Speaker 3: and he had a very good music instrument shop.
23:46
Speaker 1: He also just released a song that was playing on TV,
23:49
Speaker 1: which for Daoude is good enough. Daoud consults his Australian
23:55
Speaker 1: Idol DVDs. He's officially checked off the first item find judges.
24:01
Speaker 1: Now it's time for the fun part. Chapter four, Meet
24:11
Speaker 1: the Stars. On audition day, Daoud is up early. He's
24:17
Speaker 1: heading into the city center.
24:18
Speaker 3: And rented one of the biggest rooms of this five
24:22
Speaker 3: star hotel and in the middle of Coobol.
24:24
Speaker 1: At that time, Daoud is thinking it's only been about
24:27
Speaker 1: three years since the Taliban were in power. He has
24:30
Speaker 1: no idea if even ten people will show up.
24:34
Speaker 3: I went there at eight forty five. When I get close,
24:40
Speaker 3: the streets are jammed. I thought, okay, Cobbol is a
24:43
Speaker 3: big city, maybe that's normal traffic, but this is an
24:46
Speaker 3: unusual jam.
24:50
Speaker 1: Daoud elbows his way through the crowds, thinking what is
24:54
Speaker 1: going on? He can't work it out.
24:56
Speaker 3: Oh my god, police is there? Security is there?
24:59
Speaker 9: This is a chaos.
25:00
Speaker 1: As Thoud gets closer to the hotel, he realizes that
25:04
Speaker 1: all of this chaos is his fault.
25:08
Speaker 3: And now I see a big crowd of people in
25:12
Speaker 3: front of the hotel.
25:13
Speaker 1: These people have heard his advertisements and they've come to audition.
25:18
Speaker 1: Plus they brought all their friends and family for support.
25:21
Speaker 3: Security. If the hotel is so angry on us, like,
25:24
Speaker 3: you guys are crazy? What's going on with you? What
25:27
Speaker 3: type of show is this? What you guys are doing?
25:30
Speaker 1: Hundreds of people have turned up and now they're all
25:33
Speaker 1: crammed into the hotel lobby.
25:35
Speaker 3: We had space for one hundred and twenty people. We
25:38
Speaker 3: got these people and we took them upstairs and started
25:42
Speaker 3: the audition.
25:43
Speaker 1: The judges are sitting side by side at a long table.
25:47
Speaker 1: On the wall behind them is a red banner with
25:49
Speaker 1: a few yellow stars scattered across it and images of
25:53
Speaker 1: men and women singing into microphones. This is about as
25:56
Speaker 1: close as he can get to Australian idol on his budget.
26:00
Speaker 1: One by one, people step into the room to audition.
26:04
Speaker 3: Some of them were dancing, some of them were singing
26:07
Speaker 3: like English songs. Some of them like Indian songs.
26:11
Speaker 1: There's just one problem.
26:12
Speaker 3: They thought they are very good singers, genuinely, but they
26:19
Speaker 3: were terrible singers.
26:21
Speaker 1: Got me Hevy lights On Gote heavy light us On,
26:39
Speaker 1: I why why His Australian Idol DVDs have taught him
26:49
Speaker 1: that terrible singing is a big part of what makes
26:51
Speaker 1: these shows great. Everyone knows the audience loves shower singers
26:56
Speaker 1: and karaoke hogs and people who think they're great because
26:59
Speaker 1: they're says they are. But as contestant after contestant walks
27:04
Speaker 1: up to the mic belting out awful sounds, that dude
27:08
Speaker 1: starts to get nervous. Where were the people you could
27:11
Speaker 1: actually root for?
27:20
Speaker 2: No no, no, no no no no no no no
27:22
Speaker 2: no no no no no no no no no no.
27:27
Speaker 1: But just when all seems lost, like the show might
27:30
Speaker 1: fail because no one here can hold a tune, a
27:33
Speaker 1: young guy steps in front of the judges.
27:37
Speaker 2: Zendiggiecausafer, Hey, you casufer.
27:48
Speaker 1: Koy some.
27:50
Speaker 2: Johnny Coy John Hey you can yes Sie the girl.
28:04
Speaker 1: And Daou thinks this is who I've been waiting for.
28:09
Speaker 7: Gooy so.
28:11
Speaker 2: Johnny goodie joy.
28:35
Speaker 1: Hey, it's John Legend If you've been listening, you already
28:38
Speaker 1: know that Afghanstar is a tale of resistance and hope.
28:43
Speaker 1: For fifteen years, Afghanstar was a beacon, but when the
28:47
Speaker 1: Taliban returned to power, they shut the show down along
28:51
Speaker 1: with so many Afghan rights. They banned music, education for
28:55
Speaker 1: girls and women, and they continue to clamp down on
28:59
Speaker 1: everyone freedoms. But there are ways to show your support.
29:04
Speaker 1: We've teamed up with AWA Studios and their incredible graphic
29:08
Speaker 1: artists to illustrate some of the most extraordinary moments in
29:12
Speaker 1: this podcast. There is a unique print for each episode,
29:17
Speaker 1: bringing to life powerful moments that are moving and inspiring,
29:22
Speaker 1: and there's an unforgettable print based on a painting from
29:26
Speaker 1: superstar artist Raza that represents the spirit of hope embodied
29:31
Speaker 1: by the show. Art and music have the power to
29:35
Speaker 1: uplift us all, and ordering a work for yourself or
29:39
Speaker 1: as a gift help support Afghans. With every purchase, we'll
29:44
Speaker 1: be donating to the Nore Initiative, a nonprofit working to
29:47
Speaker 1: ensure that every Afghan girl has access to education and opportunity.
29:55
Speaker 1: For more information on our collaboration with AWA, the artworks
29:59
Speaker 1: available to listeners and to learn more about the NORE Initiatives'
30:04
Speaker 1: efforts to educate, support independent media, and transform lives across
30:09
Speaker 1: the region. Head to the link in our show notes below,
30:17
Speaker 1: Chapter five. Shakib had.
30:37
Speaker 2: I was driving a van, you know like Uber and Lyft.
30:43
Speaker 2: While I driving, I was singing a lot and there
30:48
Speaker 2: was the passengers always saying like, oh you have a
30:51
Speaker 2: good advice.
31:00
Speaker 1: Oh no leg In the behind the scenes biographies you
31:08
Speaker 1: get about contestants on reality shows, you often hear about
31:12
Speaker 1: the feel good the way Shakib likes to dance to Bollywood,
31:16
Speaker 1: the way his favorite passenger won't get out of the
31:18
Speaker 1: car until he's done an encore. But this is not
31:22
Speaker 1: a normal reality show. This is taking place in Afghanistan.
31:31
Speaker 1: That is the picture.
31:32
Speaker 2: That's my father there.
31:35
Speaker 1: He was a peaceful person.
31:39
Speaker 2: I you gonna tell you about something, Let me smoke
31:42
Speaker 2: a sign, give me one minute.
31:48
Speaker 1: Not long ago, Shakiv's father was murdered.
31:52
Speaker 2: It's too hard if you see your father in peace,
31:56
Speaker 2: you know, like dam dum dum, dun dumb someone coming
31:59
Speaker 2: in sociding them. And the legs is somewhere, you know,
32:02
Speaker 2: the head is somewhere, the body is you.
32:05
Speaker 1: Know, like his older brother was murdered too.
32:13
Speaker 2: My brother was always playing soccer. He was crazy about soccer. Wow,
32:21
Speaker 2: during halftime, the rockets come there and you know, boom.
32:27
Speaker 1: So now Shakiv is alone in providing for his mother
32:31
Speaker 1: and sister. He thinks auditioning is a waste of time,
32:35
Speaker 1: but his mom won't take no for an answer.
32:40
Speaker 2: My mom, you know, took me there like case and
32:42
Speaker 2: don't worry.
32:43
Speaker 1: I gotta pray for you. So she drives him to
32:47
Speaker 1: the audition with his cousins in tow and watches as
32:51
Speaker 1: Shakiv is welcomed onto the stage by Daoud. Like many
32:56
Speaker 1: of the contestants, Shakiv sings a song by one of
32:59
Speaker 1: the own famous Afghan singers, Ahman Sahir a k a.
33:04
Speaker 2: The Afghan elvis Ahmazare was my favorite.
33:10
Speaker 1: As mama, as me.
33:18
Speaker 4: As me, they got me.
33:30
Speaker 2: As the matz me as mesafer me kum deblah bosi
33:44
Speaker 2: so it they got me kum.
33:50
Speaker 1: The judges like it so much they ask him to
33:53
Speaker 1: perform another.
33:55
Speaker 2: And then I sing farhad daya song mm hmm, blundyitoza
34:06
Speaker 2: javonido and they was like, make noises like that.
34:17
Speaker 3: Over to Mamo all along the.
34:25
Speaker 1: A smile spreads across his face. Shakid is a natural
34:30
Speaker 1: and with that, Afghanstar has its first real contender.
34:35
Speaker 2: When I was selected, you know, like my mom was crying.
34:39
Speaker 1: She was so happy.
34:43
Speaker 2: She was like hugging me and saying, Snai, proud of you.
34:47
Speaker 1: I I knew it.
34:48
Speaker 2: You're gonna make it.
34:57
Speaker 1: Chapter six, the race. Too many people have shown up
35:06
Speaker 1: for the audition. Daoud has hundreds of contestants on tape,
35:10
Speaker 1: but people are still queuing outside begging to be heard.
35:15
Speaker 1: Before long, Dawood has to reverse course. All the advertisements
35:20
Speaker 1: telling people to come an audition are pulled from TV
35:23
Speaker 1: and radio and they're replaced with the opposite.
35:28
Speaker 3: And we made I advertise to people that please don't come.
35:34
Speaker 3: The show is finished, the recording is done, Please don't
35:37
Speaker 3: come to this area.
35:40
Speaker 1: Dawoud feels good about his recordings. He has all the
35:43
Speaker 1: tape he needs, but now he's got an even bigger
35:47
Speaker 1: task editing. The first episode is airing in just a
35:51
Speaker 1: few days now.
35:53
Speaker 3: I have like tons of footage in front of me
35:57
Speaker 3: and I need to make a show from this. A
36:00
Speaker 3: huge responsibility. Oh my god, I have like a mountain
36:05
Speaker 3: on my shoulders.
36:07
Speaker 1: And right now that mountain is looking. Mount ever is tall.
36:12
Speaker 1: Remember this is two thousand and five, so before they
36:15
Speaker 1: can edit anything, they need to transfer the footage to
36:18
Speaker 1: their computers. And these aren't high tech machines. They're doing
36:21
Speaker 1: this on a shoe string, so it takes them two
36:24
Speaker 1: full days. Time is slipping away. That wood is frantically editing.
36:30
Speaker 1: He doesn't even have time for sleep.
36:33
Speaker 3: And nine pm we need to have a show on
36:37
Speaker 3: air because we already advertised Afgne Star Show is coming.
36:41
Speaker 1: But it's eleven am and only half of the show
36:44
Speaker 1: is rending.
36:45
Speaker 3: I have the bit stress. I have like working under
36:48
Speaker 3: the hardest stress in my life at that moment, especially
36:53
Speaker 3: after twelve o'clock, when whenever the time is getting close,
36:57
Speaker 3: my dispressure goes up.
37:01
Speaker 1: After a few hours, thou would starts to relax, but
37:08
Speaker 1: then he realizes he's missing something.
37:12
Speaker 3: Where is the beginning and end of the show? My god,
37:15
Speaker 3: I don't have announcement to say, Hi, welcome to afghanist
37:18
Speaker 3: Our show. I am the Ouzedigree. This is the first time.
37:22
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for watching.
37:24
Speaker 1: In the chaos of the auditions, they forgot to record
37:27
Speaker 1: an intro.
37:28
Speaker 3: Like I have two three hours to the show. Being aired,
37:34
Speaker 3: but slowly, slowly getting darker. And it's Friday that most
37:37
Speaker 3: of our colleagues left the office.
37:40
Speaker 1: That gets up from his desk and starts running around
37:43
Speaker 1: the office looking for someone to help. But everyone who
37:46
Speaker 1: knows how to operate a camera has gone home except
37:49
Speaker 1: for one guy, a cameraman who works for the news team.
37:53
Speaker 3: Okay, ask him, you need to come with me. He
37:55
Speaker 3: was not interested. They need to talk to my manager.
37:58
Speaker 3: I said, just take your camera.
38:01
Speaker 1: You're Mike.
38:02
Speaker 3: Come with me, please.
38:04
Speaker 1: That would cannot believe he's wasting the last minutes of
38:07
Speaker 1: daylight trying to persuade this guy to roll some film.
38:10
Speaker 3: We drove to this hotel again, but that would needs.
38:15
Speaker 1: The opener to be stylish, so he makes a pit
38:17
Speaker 1: stop at a nearby music store.
38:19
Speaker 3: I got one of the guitars in my shoulder. I
38:22
Speaker 3: kind of make a style for myself for the first show,
38:25
Speaker 3: and I basically recorded my introduction in this hotel. Run
38:31
Speaker 3: back to Tolo TV and put it in front.
38:33
Speaker 2: Of the show.
38:39
Speaker 1: The show is airing at nine PM, and now at
38:42
Speaker 1: two minutes before nine, they only have the first twelve
38:45
Speaker 1: minutes lined up and ready to go.
38:47
Speaker 3: I'm running between the control room and the editor like,
38:51
Speaker 3: or you finish, please export, please.
38:52
Speaker 1: But the computers are moving too slowly. Part two of
38:56
Speaker 1: the show isn't ready and the ads are almost over.
39:00
Speaker 1: Is racing between rooms begging people to just export whatever
39:03
Speaker 1: they have.
39:04
Speaker 3: We put some extra advertisement to give us a little
39:07
Speaker 3: bit of time.
39:08
Speaker 1: They start patting the show with extra ads to give
39:11
Speaker 1: them cushion. Part two is ready, it goes on air,
39:14
Speaker 1: but Part three is so far behind, so they play
39:17
Speaker 1: more commercials. They do that over and over again. Daoud's
39:22
Speaker 1: blood pressure is through the roof.
39:24
Speaker 3: Basically, I run from the control room and edit room
39:28
Speaker 3: for the entire show, and the show was aired, and
39:33
Speaker 3: I'm exhausted, so I don't care about anything right now.
39:43
Speaker 3: I just delivered the show. It's fine. I didn't see
39:45
Speaker 3: the show. I don't know what it looks like, how
39:48
Speaker 3: it feels like, what it is. I put something on.
39:51
Speaker 1: Air, and as you know, thou doesn't stick around to watch.
40:09
Speaker 1: He needs to go to bed, so it won't be
40:14
Speaker 1: until morning that he turns on his car radio and
40:17
Speaker 1: finds out the show he just aired has kicked off
40:22
Speaker 1: a revolution.
40:33
Speaker 8: It was something new like never before in the history
40:36
Speaker 8: of Afghanistan.
40:38
Speaker 3: Moving a visor from one house to another house. It
40:42
Speaker 3: was kind of like moving a truck full of drugs.
40:46
Speaker 9: I think it was called Devil's Star by some people.
40:49
Speaker 5: They actually said that my head should be cut off,
40:54
Speaker 5: and whoever that cuts off my head and brings it
40:56
Speaker 5: to them, they will go to heaven.
41:00
Speaker 1: That's this season on Afghanis Stars.
41:05
Speaker 4: Asma John Name done by Your de What do Gilia?
41:36
Speaker 1: Afghanistar is a Kaleidoscope production in collaboration with iHeart Podcasts,
41:42
Speaker 1: produced by samas dot Audio and hosted by me John
41:46
Speaker 1: Legend from samas dot Audio. The series producer is Mira Kumar.
41:52
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Joe Sykes and Dasha Listitsina. Mix
42:01
Speaker 1: and sound designed by Jeff Imptman, Story editing by Joe Sikes,
42:08
Speaker 1: with original composition by Kyle Murdoch, Recording engineer Tim McClain.
42:16
Speaker 1: Chapter artwork by A W A Studios Ramushamony from Kaleidoscope.
42:24
Speaker 1: The executive producers are Kate Osborne, Mengesh Hatikadur Oz Volisian
42:29
Speaker 1: and Costas Linos from iHeart. The executive producers are Ali
42:34
Speaker 1: Perry and Katrina Norbel. Social Media by Dara Potts and
42:39
Speaker 1: Vaheeny Shoori Special Thanks to Tom Freston, Lizzie Jacobs, Will Pearson,
42:50
Speaker 1: Carrie Lieberman, Nikki Etore, Bob Pittman, John Sykes, con O
42:55
Speaker 1: Byrne Sad Mussenni and the Moussenni family, Matthew Anderson, an
43:00
Speaker 1: Axo Alonso, whoa, oh, thank you