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