One of the lesser noticed side-effects of war and violence is the immeasurable loss to humanity and to a nation’s sense of identity when its art treasures and cultural traditions are destroyed. In Afghanistan, for example, great buildings and sculptures were wantonly destroyed, the Taliban imposed a radical ban on music, and 70,000 works of art were looted from the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul.
In this part of The State We’re In, we look at how Afghanistan is trying to recover from this immense loss of memory and pride. We hear from well-known world music expert Simon Broughton, young filmmaker Lida Abdul, Jolyon Leslie of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the director of the Afghan National Museum Omar, Khan Massoudi.
Presenter: Jonathan Groubert
Broadcast: March 29, 2008