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A soap opera, daytime drama, or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns.
The Archers is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural setting". Having aired over 20,000 episodes, it is the world's longest-running present-day drama by number of episodes.
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story: "It is auditory in the physical dimension but equally powerful as a visual force in the psychological dimension." Radio drama includes plays specifically written for radio, docudrama, dramatized works of fiction, as well as plays originally written for the theatre, including musical theatre, and opera.
The music of Afghanistan comprises many varieties of classical music, folk music, and modern popular music. Afghanistan has a rich musical heritage and features a mix of Persian melodies, Indian compositional principles, and sounds from ethnic groups such as the Pashtuns, Tajiks and Hazaras. Instruments used range from Indian tablas to long-necked lutes. Afghanistan's classical music is closely related to Hindustani classical music while sourcing much of its lyrics directly from classical Persian poetry such as Mawlana Balkhi (Rumi) and the Iranian tradition indigenous to central Asia. Lyrics throughout most of Afghanistan are typically in Dari (Persian) and Pashto. The multi-ethnic city of Kabul has long been the regional cultural capital, but outsiders have tended to focus on the city of Herat, which is home to traditions more closely related to Iranian music than in the rest of the country.
Indian television dramas are dramatic television programs written, produced, and filmed in India, with characters played by Indian actors and episodes broadcast on Indian televisions.
The Pashto media includes Pashto literature, Pashto-language newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations, as well as Pashto films and Pashto internet. Pashto media involves the Pashtuns of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Pashtun diaspora around the world.
Sally Anne Wainwright is an English television writer, producer, and director. She is known for her dramas, which are often set in West Yorkshire, where she originates from, and feature "strong female characters". Wainwright has been praised for the quality of her dialogue.
TOLO is a commercial television station operated by MOBY Group in Afghanistan. Launched in 2004, it became one of the first commercial stations in the country and laid the foundation for an accessible media outlet by offering a large library of shows. It is one of the most popular television channels in Afghanistan and broadcasts shows in both Dari-Persian and Pashto.
Saad Mohseni is an Afghan Australian businessman and entrepreneur. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of MOBY Group, launched in Afghanistan in 2002 and now active across South and Central Asia and the Middle East. He has brought top tier news and media content to emerging and frontier markets over the past two decades. Prior to establishing MOBY Group, he headed the equities and corporate finance division of an Australian investment banking firm.
Shamshad Media Network is based in Afghanistan and Dubai. Shamshad Media Network is a private and an independent network based in Afghanistan, which began transmission in 2005.
The mass media in Afghanistan is monitored by the Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC), and includes broadcasting, digital and printing. It is mainly in Dari and Pashto, the official languages of the nation. It was reported in 2019 that Afghanistan had over 107 TV stations and 284 radio stations, including 100s of print media and over 1,800 online media outlets. After the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in 2021, there was a concern that the mass media will significantly decrease in the country. The number of digital media outlets is steadily increasing with the help of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and other such online platforms. IEA's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid suggested that the media should be in line with Sharia and national interests.
Zabihullah Mujahid is an Afghan official serving as the chief spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) since 25 October 2021 and Deputy Minister of Information and Culture since 7 September 2021. He has long served as one of several spokesmen for the Taliban, the others being Suhail Shaheen and Yousef Ahmadi. Mujahid commented mainly on the Taliban's activities in eastern, northern, and central Afghanistan, while Ahmadi focused on the western and southern regions. In addition to being the government's main spokesman, Mujahid serves as a personal spokesman for Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Since the 2001 fall of their national government in Afghanistan, Taliban propaganda has developed into a sophisticated public relations machine that is shaping perceptions in Afghanistan and abroad. Although polls show the movement remains unpopular, the insurgents have readily exploited a sense of growing alienation fostered by years of broken government promises, official corruption, and the rising death toll among civilians from airstrikes and other military actions. "The result is weakening public support for nation-building, even though few actively support the Taliban," says a report from the International Crisis Group, a think tank that monitors conflicts. An American official in Afghanistan agrees: "We cannot afford to be passive [communicators] any longer if we're going to turn this around."
John Mohammed Butt is an Islamic scholar and broadcaster, known as the first Westerner to graduate from Darul Uloom Deoband.
Television broadcasts in Afghanistan started in the year 1978. As of 2017, there are around 76 local channels operating in the country; the state television channel is Afghanistan National Television. As with other mass media in Afghanistan, television is regulated by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
Aryana Sayeed is an Afghan pop singer and songwriter. She sings mostly in Dari but also has many songs in Pashto and some in Uzbek. Sayeed also had hosting roles in musical television shows for the 1TV and TOLO networks along with appearances on reality shows. Sayeed has established herself as one of Afghanistan's most famous contemporary musical artists, performing regularly in concerts and philanthropic festivals within and outside Afghanistan.
BBC Pashto is the Pashto-language station of the BBC World Service. It was launched in August 1981, and reaches out to the over 50-60 million Pashto speakers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the Pashtun diaspora around the world. Nabi Misdaq was its first editor.
Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, also spelled Haibatullah Akhunzada, is an Afghan Deobandi Islamic scholar, cleric, and jurist who is the supreme leader of Afghanistan. He has led the Taliban since 2016, and came to power with its victory over U.S.-backed forces in the 2001–2021 war. A highly reclusive figure, he has almost no digital footprint except for an unverified photograph and several audio recordings of speeches.
"This Is the Home of the Brave" is a Pashto-language nasheed and the national anthem of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It is an a cappella song, meaning that it does not contain musical instruments, as instruments are considered haram by the Taliban. This Nasheed is based on the communist era song "Da De Azadi Khawra".
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Afghan Archers: how radio soap opera won hearts and minds". The Independent. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
- 1 2 "New Home, New Life..." ABC Radio National. 17 November 2001. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
- 1 2 3 "Farewell to an Afghan legend: A tribute to radio actor Mehrali Watandost". Afghanistan Analysts Network - English (in Pashto). 18 January 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2023.