Sultry pop singer upstages Afghan Independence Day celebration

Aryana Sayeed in Kabul, Afghanistan, on independence day. Photo / AP

By Pamela Constable and Sayed Salahuddin

Independence Day is one of the few Afghan holidays free of political or ethnic tension, celebrated every August 19 with patriotic speeches and caravans of vehicles draped in Afghan flags.

In recent years there have been threats of insurgent violence on this day. But there has never been a bombshell like Aryana Sayeed.

The sultry, Afghan-born pop singer-songwriter, who lives in London, is known for her skintight costumes. She has had several hit songs in Afghan Dari and appeared as a host and judge on Afghan TV shows. Most Afghans have only seen her perform via social media and YouTube. A recent televised concert in Paris, at which she wore a nude-toned dress, drew shocked opprobrium from conservative Afghans. She burned the dress and declared it was not because of "pressure from those who still live in dark ages, but to raise further awareness of important issues in our society".

Yesterday, she gave a live concert in Kabul, in a ballroom at the heavily guarded Intercontinental Hotel.

Sayeed has become a lightning rod for the cultural and generational cleavages roiling this traditional Muslim society as it emerges from decades of war and isolation into the alluring glare of modern life and freedoms, amplified and accelerated by the Internet.

She is every young man's fantasy, many young woman's inspiration, and every cleric's nightmare.

Afghan social media has churned with impassioned debate over Sayeed. "She isn't just a singer, she is a revolutionary," posted Habib Khan on Facebook. "This courageous Afghan woman stands against the clergymen to defend her freedom."

But others said she was trying to impose Western democracy on Afghan tradition. Sana Sofia Nabizadeh posted it was better Sayeed "not promote prostitution". Naser Ali said: "She is an icon of cultural glasnost. If only she could observe the hijab during public appearances."