Burka Band

The Burka Band claim to be Afghanistan's first girl group. My initial reaction to seeing this video was that it was an elaborate hoax: a bunch of Williamsburg kids in bed sheets but the background city scapes looked pretty real. A little googling reveals that this video was actually done in 2003 (well before the youtube era) and, as is usually the case when searching for information about obscure bands, it turns out that WFMU has been playing them for years. Who knew?

According to this article:

Nargiz started the Burka Band when she met a German music producer in Kabul in late 2002. The producer was teaching Afghans to play modern music, and Nargiz learned to play the drums. One day she wondered why all the burkas in Kabul were blue, and together with two friends she wrote the song "Burka Blue" which is about burkas and the way you feel when you wear them...

"Of course it was a joke to sing in the burkas, but it was also necessary to wear them. If people in Afghanistan knew who the members of the Burka Band were, we could be attacked or killed because there are still a lot of religious fanatics here", says Nargiz, who hasn't told any of her friends that she has played in the Burka Band.

As far as I can tell this is their only single and it was released by the German label Ata Tak home to station faves like Pyrolator. More on the Burka Band here. (found via hisamichi58)

This all reminded me of the following old internet chestnut: the burka license (though I've edited out the last name and address). Not sure if it's real or not but I like the choice of "hidden" as the eye color.

Comments

[seanh]

Great post, I'd never heard of the group before. While some of the setting is pretty convincing, I find it nearly impossible to believe this is legit. In fact, the music sounds suspiciously like Super Alisa's work. I don't know much about Super Alisa, except she's a Russian based electro artist that enjoys generous doses of ironic, ethnic nostalgia. In one video, she portrays herself as a Soviet-era pop star, acid washed jeans, crimped hair in a kickass sideways ponytail, dripping with kitsch. It comes off as pretty authentic, oddly alluring, and about as cutting edge (intentionally) as the Soviet Zaporozhets. In another "concert video", she dons an equally bizarre costume, looking something like a Middle Eastern princess covering Kraftwerk for her Super Sweet 16 Party on Saudi MTV. For "Robot Vodyanoy", Super Alisa fills a few more Russian stereotypes, a clog-wearing agrarian groovemaster and ghetto-tough Russian diva showing her sensitive side (or something).

Obviously, the music is pretty similar, but that's not especially surprising considering the Burka Babe's blend of electro-cheese is a pretty familiar sound. The vocals aren't exactly a convincing match, but I've chosen to believe my theory anyway.

[Scott Anger]

i seem to recall this being outed as a hoax. the folks at ata tak cooked the whole thing up. i remember a friend sending me an MP3 around the same time this video was made. it's probably still on the old mac at my parents' house. still, interesting to see them crop up again.

[Doctor_gogol]

WOW! They make the Shaggs seem like Beethoven

[dahood]

no, this is not a hoax. The two guys from Atatak, Kurt Dahlke aka Pyrolator and Frank Fenstermacher got an invitation from the Goethe-Institute to stage a "Pop-Music"-Workshop in Kabul. They were joined by Saskia von Klitzing, with whom they play in the famous german group Fehlfarben. In Kabul they recorded the song and the video. It was all done in secrecy because the afghan musicians feared some attacks after making fun of burkas. But they staged a concert there protected by soldiers from the international corps over there.

The singer of the Burka Band then came to Germany and they played at the Pop.Komm-Festival in the summer opening up for Fehlfarben and Blumfeld.

[Frank]

Of course this is a hoax. There's no such thing as a "burka". You expect me to believe that there's a culture that advocates women wearing portable tents and being aggresively un-sexy? Next thing, you'll be telling me that there are men who make whopee with other men...preposterous!

[USpace]

.
Great stuff, I hope they are safe and keep making music.
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
rock and roll is evil

it's the devil's best music
and dancing to it is sin

.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe hates
infidel songs...

people listen to music
one by one we learn more truths

http://twitter.com/USpace123
.

[0gre]

UPDATE:

Alas, Burka Band is no more. The following is an excerpt
from freemuse.org:

"The Burka Band never performed in Afghanistan, but during
a trip to Germany they performed at a big concert in Cologne.
Unfortunately, Nargiz couldn't join the band in Cologne
because she had to work, but she followed the events from her
home in Kabul.

At the moment the band is no longer active. Nargiz would like
to play again, but for the moment it is simply not possible.
“It will probably take 10 years before we will have real girl
bands here in Afghanistan,” says Nargiz.

The lead singer of the Burka Band has moved to Pakistan because
she can't live as a singer in Afghanistan, and the guitarist has
a regular job.

So, the only way you can currently experience the Burka Band is
through video. On film, the first and only Afghan girl band lives
on, with their headphones over their burka-covered heads and the
drumsticks swinging."

http://www.freemuse.org/sw10902.asp