Pashtun Nationalism - Culture - Media and Arts

Media and Arts

Further information: Pashto media, Pashto music, and Pollywood

Pashto media outlets play a major role in the everyday life of Pashtuns. A number of Pashto TV channels are available in the Pashtun regions, which also broadcast internationally. One of the leading ones is the Pakistan-based AVT Khyber, which helps promote Pashtun culture with their daily programs. Pashtuns around the world are informed about issues in their region and amused with their entertaining shows, such as the show with Amanullah Kaker which is based on educating viewers by using messages in Pashto poetry. Others are Shamshad TV, Radio Television Afghanistan, and Lemar TV, which has a special children's show called Baghch-e-Simsim that is based on the American Sesame Street. International news sources that provide Pashto programs include BBC and Voice of America.

Other modern Pashtun media include an established Pashto-language film and television industry that is based in Pakistan. Producers based in Peshawar have created Pashto-language films since the 1970s. Pashto films were once popular, but have declined both commercially and critically in recent years. Past films such as Yusuf Khan Sherbano dealt with serious subject matter, traditional stories, and legends. Pashtun lifestyle and issues have been raised by Western and Pashtun expatriate film-makers in recent years. One such film is In This World by British film-maker Michael Winterbottom, which chronicles the struggles of two Afghan youths who leave their refugee camps in Pakistan and try to move to the United Kingdom in search of a better life. Another is the British mini-series Traffik, re-made as the American film Traffic, which featured a Pashtun man (played by Jamal Shah) struggling to survive in a world with few opportunities outside the drug trade. The Kite Runner is a Hollywood film based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini, which narrates the story of Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is tormented by the guilt of abandoning his friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant.

Pashtun performers remain avid participants in various physical forms of expression including dance, sword fighting, and other physical feats. Perhaps the most common form of artistic expression can be seen in the various forms of Pashtun dances. One of the most prominent dances is Attan, which has ancient roots. A rigorous exercise, Attan is performed as musicians play various native instruments including the dhol (drums), tablas (percussions), rubab (a bowed string instrument), and toola (wooden flute). With a rapid circular motion, dancers perform until no one is left dancing, similar to Sufi whirling dervishes. Numerous other dances are affiliated with various tribes notably from Pakistan including the Khattak Wal Atanrh (eponymously named after the Khattak tribe), Mahsood Wal Atanrh (which, in modern times, involves the juggling of loaded rifles), and Waziro Atanrh among others. A sub-type of the Khattak Wal Atanrh known as the Braghoni involves the use of up to three swords and requires great skill. Young women and girls often entertain at weddings with the Tumbal (tambourine).

Traditional Pashtun music has ties to Klasik (traditional Afghan music heavily inspired by Hindustani classical music), Iranian musical traditions, and other various forms found in South Asia. Popular forms include the ghazal (sung poetry) and Sufi qawwali music. Themes revolve around love and religious introspection. Modern Pashto music is centred around the city of Peshawar, and tends to combine indigenous techniques and instruments with Iranian-inspired Persian music and Indian Filmi music prominent in Bollywood. Some well known Pashto singers include Nashenas, Ubaidullah Jan, Sardar Ali Takkar, Naghma, Rahim Shah, Farhad Darya, Nazia Iqbal, Ghazala Javed, and a number of others.