Afghanistan mourns pop singer killed in Canada Mother's Day scuffle

Afghanistan mourns pop singer killed in Canada Mother's Day scuffle
11.05.2005 Afghanistan, where music was once banned by the harsh Taliban regime, mourned for native pop singer Nasrat Parsa after he was killed in a post-concert attack in Canada.

Parsa was one of a host of Afghan performers who sought a better life abroad as their homeland was ravaged by a quarter-century of anti-Soviet warfare, civil conflict and fundamentalist Islamic rule.

But he remained popular in Afghanistan, whose poverty-stricken young people have few other pleasures than music and movies, and the 36-year-old's death was described as a big loss for Afghan art and culture.

"Singers are the moral property of a society," Gholam Mohamed Yosufzai, the acting deputy minister of information, culture and tourism, told AFP. "We are saddened and deeply touched by this unfortunate incident."

Parsa was punched and fell down a flight of stairs in a scuffle following the last stop of a Canadian concert tour at Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Sunday, held to mark Mother's Day.

He dropped into a coma and died in hospital a few hours later. His two brothers, Najeeb and Ahsan Parsa, witnessed the attack, Canadian police said.

"The death of Parsa on Mother's Day must have been heart-shocking news for his mother and family," said Salim Alim, 26, who sells CDs and music cassettes in Kabul. "But it is indeed shocking news for all his fans and for me as well.

The minister said: "May God grant patience to his mother and relatives".

Parsa was born in Kabul and raised in a musical family. At 12, soon after Soviet tanks first rolled into Afghanistan, he moved with his family to Pakistan, then to India before finally settling in Germany.

He became one of Afghanistan's top recording stars, making 10 albums and performing around the world, including in Australia, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Many other Afghan singers and musicians left the country after the Taliban rose to power. The hardliners considered it un-Islamic to sing or play musical instruments, and people were also punished for listening.

More than three years after the Taliban were ousted by a coalition of US-led forces and Afghan warlords, most of the music available in Afghan markets is still by local singers who live in Europe or the United States.

However, a year ago Afghanistan's most popular crooner, Farhad Darya, returned from years in exile to stage a concert in Kabul stadium, once used by the Taliban as an execution site.

"Everyone will be saddened by the death of someone like Parsa, who could bring cheer and joy with his singing skills to people who have suffered for decades," said Abadullah Abad, 33, a World Food Program doctor in Afghanistan.

Homayon Amiri, 28, a property agent, said: "I heard of his death on the radio and it is sad news. He could make Afghans overseas remember their country with his songs."

Guerrillas loyal to the Taliban continue to wage a bloody revolt against government and US-led forces. More than 100 people have died in a recent surge of violence.

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