This episode of radio-lab continues on last week’s exploration on square dancing and it’s cultural influence and it’s history. This week they focus on country music and the surprising cultural reach it has had. They focus on the effect that country music and western music has had on the middle east, specifically Afghanistan and even more specifically the artist Ahmad Zahid. I iked the tone of this episode a lot more than the previous one. It feels more light-hearted and optimistic. Music is something that connects people all around the world and is a way that we express love, sadness, happiness, heartbreak, and everything in-between it really is a magical thing and I’m glad that they went with a happy tone to help convey that. Typically in mainstream media the middle east is painted impoverished and third-world but in this podcast they really do paint a very modern picture of Afghanistan. Right at the start o the podcast they talk about why country music is popular in the first place and the reason is that feeling of something lost. After modernization the loss of the feeling of country and a rural lifestyle where things are simpler. This really helps to show that Afghanistan was not third world and was very modern through association with the popularity of country music there. Their choice to focus in on Ahmad Zahir’s music specifically was also a really good choice in my opinion as this allows them to talk more concretely about the effects that music can have on a society. When an artist is so ubiquitous that the artist is universally loved this really does significantly impact a society. In Seattle grunge music is associated with the early 90s, music becomes a way that we distinguish time periods and movements and focusing on Ahmad Zahir pulls the focus to the cultural revolution that was about to hit Afghanistan. Another thing they do really well is pulling away from the music when they talk about the death of Ahmad Zahir, they keep the good vibes in the portion where they talk specifically about the music and the effect it had, when they move towards the political side of the discussion the tone has a notable shift and there is a musical queue that actually denotes this when they begin talking about Ahmad’s death. On a semi-related note when they talk about the connotation of western music specifically American country music and how the world perceives American culture. It used to mean progressive, happy, and culturally enlightened. It’s interesting to see how that perception has changed so drastically in recent years. When the hosts talk about the way America was back then it sounds nostalgic and it makes sense because now when you say American to the rest of the world we are associated with whatever the president has said or done. America was never perfect, in the midst of the civil rights movement the world saw us as still progressive it’s interesting to see exactly what will cause a shift in the way a country is perceived especially with the internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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