The participation of Afghanistan in the ABU TV Song Festival has occurred six times since the inaugural

ABU TV Song Festival The ABU TV Song Festival is an annual non-competitive gala that showcases songs or instrumentals by musicians across Asia, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). Participating countries which have full or additional full ABU mem ...

began in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. Since their début in 2012, the Afghan entry has been organised by the national broadcaster

Radio Television Afghanistan National Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA; ps, ''Da Afġanistan Mīlī Radīo Telvizoon'', fa, ''Rādīo Telvizoon-e Mīlī-e Afġānestān'', branded as ملی (meaning ''national'')) is the public-broadcasting organization of Afghanista ...

(RTA). In

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, Afghanistan withdrew from the festival. Ariana Television Network (ATN) took over from organising the nation's entry since the announcement of their return to the

ABU TV Song Festival 2015 The ABU TV Song Festival 2015 was the fourth annual edition of the ABU TV Song Festivals. The event, which is non-competitive, took place in Istanbul, Turkey and coinciding with the 52nd General Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union ...

. In

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Afghanistan withdrew from the festival.

History

RTA was one of the founder members at the inaugural ABU TV Song Festivals, and have participated twice since their début in 2012. Hameed Sakhizada represented Afghanistan in 2012, with the song "Folk Music (Malestani)", performed in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Afghanistan took part again in

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with the song "Ma Ba Tu'em (Sobh E Abadi)", performed by Shahzad Adeel. At the

ABU TV Song Festival 2014 The ABU TV Song Festival 2014 was the third annual edition of the ABU TV Song Festival. The festival, which is non-competitive, took place on the 25 October 2014 at Sands Theatre in Macau and coinciding with the 51st General Assembly of the As ...

, Afghanistan was not present on the final participation list that was published, with the reasons for withdrawal never being made public. On 19 August 2015 it was announced that Afghanistan would return to the

, with a change of broadcaster,

Ariana Television Network Ariana Television Network (ATN) (Dari/Pashto: ) is a private television network based in Kabul, Afghanistan. The channel was launched by Afghan-American Ehsan Bayat (owner of Afghan Wireless Communication Company) in 2005 and started broadcastin ...

(ATN), being in charge of organising the Afghan entry. On 13 September 2015 it was announced that Mozhdah would be representing Afghanistan with the song "Hamsafar", on 20 September it was announced that Mozhdah would change her song. On 23 September it was announced that her new song would be "Ghoroore Tu, Shikaste Ma".

Participation overview

Notes : 1.Specifically

Hazaragi Hazaragi ( fa, , Həzārəgī; haz, , links=no, Āzərəgī) is an eastern dialect of Persian that is spoken by the Hazara people, primarily in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, as well as other Hazara-populated areas of Afghanist ...

, a

dialect spoken in

Hazarajat Hazaristan ( fa, هزارستان, Hazāristān), or Hazarajat ( fa, هزاره‌جات, Hazārajāt) is a mostly mountainous region in the central highlands of Afghanistan, among the Koh-i-Baba mountains in the western extremities of the ...

, in central Afghanistan.

References

{{ABU TV Song Festival Countries at the ABU Song Festival