Keeping aside the discourse created against the conduct of Bavarain music concert by Zubin Mehta in Shalimar garden and the stubbornness of the organizers and the state Government, the common Kashmiri seemed unrelated and unmoved, except for the sacrifice of a day of their work that again is no new thing.

Now that the show is over and the cavalcade of BMW’s and charted planes have gone for good, is there anything for our collective mind to contemplate over. Should it be understood as yet another face of oppression and pity ourselves of being helpless against the mighty Indian state and push it deep down into our collective amnesiac memory.

Whether the sounds created by Zubin and his associates sound music or noise to the local ears, the fact of the matter is that music like other forms of artistic expression has been fundamental to the collective life of groups of people throughout the history.

Kashmir has its own tradition of music and other forms of art involving vocal and instrumental sounds. Chakir, Dastaan, Ladishah, Bandipiathir, Nendi Biath to name a few are the traditional art forms that are fast getting disconnected with our collective lives. If Chakir would provide the sama for the gnosis of God, Dastaan would elevate the story lovers’ imagination. Ladishah and Bandipiathir are reflective of our own social evils presented in the form of satire and jest. For the men and women working in the paddy fields, Nendi Biath would invigorate their resilience. By treating them unfairly, the society has unfortunately stigmatized the artists and art forms. Family names associated with these art forms are placed in the lowest strata of our social hierarchy. To sustain themselves, these artists are abandoning the family calling to earn a decent living.

Lately the valley witnessed the rise of a whole brigade of young rappers, many of whom were inspired by the Junoon band that performed here some years back. These rappers have taken to themes of oppression, particularly the incidents of 2008 and 2010 leading to the death of hundreds of innocent boys.  But the bias of the sate in matters of music as well forced many of these to go underground to evade arrest. For fear of police action, no local studio allows these budding artists to record their albums. The state should shun these double standards to allow art forms of all shades to grow.

No doubt, the concert was thrust upon us, but we have no right to reject somebody else’s music as a form of art, when we haven’t been able to preserve our own musical heritage. The concert should be enough motivation for us to start mobilizing our own artists and art forms for the expression of what we want. Rather than rejecting art forms like Bandi Piathir, our youth should adopt it for presenting to the world what we have been through. Why can’t Dastaan, a form of storytelling accompanying vocal and instrumental music, be used to present to the world what happened in Kunanposhpora.

By reviving our own art forms, it is not impossible to hold concerts anywhere on the surface of Globe to tell other people stories of our own people.

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