Parvaaz

Kashmir is known for its beautiful mountains, camping spots shawls and handicrafts.

However, many people are unaware about Kashmiri poetry and music. In Kashmir music is a

traditional culture, music is played almost everywhere in shops wedding events although

Kashmir is a Muslim populated state music is still in their culture. Even today Kashmiri

music reflects on the rich heritage and culture legacy of Kashmir. Due to Kashmirs close

proximity to regions like South, Central and Eastern Asia Kashmiri music has a blend to all

three regions. However the closest influence is to the central Asia region. Kashmiri music

also has three different subgroups within those are the ladakhi, Kashmiri and Jammu folk

music. Till the late 80s Kashmiri folk music was very popular. However now its a lost art as

not many people can sing Kashmiri and play the traditional santoor musical instrument.

However this was bought back in 2010 when a Kashmiri band called Parvaaz was formed.

They eventually became known as the biggest and the best Kashmiri band.

Now due to the formation of a Parvaaz Kashmiri music is back. Additonally Parvaaz has

started to bring back its rich cultural lyrics but the music of Parvaaz has introduced a better

element. Parvaaz has tried to join Kashmiri lyrics with the modern music such as rock, hip

hop and edm. Some of the biggest qualities that Parvaaz include for is its use of Kashmiri

instruments in modern day music tracks, The lyrics of the songs that any modern day

Kashmiri kid can relate to and also the voice texture of the vocalist singer Khalid Ahmed.

There are many Kashmiri band that try to do the same music that Parvaaz tries to do but they

are just untouchable.

Parvaaz have effectiviely mixed the Kashmiri culture with edm and rock. The lyirics they use

mostly talk about the struggles of being a Kashmiri and living in Kashmir. They explicity
explain the current situation of what injustice is happening in Kashmir of how Kashmir is

being oppressed by the enemy of the world which they refer to as India and also talk about

how unsafe it is for children to wak down the roads of Kashmir because they are in fear of

getting caught by the police and put in jail in an unknown location for no wrongdoing

whatsoever. Additionally Parvaaz has also made Kashmiri lyrics for a womens right

campaing that was going on in Kashmir. In this song Parvaaz talk about Kashmir ebing the

safest place in the world for women and the amount of rights a Kahsmiri woman gets is

nowhere in the world. Additionally Parvaaz also uses rhetorical language in their songs to

make people think about the songs deeply and imagine what it means. I think this is one of

the best qualities of good lyrics.

`the first song they released Baran means rain in Urdu is without a doubt an impressive effort.

The strong is stuck on your head like raindrops from the sky.

Parvaaz started out with experimenting with different genres that include Ustad nusrta fateh

ali khan, ZeppelinNow, with the constant unfolding of music their interests keep widening

and that adds to the music they perform.

The bands idea of making music is to enjoy the music. They love to make music that keeps

them happy and that happiness keeps them inspired to do more, just like it says in the song

DilKhush, their single which came out in 2011.

The musicians are self-taught. They have reportedly said that they learnt from their

surroundings, the people in college, friends and most importantly from their mistakes.

Mistake were the biggest teachers! According to them they are part and parcel of ones life

and we all learn from them.

The band is currently in Bangalore from where it travels to other places to perform gigs and

shows. They have performed in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Goa, Cochin, Nagpur, Ahmedabad.

Not too distant in the future Parvaaz plans to climb up north to perform its first gig in

Srinagar, hopefully on New Years. The band has also played in the Emerge festival where

they opened for Alt-J, a band based in the United Kingdom.