Uniqueness of Kashmiri music can be described with its sonic identity: Aabha Hanjura

Aabha Hanjura recently released two singles from her upcoming EP called ‘Sahibo’ and ‘Kale Rang Da Parinda’. Photo Courtesy: By Special Arrangement

If you loved the song 'HukusBukus' in the Manoj Bajpayee-starrer 'The Family Man', you certainly love Kashmiri singer Aabha Hanjura's voice. The singer's melodious voice is hypnotic and her music will make you hum long after you've listened to it on any day. In fact, Hanjura's music can also be heard in the film, ‘No Father's in Kashmir' made by Oscar-nominated director Ashwin Kumar.

The Bengaluru-based folk singer-songwriter shot to fame as the finalist in Indian Idol 3 and has been only getting better at her craft since then. Hanjura has only recently released two singles from her upcoming EP called ‘Sahibo' and ‘Kale Rang Da Parinda'. While she pays tribute to her homeland in one, the other is an upbeat Punjabi folk song that she has experimented with for this EP along with other songs.

In an interview with Mid-day Online, Hanjura talks about her latest music, the effect of the pandemic on her life and how she sees Kashmiri folk music being accepted in the country. The Kashmiri singer-songwriter also talks about the uniqueness of Kashmiri music and regional languages, using music as a medium for dialogue and more.

Here are edited excerpts:

You recently released two songs as a part of your upcoming EP, ‘Sufistication Folk Sessions', which has multilingual songs from different parts of north India. Why did you decide to explore songs in languages beyond Kashmiri language?

Well, I had been meaning to release more music in different languages. I have been performing this music live with my band, Sufistication in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi and Dogri also. So, it was always a part of our live repertoire, but I had never really put it out because my first album ‘Sound of Kashmir' was largely full of Kashmiri music. So, this is something that was always in the making. I've always believed in broadening my horizons as an artistes. So, that's why these new languages and then there will be some more music and new languages in this EP as well.

Beyond Hindi, what role do listening to songs in regional Indian languages play for listeners today? As an indie artiste, have you seen a change over the years since you first started?

Regional Indian languages have really broadened the linguistic boundaries for people in India overall because it's a diverse country. We are basically many countries in one country - that is the way culture is diversified. So, through music people really get to actually connect across cultures in India. Right now, music is playing that role, along with the cultural influences that it kind of carries with it. For me, for example, I've discovered a lot about South India because of South Indian artistes that I've listened to, or the northeast of India because I listen to some North Eastern artistes. So, I feel like regional Indian languages are really bridging the cultural boundaries in India, and it's very exciting.

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Your music includes Kashmiri influences, which can be seen in your first EP and now ‘Sahibo' too. For someone who is listening to Kashmiri music for the first time, how would you describe its uniqueness from the rest of India?

Yeah, my music includes a lot of Kashmiri influences because I am a Kashmiri. I've taken a lot of my inspiration for my art, from my land. I think it also naturally flows into my music. The kind of person I am, the way I can compose, the way I sing, it is very natural for me.

The uniqueness of Kashmiri music essentially can be described with its sonic identity, which I have really tried to include in my music - the rubab, santoor, the Sufiyana culture. The language itself is very unique. It doesn't sound like many other Indian languages. It's got a very interesting mix of Persian and Sanskrit and all of these things make it really unique. Plus, it's the music of the mountains, so it's very serene, calm and beautiful.

Do you think a lot more people are listening to Kashmiri music today than when you first started, and through that you are exposed to Kashmiri culture beyond just being a tourist destination?

When I started doing Kashmiri music way back, I was one of the first. In fact, I think I was the first because there was really very little or almost nobody who was really working a lot on the folklore of Kashmir or really trying to bring forth the sound. I felt that as a language, it was also very underrepresented in the mainstream. So, I really found that very challenging, interesting and purposeful, for me as an artiste at the time. Today, there are so many more artistes who are doing music and Kashmiri and it has really broadened its audiences. The audience is also more mature, even the Kashmiri audience listen to and consume music, which is way different from what they were used to listening to. So, the younger generation is listening to cool music in their own language and really owning it and that's also a great thing.

About just the tourist destination part, yes, the conversation about Kashmir has largely been around its beauty and the conflict and all of that. So, I think music also opens another door that people get to look into the culture, which is very rich.

Did the pandemic influence your music-making process? How did you navigate the last two years?

The pandemic was as hard on me as it was on everyone else. It was very challenging and my work also suffered immensely. During the second wave, it was very hard on every family where there was not a single household that wasn't touched by Covid. So, it was a difficult time for all of us. I also became a mum during the pandemic. So, having a child has also really made me rethink a lot of things and the way I look at life and it's been a physical and mental metamorphosis of sorts. I feel like it has affected my song writing, my music, up to a large extent. I feel there's some kind of theraav, like a calmness, as you say, that is common to a lot of us. The same would hold true for me as well and also the way I look at my music today.

With the current political climate in Kashmir, how do you see music becoming a medium for dialogue?

I do see music as a medium of dialogue because art really binds people together. Sadly, a lot of us in Kashmir, we've always been through conflict, pain, personal tragedies of huge degrees. There's nobody who's not touched by terrorism in one way or the other, we have all been affected. I say this for all communities in Kashmir, not just Pandits, but everybody, Muslims, Sikhs, everyone who's from that land, even the Dogras for that matter in Jammu - everybody's been suffering. So, I feel like art really creates a space for meaningful dialogue. It has to stir some kind of consciousness in people where we started looking at each other as humans and not really as people who belong to a certain faith or a certain religion. It's just a question of looking at a human as a human and that humanity really gets awakened when there is art to be appreciated by people. I think a lot of songwriters and artistes in their own ways should tell their own story so that music creates that middle path and that easy ground for people to listen to stories and focus on the story and not on the noise. So, art could really play a huge role in that and I'm also doing that on my own in my original music that I'm writing.

In your latest EP, ‘Sahibo' is a Kashmiri prayer song based on the work of Kashmiri poet Majhoor. Please tell us how you came about to work on the song.

Majhoor's poetry is immortal. We've all grown up with ‘Sahibo'. It is a song that is staple in Kashmiri households and also used to be sung in prayers at schools and has been largely revered by all communities in Kashmir. So, this was a song that has always brought me a lot of bliss and peace even during the pandemic. So, just when I was really starting to release my new music after the pandemic, I really thought that there was no better song but to start with ‘Sahibo' because it was a prayer and I feel like the world could really use a lot of healing right now.

At the same time, the EP also has ‘Kale Rang Da Parinda', a lively Punjabi song. What led you to explore Punjabi folk music? What are the other kinds of songs that listeners can look forward to in the album?

Punjabi folk is very interesting for me as an artiste because I have grown up with a very heavy Sufi and Punjabi influence. So, I pay tribute to a lot of Sufi poets and with the music we do with Sufistication live whether it is Waris Shah's or Baba Bulle Shah's work or Lalleshwari's work from Kashmir and folk itself, I find it very sweet and easy on the ears for listeners, that's what this whole EP is about. It's an acoustic, chill, folk vibe. So, ‘Parinda' has always been a part of our live repertoire and it's a Surinder Kaur tappe and we've really played it also at a lot of weddings. So, this was a beautiful song to add to this EP and along with that you can also expect a lot of Dogri and pahadi music, some pahadi folk and some more Punjabi music in this EP.

You have tasted success of varying degrees with your songs appearing in ‘The Family Man' and ‘No Father's in Kashmir'. Would you say that has paved the way for future Kashmiri folk musicians in the film industry?

Yes, in a way, I have tried my little bit to pave the way for Kashmiri as a language to be heard in the mainstream and with hits like ‘HukusBukus' and ‘Roshewallah' and the songs that people know, and they come to concerts, and they want to listen to it. It has travelled far and wide. Some of them have gone viral. it has created some kind of awareness in people, and has paved some kind of path for more people to pursue this as a choice of language, if they want to sing it in. But, I still feel there's a long, long way to go for it to really become an industry because the language is still small. I feel the artistes need to come together and also people who are listening to this music who are from the community. The idea is to kind of make it go wider than the communities that are listening to it, not just Kashmiri-speaking audience. For example, people sang along to my song ‘HukusBukus' when I played in Kerala too. That is what I would say is like crossing the linguistic boundary. That has to happen for a lot of songs for it to really become mainstream and if that happens, it would be great.