Nazir Josh, “Ahed Raza“or Comedy King of Kashmir, performs at Delhi International Week of Justice Festival (2008).
The act here is a sharp satire of government machinery.
Nazir Josh, a man from Budgam first became a comic phenomena that swept Kashmir in the early 1980s thanks to a 52-episode serial called “Hazar Dastan” or “One Thousand Tales”. The serial directed by his cousin Bashir Budgami for the State Doordarshan channel. It proved to be an instant hit and Ahed Raza Nazir Josh became a household name.
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I was young and “Shae’hi Dokkur“, Royal Hammer, a phrase from that serial, was part of the vocab that I was building. And then I forgot all about it.
The railway bridge being constructed at Kauri, a hamlet in Jammu’s Reasi district, will stand 359 m above the Chenab River. The bridge is supposed to complete by December 2009. Once completed it will dethrone the Millau Viaduct of France (343 metres) as the the World’s highest bridge deck. Built at a cost of more than 600 Cr Rupees, the bridge will be 1315 metres long.
Here’s a NDTV new report from year 2007.
The natural spring of Kheer Bhawani is situated at a distance of 14 miles east of Srinagar Tula Mula in Ganderbal.
Music:
1. A Kashmiri bhajan/aart in praise of resident deity of the spring – Maharagini.
2. Shantakaram Bhujagashayanam, Sanskrit hymns in praise of Vishnu.
Recorded live at the location.
3. Gauri Stutih, Sanskrit hymns in praise of holy Goddess.
Hymns, in praise of resident deity of the spring – Maharagini,quoted at the beginning and at the end are from a Sanskrit scripture called Mahatmya Shri Shri Maharajni Pradurbhava,Shri Maharajni Stutih
All photographs used in the video presentation taken by me in 2008.
Acknowledgment:
A Goddess is Born: The Emergence of Khir Bhavani in Kashmir By Dr. Madhu Bazaz (Google book link)
It’s a diligent work on the origins of Kheer Bhawani and and evolution of her following.
About the video presentation:
Photographs of Chakreshwari Sharika Devi temple at Hari Parbat, Srinagar, Kashmir.
All Photographs taken by me in June 2008.
Sound: A Kashmiri prayer (aarti/bhajan) in praise of Goddess Tripura Sundari. Recorded live at Kheer Bhawani shrine Kashmir.
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Visit to parbat usually meant a visit to the big red rock at the top of the hill and/or a trip around the hill.
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Five ancient hymns, collectively known as Panchastavi are still popular among Kashmiri Pandits.
In 1972, travelling in India with Brad Graves, it was 115 degrees – the rains were late and we were sweltering in the heat. We flew to Kashmir, lived on a house boat for two weeks, and recorded music which was released on Lyrichord Discs now available as a CD – LAS 7260
Verna Gillis as a producer came at a time when few had heard the term ‘world music’ and she, according to many, was the one who kick started this genre of music.
”She [Verna Gillis] came along at a time when all this music from around the world was becoming relevant to jazz and pop and new classical music. There wasn’t anyone else who could move between ethnomusicology and presenting. She was open to all sorts of music. She was a synthesist. She created a larger dialogue.”
From 1972 and right up till 1978, Gillis recorded traditional music in places as varied as Afghanistan, Iran, Kashmir, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Peru, Surinam, and Ghana. In 1979, she opened Soundscape (that closed in 1984), a multi-cultural performance space in New York City, which she directed for the next five years. In year 2000, she was nominated for a Grammy in the Producer category.
The fact that Kashmir was one of the first destinations for her musical journey and that Kashmiri music found space in world music might surprise many.
Recorded on a houseboat on waters of famous Dal Lake, Eli Mohammad Shera and others sing Sufi songs of love and devotion. In addition, there are several instrumental solos and duets bringing fore the melody of traditional folk instruments of Kashmir. The chatter of artists going on in the various tracks of this album only adds charm to it and bears testimony to the unassuming origin of the album.
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You can check out sampling of songs from the album and even buy it below.
(Do check out the third track Rebab solo for its seemingly Irish sound)
Browsing Youtube came across an excellent series titled Folk instruments of Kashmir, made under the banner of anteeye Films by Kashmiri artist Sajad Hamdani.
A list of Folk instruments of Kashmir covered under the series: (click to go to the video)
Oldest Video of Kashmir
(Update: this one doesn’t work! check the video given below)
According to IMDB, the movie Vale of Kashmir was shot in the year 1936, under the direction of John Randolph Bray. The movie obviously made for the cinema going western audience, offers wonderful sights of Srinagar valley and the adjacent areas. It also gives us a peek into the life of a common Kashmiri, perhaps capturing it for the first time on the moving camera . Because of the kind of audience that the film was made for, the short movie is peppered with intentional and (maybe) unintentional humor. In one of the scene, a man is shown using the famous luxury that a common Kashmir enjoys the most, a Kangri (‘a warm radiator to sit by’, says the narrator), the narrators says that the holes in the coat (pheran) give the necessary ventilation. The hole in the coat were not for ventilation (as the narrator claims) but rather the effect of burning coal at times shooting off an ember to the coat, invariably burning a hole in the coat. Any Kashmiri with a burnt and hole ridden pheran would testify to this.
Uploaded on Youtube by
TVNETWORKS
(Update the above video has been removed by the above uploader )
