In Chitral, singing is a taboo for women
PESHAWAR: Chitral is home to fourteen languages, but no professional female singer. The valley, which shares much of its history with Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and is sometimes referred to as “Peri-istan” because of a common belief in ‘peris’ (fairies) inhabiting the mountains, has given only its male singers the right to make their voices heard in public. In Chitral, social taboo and local culture forbid females from pursuing a career in singing. While talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Inayatullah Faizi, a historian and senior columnist from Chitral, explains before Partition there were female singers and dancers in the valley. Women would organise concerts during cultural festivals and sing in front of an all-female audience at weddings, but all that changed when Chitral, once a self-autonomous princely state, became part of Pakistan and was made an administrative district in 1969. Soon after this, local religious leaders began exercising state power and changed the very structure of society in the valley, reveals Dr Faizi. Not easy for women to pursue music in Pakistan: Zoe Viccaji

PHOTO: Abdur Razzaq

PHOTO: ABDUR RAZZAQ