Kashmir's Sufi music has evolved as a uniquely male tradition, but a new ensemble which includes women is challenging that.
Srinagar (India) (AFP) - When Kashmiri teenager Shabnam Bashir first took up classical Sufi music three years ago, she had to practise singing in secret because all the men in her Muslim family opposed her new passion.
Now the 14-year-old is a proud member of what her teacher Mohammad Yaqoob Sheikh says is the first mixed Sufi singing ensemble in Indian-administered Kashmir, where the music has for generations been a male preserve.
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