Srinagar, June 6
Whenever he meets groups of youngsters who have turned disillusioned and even bitter over the turn of affairs in Kashmir, Ashraf Khan says he is convinced it is not only the internecine conflict in the state but also the gradual disappearance of art and cultural exhibitions that has left the new generation disoriented and searching for an identity.

Members of Valley Youth Expressions, a musical band, perform at a concert. A Tribune photograph

“Their lives have become dull and monotonous and they don’t seem to be having have any real fun. My group wants to change all this and, inshallah, we’ll eventually succeed,” he affirms. Ashraf, 25, heads Valley Youth Expressions, an upcoming and already much-accomplished musical group in the valley.

Ashraf and his group of over 22 artistes, including four girls, playing a wide array of music is somewhat unusual sight in the valley’s conservative milieu. The group has for long been a major attraction for locals and tourists alike. And its fan club has grown steadily over the years even as it has bagged several awards, including the first prize in an international festival in Bareilly this year after being adjudged the joint winner with a Bulgarian group in the same event last year.

Four years back the group could just boast four members and were dogged by lack of funds. “We engaged in very little musical activity and could hardly make any money from our performances let alone expand,” says Ashraf and Wasim, a singer in the group. Then along came a Good Samaritan in the form of a senior paramilitary official, Prabhakar Tripathy, who went out of his way to help the group with purchasing musical instruments and sponsored trips both in and outside the state. The tide turned and the group has not looked back ever since.

As the group members’ performance of Bollywood music as well as the traditional Kashmiri dance and song item, the rouf, attracted more youngsters, girls too signed up. “You feel good when your performance helps in mitigating the sorrow etched on people’s faces and make them smile and then dance,” says Zohra Baitul, better known as Diva

It was more or less taken for granted that the self-appointed moral police in the valley spearheaded by Asiya Andarabi, who considers music as evil and any woman walking sans a burqa (veil)a grave sin, would warn Ashraf and his group members to desist from spreading their “vice”. The group’s members, though, would rather not talk about those dark days and how they managed to come out into the open singing and dancing, almost literally. “If people like you then nothing else matters. And people like us a lot,” he smiles.

Currently the group members are as busy performing songs and dances as in counselling schools and college students about career options. Recent initiatives include theme-based campaigns like ‘Save Dal’ and ‘Shun Polythene’, using their art as a tool to spread awareness about civic issues. If the large crowd gathering to hear them perform is any indication, then the valley’s residents people indeed have taken to them in a big way.