I am in debt to all the incredibly talented poets of Kashmir who have given Kashmiris such a priceless gift of poetry. Words so rich and so beautiful that during my work on this book, I would often stop and let the intensity of their words sink into my soul.
The words would just be words if there weren’t people who brought them to life. So, a huge thank you to our melodious singers, who have done justice to their words throughout the years, whether sung in the old traditional ways 50 years ago on Radio Kashmir or in more modern fusion versions nowadays. For almost a year, I have played and replayed the songs and each and every time I was mesmerized and shaken to the core by the intensity of the emotions in your voices.
My heartfelt gratitude to all of you for immortalizing Kashmiri language and poetry for our future generations.
I have used poetry and songs (audio/video links) in this book from many sources and would like to acknowledge the poets and singers who directly or indirectly contributed towards making this book possible:
In alphabetical order:
Aadil Gurezi
Aamir Khan
Aabha Hanjura
Aarti Tickoo Kaul
Abdul Gaffar Kanihami
Abdul Rahim Sopori
Aeren Maal
Ahmed Dar
Altaf Noorpori
Anjaan Kashmiri
Anu Anaf
Asadullah Mir
Asif Maqbool
Bajan Sopori
Bashir Dada
Bashir Marazi
Bilal Matta
Chinki Minki (Real name not known)
Dinanath Nadim
Fazil Kashmiri
GM Bulbul
Ghulam Nabi Dolwaal (Jaanbaaz)
Gulzar Ganaie
Gulam Saify
Gwayun Website and it’s lyrics and audio contributors
Habba Khatoon
Harkrishan Singh Sanam
Inaam Khan
Irfan Nabi
Ishfaaq Kava
Jameela Khan
Kailash Mehra
Lael Daed
Manzoor Ahmed Shah
Mehmeet Syed
Mehmood Gami
Mirza Afzal Beigh
Mohammed Wazi
Moin Khan
Nazir Josh
Naem’e Saeb
Nasuema Akhtar
Naseem ul Haq
Nawaz Ahmed
Nargis Khatoon
Nargis Majid
Neerja Pandit
Nisar Bedgami
Nisar Hussain Dolwal
Noor Mohammed
Rasool Bab
Riaz Khan
Raj Begum
Raja Bilal
Rajender Kachroo
Rashid Jahangir
Rasul Mir
Rayees Ganie
Reshma (Birth name Abdul Rashid)
Saiam Bhat
Samad Jan
ShaBe
Shahi Mumtaz
Shamas Faqir
Shameema Dev Azad
Shazia Bashir
Shoaib Majid
Sheela Zargar
Sheerza Begum
Sheikh Tariq
S K Bhan
Tanveer Ali
Tanzleeb Ahmed
Umi M Feem
Yaqoob Beran
Vijay Malla
Yavar Abdal
Wahab Khaar
Waheed Jeelani
Waqar Khan
Zoon Begum