Kasher Baeth

Heartfelt Gratitude

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 bring 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. Since I started working on this book, I have played and replayed the songs many times. 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 Ahad Azad
Abdul Gaffar Kanihami

Abdul Rahim Sopori
Aebele Wani
Aeren Maal
Ahmed Dar
Ali Saifuddin
Altaf Ahmad

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
Faheem Abdullah
Fazil Kashmiri
GM Bulbul
Ghulam Nabi Dolwaal (Jaanbaaz)
Ghulam Nabi Gowhar
Gulab Saifi Kishtiwari
Gulzar Ganaie
Gulam Saify
Gwayun Website and it’s lyrics
and audio contributors
Habba Khatoon
Harkrishan Singh Sanam
Inaam Khan
Irfan Nabi
Ishfaaq Kava
Ishrat Hussain Shah
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
Naseema Akhtar
Naseem ul Haq
Nazir Dar
Nawaz Ahmed
Nargis Khatoon
Nargis Majid
Neerja Pandit
Nisar Bedgami
Nisar Hussain Dolwal
Noor Mohammed
Peer Zahoor
Rasa Javdani
Rasool Bab
Riaz Khan
Raj Begum Raja Bilal
Rajender Kachroo
Rashid Jahangir
Rasul Mir
Rayees Ganie

Reshma (Birth name Abdul Rashid)
Sameer Jaan
Saim Bhat
Samad Jan
ShaBe
Shahi Mumtaz
Sheeraza Begum
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