Koshur Wanwun
About the Author
Samina Masoodi was born in Kashmir and is currently residing in Los Angeles, USA. She earned a Master’s degree in Biochemistry (gold medalist), worked as a Nutritional consultant and ran her own Food and supplement company for a few years. She switched careers and served as Vice President of Sales in a software company for 25 years. She is now pursuing her lifelong desire to dedicate rest of her life to philanthropic work for causes that are dear to her, both in the USA and Kashmir. She is focused in particular on causes related to livelihood improvement of people of Kashmir. Samina is passionate about women’s causes, helping women of Kashmir become financially self-sufficient. Through Yakjut, (one of the biggest online platforms for women in Kashmir), she helps coach young women on everyday social and economic issues and guides them on managing their business and careers more effectively. Samina has been on the Board of directors of entities that focus on entrepreneurship and mentorship of youth as well as preservation of Kashmiri culture.
She has been involved in organizing events for Kashmiris in Los Angeles for the past 30 years and biennially across the United states over a period of 10 years. She served as Vice President and later President of the group organizing the events that bring Kashmiri diaspora together to celebrate and highlight Kashmiri culture, language and arts.
Her non-profit, Sheen productions started with her husband, Shafat Qazi is focused on preserving and promoting Kashmiri language and culture for future generations of Kashmiris in Kashmir, USA as well as other parts of the world.
Apart from the cultural aspect of her work, Samina is also an associate producer of a 2021 short movie, Eid-Mubarak and co-producer of a Kashmiri musical movie, Songs of Paradise, inspired by the life of legendary singer, Raj Begum.
Samina is also an avid world traveler. She has been to 85 countries around the world. Along with her husband, Shafat, they are set to visit their 100th country by summer of 2026.
This book is the fifth in the series of Kashmiri books that Samina has produced after months of painstaking work. These books include compilation of lyrics for popular Kashmiri songs and wanwun in easy to understand “English” version. This eBook is the foundational repository of the Kashmiri wanwun with lyrics in a searchable and collaborative wiki.
1st book Manzeraath was published in 2017
2nd book, Kasher Khander Baeth with 118 kashmiri song lyrics was published in 2018.
3rd book, Kashmiri Wanwun, focussed on traditional wanwun, was published in 2020. This version included around 100 Wanwun couplets.
4th book of Kashmiri songs was published in 2023 and includes more than 300+ songs.