It’s a sight to behold — a Baloch woman, attired in the traditional pashk (an ankle-length embroidered dress, often with hand-woven threads) and wearing the black Baloch chador — with stripes of red, yellow, blue and white — as a turban, while strumming a guitar as she sings.

These are visuals from the music video, Mehr Othak, sung by Pari Zafar and Mubarak Dad.

The 23-year old Pari, who hails from the small town of Panjgur in Balochistan’s west, wanted to be a rock star since childhood. But when she shared her dream with those around her, she was mocked and ridiculed.

That was a long time ago. Now, when one sees Pari perform in her unique attire and style, one phrase comes to mind: rock star.

A new breed of female Baloch musicians, buoyed by the success of their male counterparts, is keen to revitalise Balochi music through fusion

RETURNING TO THE ROOTS

Like many youngsters across Pakistan, Pari grew up listening mostly to Western music, instead of traditional Balochi music. She wants to change this by promoting Balochi music among the newer generation.

In her attempt to make the music popular and accessible, while also promoting the Balochi language, she has been working on fusion music. But her journey hasn’t been without obstacles. While her father has become supportive over the years, initially he was reluctant.

“I still remember buying my first guitar by saving my pocket money,” she tells Eos. “I would then practise in my room late at night, when everyone slept.”

Although Pari says she had no female Baloch singer to look up to as a role model, Baloch women have always held an integral role in Balochi music in professional and non-professional roles.

Sipat (a popular folk song sung for the mother and the newborn after childbirth), nazenk (a folksy song sung for the bride and bridegroom), halo (wedding song), motk (mourning song) and zahirok (a classical song of separation) are some forms of Balochi music, which have been historically sung by Baloch women, both in private and professional gatherings.

However, over time, the art of singing for Baloch women professionally has become an act of defiance. The women who brought glory to Balochi music have been erased from history books. Ask any Balochi music aficionado to name female singers in the language, and he or she would find it hard to provide more than a few names.

A FORGOTTEN ART

This is despite music and singing playing a vital role in Baloch society and culture. Just like minstrels in mediaeval Europe and bards in Celtic culture, Balochistan had pahlawans (singer of classical poetry).

These pahlawans served as custodians of storytelling and culture, reciting and performing key events from Baloch history, explains Prof Sabir Badal Khan, who has written extensively on Balochi music, especially on zahirok.

The tradition of singing among Baloch women — similar to that of the pahlawans — is as ancient as the art form itself.

In his essay on zahirok, Prof Khan mentions that, according to Baloch poet and historian Gul Khan Naseer, zahirok were originally composed by Baloch women. The women sang zahirok for their menfolk, who were away from home for various reasons, such as wars or business or in search of pasture land.

THE CLASS CEILING

The essay states that the best known non-professional female singers of zahirok in Makran belonged to a low social class called molid (maid-servant), who had to perform housework for a family.

“These molids were mainly from low social classes, probably descendants of former slaves of African origin; however, such domestic servants also came from other low social groups. [The] Baloch believe that God endowed them with sweet voices, which, under the burden of heavy tasks, allowed them to sing zahroks, expressing the whole picture of their sufferings and hard life,” it reads.

Baloch women from other socio-economic backgrounds too sung zahirok while performing daily tasks, such as grinding grain. “The melodies of the zahiroks were said to follow the movements of the hand-millstone,” Prof Khan writes in his essay.

The essay adds that other forms of dancing and singing were (and still are) deemed appropriate for women from lower socio-economic backgrounds in Baloch society. For a long time, music has been considered as a profession fit only for the economically vulnerable strata of Baloch society — both pahlawan and sawti (professional female singers who usually perform at weddings) came from the same segment.

“Those from the upper class would write poetry, which was seen as a sign of intellect, but if they wanted to sing or if they were called pahlawan, it was looked down upon and considered an insult. Even if a man from an upper social class wanted to play a musical instrument, it was looked down upon,” Prof Khan tells Eos.

DEFYING THE ODDS

Although such taboos around singing still exist, Baloch men have been emancipated from the restriction: one of the most renowned Baloch singers, Noor Khan Bizenjo, belonged to the well-off Bizenjo tribe.

For Baloch women, though, gender discrimination has replaced class restrictions, which is being challenged by singers such as Pari Zafar, Eva B, Uzma Haya and others.

While more Baloch girls are defying the odds to record music, there are concerns that certain traditions that are centuries old might be at risk of being forgotten altogether, such as that of sawtis. Sawtis are invited to sing in wedding functions and other women accompany them in chorus, especially for nazenks.

One such sawti is Bibi Zarina, 70, from Turbat. “I started singing at weddings professionally when I was 40,” Zarina tells Eos in a phone interview. She says does this despite the resistance from her brother, who is a religious teacher.

“He told me it is haram [forbidden] and that I would be punished in the afterlife,” she says. She says the thought is scary but she finds solace in the fact that, when women sing on happy occasions like births and weddings, it brings joy to those in attendance.

‘PLUNGED INTO DARKNESS’

During his fieldwork on Baloch oral tradition in the early 1990s, Prof Khan noticed that professional Baloch female singers had almost become non-existent, especially in the gatherings of men, which was not the case before.

This “drastic change, like an earthquake that plunged us into darkness” happened overnight, he says, citing increasing religiosity as a result of the war in Afghanistan and the revolution in Iran.

“I was able to record one sawti, famously known as Sharrok or Sharatoon. She had a hypnotising voice. I later heard that she was unfortunately beaten and targetted for her singing,” he tells Eos.

Before this, especially in the 1980s, cassette shops in Lyari would be brimming with customers, seeking to buy recordings of female Baloch singers.

TURNING A CORNER

One singer who was able to garner an audience for herself is Samina Kanwal, a Sindhi Baloch singer, whose career debut coincided with the launch of a regional language state-channel, PTV Bolan, in 2005.

“When I performed on PTV Bolan, everyone in Balochistan loved my singing,” she told Eos in a phone interview from Nawabshah. She even took part in special transmissions and also once performed at the presidential palace.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for her.

Despite growing up in a family of musicians — both her parents were professional singers — she was stopped from pursuing music by her father, who married her off while she was only 14.

Luckily, her husband supported her passion and even accompanied her to shows and recordings.

“After my husband’s death, singing turned into my main source of income and helped me take on the responsibility of my children as their mother and father,” she continued.

She believes there are fewer restrictions now on women who want to take up singing professionally.

She is confident that her 16-year-old daughter, currently training to be a musician, would soon make her debut and contribute to the revival of Baloch women singers.

The writer is a freelance journalist.
X: @sommulbaloch

Published in Dawn, EOS, June 23rd, 2024