Siren Song de Fawzia Afzal-Khan

Siren Song: Understanding Pakistan Through Its Women Singers

Fawzia Afzal-Khan

Fawzia Afzal-Khan's book is an important and timely feminist intervention in the study of classical music and a cogent challenge to the prevailing antisecular orthodoxy in the academy. In this complex and sensitive study...of the careers of artistes like Malka Pukhraj, Roshanara Begum, Reshma, and of the newer music and musical space offered by Coke Studio, Afzal-Khan shows us the multiple ways in which women performers negotiated and continue to negotiate their way through the numerous challenges thrown their way in the wake of the partitioning of the subcontinent and the multiple demands placed on them.

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Particularly commendable and refreshing is Afzal-Khan's inclusion of her personal narrative as an aspiring singer trained in classical vocal singing. This gives the reader a front-row view of the Indo-Pakistani classical singing world as well as Afzal-Khan's artistic engagements as a practitioner, described in the book's coda. Her work also gives impetus to the project of reclaiming Pakistan's Indic past and the preservation of its intangible cultural heritage.

Notă biografică

Fawzia Afzal-Khan is a trained vocalist in the Indo-Pakistani classical tradition, a University Distinguished Scholar and Professor of English, and former Director of the Program in Women's and Gender Studies at Montclair State University. She is a Fulbright Fellow and awardee of the National Endowment for the Humanities for a development grant in Building Bridges Through Film, and author of five previous books including her memoir, Lahore With Love: Growing Up With Girlfriends Pakistani-Style (Syracuse University Press; rep. Insanity Ink Publications, 2010), and the edited anthology, Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out (Olive Branch Press, 2004).