My Visits to Kashmir Were 'Very Painful, Almost Life Changing': Aabha Hanjura

With time, Aabha Hanjura has made a place for herself as the pioneer of Kashmiri pop-music, at the vanguard of a musical revolution. In her latest track Mere Makaan, she visits her lost home in Kashmir. The track is at once soulful and gut wrenching. Described as her ’emotional love letter’ to all that has been lost, Hanjura tells us about what went behind the scenes and how this visit has changed her from within. Excerpts from an interview:

Can you tell our readers a bit about Mere Makaan? How long have you been working on it?

Mere Makaan is my emotional love letter to my lost home in Kashmir it’s not just a song it’s a story and it’s my story and that of many displaced individuals who live away from their roots. This song is inspired by true events when I was reduced to tears on visiting my childhood home in Kashmir which is now merely a speck of the past. While I wrote the song almost 5 years ago two years of covid and many other factors delayed its release. Its not a typical quick pop song and has almost been rendered like a story. It is 7.5 min song; almost like a short film.

The pain and suffering comes across vividly in the video. What was the composition process like?

This song comes from a personal space and has lived within me and many others around me for a long time, a lot of it is lived experience and thus all those emotions blended in very naturally in the song. This made the process cathartic as well as painful. I rendered it live in one take and we took a take with the pianist and me as a complete live recording which is extremely atypical for these times when musicians record over multiple takes. It was a challenging, yet fulfilling experience for me. The song was produced and crafted by national award winning music producer KJ singh. In the end, the emotion is connecting with people and that makes me happy.

Can you tell us a bit about the time you revisited Kashmir. How was it walking through those alleyways and streets?

It was very painful, almost life changing, a trip I took back in 2013 to my childhood home gave me the inspiration for my music. As I walked through those alleys, I ended up revisiting my childhood, and a lost childhood at the same time too. It was reminiscent of the pain and all that I have missed.

How important is it for people to use art as a medium to express their anguish and tell their story?

It’s very important for songwriters to be honest in their art and tell real stories that matter. Art is for entertainment but it’s also meant to catalyse change. Art is the only medium that can put an empathetic lens on stories that matter .