Tuesday, April 12, 2011

option for 4/18: Women making music in Pakistan


Female musicians in Pakistan. Listen to the story and the music here.

What challenges do these women musicians face? What do they sing about? Why do they sing?

23 comments:

  1. These two women face alot of things but the most severe is death. They are basically going against the grain by wanting to be singers and going forth with it because it's against tradition. Not to mention the extreme sense of religion the country has and the way they dont fit into that. Their music is considered bad even though they sing about the beauty of thier coutnry.

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  2. Both these women face animosity just because of their sex. In their culture, women are supposed to be kept out of the public eye, but as musicians they take the spotlight. Zeb Bangash and Haniya Aslam make music about the good things that are happening in their country. Even though these women were educated in American, they face hardships when attempting to communicate with Americans because we have a negative stereotype about Pakistani people.

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  3. Women musicians face a lot of problems. They don't have the same support as their male counterparts. Its hard for women artists to get into the music business and get their music herd by the masses. In-order to get herd they have to be the opening act of a top male musician or lower their standards. Zeb Bandash and Haniya Aslam makes music about the good things going on in their country. Their music is in a sense bad because they should be doing something else, not singing, even thought their music is about the beauty of their country.

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  4. These women musicians face many challenges with the biggest being they are women. It goes against Pakistan culture for women to be seen in public which would make it extremely hard for those women to get their music out. These women sing about happiness in Pakistan time, however they bring a new prospective in hopes of changing Pakistan for the better. Even though these women were educated in the United States, they love their own country and are very comfortable there.

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  5. The two cousins struggles to express there artistic expression through music because of their gender. They sing about peace and their work is based on what is going on in the world. They sing about how they picture and want the world to be instead of how it is with violence. They also love their culture and have islamic rules that they follow.

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  6. these Pakistani women sing about how they feel.they show their expressions through their music. they have to face whats portrayed as women and they sing about what they want. The cousins sing about the good things that is happening in their country. They sing because they want to express their selves through music and the hardships that they face between men and women.

    Latrina Gladney

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  7. The Pakistani women express their feelings through their music giving listeners a taste of their emotions and what they go through. Women musicians face being told that what they do is a hobby. Even if they put their all into their music, society considers what they do not as important as what male musicians do. Society does not support women musicians enough. Their music talks about important things but it will not get acknowledge because of the biased thought that women are not equal to men.

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  8. These women of Pakistan faces a lot of challenges in their culture and lifestyles. They are not allowed to be seen in the public eye without their appropriate attire. These women are not necessarily looked down upon, however they are not taken very seriously, as a person and of course as an artist, their job is to contribute to all of the housework. (nothing more or nothing less) So, I think that their music is an escape of all of the things, and an expression of their feelings daily.

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  9. These two women face the challenge of not only being a woman in a male-dominated world, but a Pakistani woman. In Pakistan women are discriminated against even more than American women; in Pakistan if a woman goes into public she is expected to be completely covered and to behave as a Pakistani woman should. She is not "supposed to" express herself creatively. She is just supposed to do the house work and stay in the shadow of her husband, but these women are speaking out about important things. They are expressing what it is like to live as a woman in Pakistan, and they are showing that, just because they are women does not mean that they can not be successful creative people.
    Kara Higgins

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  10. These two women musicians face the challenge of pursuing their career's in music simply because it "cuts against the grain of a conservative culture". The "grain" of their culture is that women do not traditionally independently create music or any type of entertainment for that matter. They are to stick to what tradition says and with these two women creating their own music, they are going against their tradition. When asked why and how they came about the title of their song entitled "The Happy Song" they said that they had wanted to create something to make people smile because of their current situation. So, they are singing in order to make others feel pleasant and happy and because they enjoy doing so. They are not doing it to make money or become famous.

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  11. I feel bad for these women because of what they have to go through just because they want to sing. I admire them for continuing to explore their music even though it is against the "rules." They should bring happiness through their music for people to listen to. Possibly at some point, they will change the minds of the citizens of Pakistan that do not agree with it and better the lives of the people there. I personally do not know what I would do without music regardless of what sex is singing it, so I can imagine how they feel.

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  12. Women in Pakistan face many challenges. When these two women sing that sing about happiness and the good things that happen in their country. They face challlenges being musicians because they are expected to take care of the housework and they are not supposed to be musicians.

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  13. These women were both educated in the U.S. so they already had many more opportunities than other women in their country. They said "Despite everything, there are beautiful things happening in this country," "there are moments of happiness, there's happiness all around, so we thought it might actually be nice to bring that together into a song." So they are trying to show us that through all the problems and heartaches they can still overcome them to be happy.

    Andrew Bland

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  14. They face alot of issues such as death, a chance of being disown and even considered as secular. There seen as different because they go against the norm of there religion and culture. They sing happy and uplifting songs even though their surrounded by negativity and saddness. They song because they want to see the change around them and they dont want to sing song of whats going on but to sing positive songs of things that they want to see
    Kerra Jones

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  15. These two female musicians face challenges simply because they are women. They are taking a chance and going against everything in their country because they want to sing. There tradition and customs have kept women out of the public eye, so by them pursuing this dream of theres they are going against the grain of the conservative. They write songs that are the antithesis of turmoil and now they have a happy song because thye feel that there are beautiful things in their country and there are moments of happiness. They sing because it is a form of expression and to show that despite everything bad, there is still good.

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  16. The challenge these women face is not only that space for artistic creativity is narrowing but also that they are women. They are taking a huge risk of going against their country's norms and customs by becoming female singers in the limelight. These women sing about happiness because although there is a lot of Turmoil going on in their country, they can still find happiness around them in everyday things. They sing because its what they want to do, to reclaim the narrowing space and bring calmness to others.
    Audra Wilson

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  17. Going against the norms and traditions of their culture these women face more than just animosity. These women risk being disowned and even death to continue their musical aspirations. The thing that I found most inspiring about these women is that they use their music to express their feelings about the struggles they face. It takes a certain strength to face that type adversity and press on for what is important to you, I can truly respect that.

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  18. all of the women sing songs about beautiful things, and yet no one gives them credit for anything. they face so many challenges in their day to day lives but death is the biggest fear they all have. women are not encouraged to doing anything or be involved with anything creative or artistic, and most of the time they are not given a chance to prove anyone wrong. but the women are strong women, and they have the faith and courage to try even when they are basically put down and forced not to.

    Jordan Masterson

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  19. These women have jobs and passions that do not fit with their religion. In Pakistan women are kept out of popular music and the public eye and now that these women are in the public eye they are receiving trouble from people who disagree with their decisions. Another hardship for them I'm sure is that they studied abroad for school so they know the opportunities they can have in other places just not in Pakistan.

    -Abby Blan

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  20. Women in the middle east have many different things they have to deal with on a daily basis. I think that they are trying to express themselves through music. They want to go outside there religion and do things they want to do not based on just what the tradtional women in expected of. Also, with them creating music may increase an opptunity for them to go out and explore the world beyond Pakistan.

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  21. Zeb Bangash and Haniya Aslam are Pakistani women educated in America who take pride in their nation by entertaining through music. While their nation is experiencing difficult times, and although women are underestimated in their country, they continue to send inspiring messages through lyrics. They are intriguing because they don't follow the norms or care about the stereotypes against women in music in their country. Zeb and Haniya express their feelings through song in hopes that other women will follow.

    -Jess Lord

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  22. These women sing about what is going on in their life and how the feel. They have to deal with the fact that they are women and in their culture women are supposed to be conservative and stay out of the spot light. But these women are branching out and celebrating their music.

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  23. These women musicians face a lot of animosity because they are women and women are not supposed to be seen in the public the way they are showing themselves. They can face such negative things as being murdered. The government sees these women musicians an secular. They sing about their life and the things that they are constantly facing. The sing to continue to clam their space in society and show that their music is not something that women should have to hide from and can do what their hearts tell them to do.

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