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The Kashmir Timeline

Raj Begum

The Melody Queen of Kashmir, the first woman to sing on Kashmiri radio.

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Raj Begum began singing on Radio Kashmir in the 1950s, at a time when it was unusual and sometimes unsafe for a Kashmiri woman to perform in public. Over five decades she recorded the songs of Mahjoor, Rasul Mir and Nadim and became the best known voice in the language. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2002.

Facts

  • She is remembered by the title Koshur Kokil, the nightingale of Kashmir.
  • Much of her early work survives only in Radio Kashmir's archive recordings.