Collage of Bushra Ansari’s YouTube channel screenshots, 4-30 April 2019.
I wrote this piece a few days after Neelum Bashir’s Punjabi poem ‘Humsaye Maa Jaye’ (children of the same soil) went viral over India and Pakistan. Originally published in The Wire, 6 April 2019, the updated piece below includes the revised poem-script that Neelum Apa kindly sent me. Her talented performer sisters Bushra Ansari and Asma Abbas’ musical rendition caught public imagination, cutting through the rising tensions between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama attack, forcing even the Indian media, including television channels in the thick of hectic pre-poll reporting, to take note. Updates include the the jump in Bushra Ansari’s YouTube channel subscriptions, from 34 to over 25,000 in just three days, and to nearly 70,000 by 30 April, besides millions of views and shares.
Filed under: Art and activism, Freedom of expression, Pakistan-India, Progressive politics | Tagged: Ahmed Bashir, Asma Abbas, Bushra Ansari, gwandne, Neelum Bashir, neighbors, poetry, Punjabi | 3 Comments »
Journeys to democracy 