Zila Khan, one of the top women Sufi singers in the country is launching an album 'Zila, the girl child' on the Saregama label on 8 March 2008.The album talks about various emotions of a woman, including her sensuality. Khan is the seventh generation of an unbroken line in what is the oldest school (or Gharana) of Sitar and Surbahar in India, the daughter of the incomparable sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan. Zila is the one and only singer in the Imdad Khan...
If the music industry doesn't take too kindly to women who try to break into centuries old male bastions, the far younger radio industry in the country presents a diametrically opposite view.
The field is peppered with women who have set up their own companies, notched up key posts within organizations and lead the way in most creative and business decisions.
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The music industry continues to be a male-dominated bastion in India, both in the classical and the film sectors.
Apart from women vocalists, the industry does not take kindly to women who try to prove their mettle on skills traditionally associated with men - be it tabla playing or composing tunes.
Nevertheless, a few intrepid women have persevered enough to break through the barriers and establish themselves, rough though the road may have been.
Gender bias
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