MUMBAI: Celebrating the women in the music industry, Avanti Patel proudly announced the release of her first-ever Ghazal, “Gaye Mausam'' across the country. This ghazal is written by Parveen Shakir, a very famous Pakistani woman writer from the 70s and 80s. Through her song, Avanti not only pays tribute to Parveenji’s writing and ghazal gaayki as a style, but also lauds the growing contribution of women artists in the music industry in roles like composing, writing, engineering and so on.

Speaking about the launch of Gaye Mausam, Avanti Patel said, “Ghazal is a very nuanced form of poetry where a lot can be expressed using very few words. Parveenji was one of the few women in her time who made a name as a writer in a very male dominated industry. Her writing honored and described emotions felt by women through themes of love, abandonment, longing and so on, expressed in a contemporary manner. Through Gaye Mausam, my effort is to tap into the beauty of ghazal gaayki made so evergreen by amazing artists like Begum Akhtar, Iqbal Bano, Farida Khanum and many more, and inspire women artists to push themselves to think that becoming a singer/vocalist is not the only avenue available to them in the music industry.”

Avanti is very passionate about thumri and ghazal singing and believes that the industry needs to be ready to embrace more women writers, composers, arrangers, producers and engineers in mainstream music.

“While many artists worldover are recognizing the skewed gender dynamic in the music industry and trying to bridge a very severe gap, I feel we still have a long way to go. I believe there is an urgent need to discuss issues in representation faced by women professionals and drive conversations to provide more opportunities to them.” Avanti further commented.

Parveen Shakir was a famous Pakistani writer in the 70-80s and her work has been known for creating a space for women writing Urdu poetry. The track will be available across platforms such as Apple music, Spotify, Gaana.com, Saavn, Wynk and YouTube.