WorldMarch 16, 2025

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Farooq Ahmad Shaksaaz presses a button on his 1970 Sharp cassette player, and with a hefty clack the machine whirrs to life. As the Kashmiri tailor stitches, the machine crackles for a moment before Ghulam Ahmad Sofi's otherworldly voice fills his shop with verses about divine love and the pain of separation from the beloved creator of the universe.

DAR YASIN and AIJAZ HUSSAIN, Associated Press
Farooq Ahmad Shaksaaz searches for a favorite cassette tape at his tailor shop in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Farooq Ahmad Shaksaaz searches for a favorite cassette tape at his tailor shop in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Self-taught tape recorder mechanic Mohammad Ashraf Matoo is seen through a glass window as he repairs a tape recorder at his shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Self-taught tape recorder mechanic Mohammad Ashraf Matoo is seen through a glass window as he repairs a tape recorder at his shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Old cassette tapes are stacked on shelves at Mohammad Ashraf Matoo’s cassette tape player repair shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Old cassette tapes are stacked on shelves at Mohammad Ashraf Matoo’s cassette tape player repair shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mohammad Ashraf Matoo repairs a tape recorder inside his shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Mohammad Ashraf Matoo repairs a tape recorder inside his shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Old cassette tapes are arranged for a photograph inside a house in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Old cassette tapes are arranged for a photograph inside a house in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kashmiri men listen Sufi songs on a tape recorder during a Sufi gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri men listen Sufi songs on a tape recorder during a Sufi gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Kashmiri man checks his tape recorder before the start of the Sufi gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
A Kashmiri man checks his tape recorder before the start of the Sufi gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kashmiri musician plays the sarangi during a Sufi music gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri musician plays the sarangi during a Sufi music gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kashmiri men listen Sufi songs on a tape recorder during a Sufi gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri men listen Sufi songs on a tape recorder during a Sufi gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Self-taught tape recorder mechanic Mohammad Ashraf Matoo repairs a tape recorder at his shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Self-taught tape recorder mechanic Mohammad Ashraf Matoo repairs a tape recorder at his shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photographs of Sufi saint Mohammad Rajab Shaksaz, left, and the late Sufi singer Ghulam Ahmad Sofi, center, along with a collection of his cassettes with his songs, are displayed inside a tailor shop owned by Farooq Ahmad Shaksaz in outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Photographs of Sufi saint Mohammad Rajab Shaksaz, left, and the late Sufi singer Ghulam Ahmad Sofi, center, along with a collection of his cassettes with his songs, are displayed inside a tailor shop owned by Farooq Ahmad Shaksaz in outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, right, along with his wife Mymoona Manzoor, embroiders Kashmiri shawls as her niece Aksa, left, looks on while they listen to Kashmiri Sofi music on a tape recorder inside their house in Yarigund village southwest of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, right, along with his wife Mymoona Manzoor, embroiders Kashmiri shawls as her niece Aksa, left, looks on while they listen to Kashmiri Sofi music on a tape recorder inside their house in Yarigund village southwest of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Abdul Hamid Khan listens to Kashmiri Sufi music on a tape recorder in his room in downtown Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Abdul Hamid Khan listens to Kashmiri Sufi music on a tape recorder in his room in downtown Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A stack of refurbished tape recorders for sale are seen in a shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
A stack of refurbished tape recorders for sale are seen in a shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A tape recorder is covered to protect it from dust in a house in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
A tape recorder is covered to protect it from dust in a house in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Old and damaged cassette tapes are stacked on a shelf at self-taught mechanic Mohammad Ashraf Matoo’s workshop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Old and damaged cassette tapes are stacked on a shelf at self-taught mechanic Mohammad Ashraf Matoo’s workshop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Old cassette tapes from Sufi music gatherings are stacked inside suitcases at a house in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Old cassette tapes from Sufi music gatherings are stacked inside suitcases at a house in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kashmiri men listen as Sufi singers perform during a musical gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri men listen as Sufi singers perform during a musical gathering in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Farooq Ahmad Shaksaaz listens to his favorite Sufi singer as he works at his tailor shop in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Farooq Ahmad Shaksaaz listens to his favorite Sufi singer as he works at his tailor shop in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)ASSOCIATED PRESS

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Farooq Ahmad Shaksaaz presses a button on his 1970 Sharp cassette player, and with a hefty clack the machine whirrs to life. As the Kashmiri tailor stitches, the machine crackles for a moment before Ghulam Ahmad Sofi's otherworldly voice fills his shop with verses about divine love and the pain of separation from the beloved creator of the universe.

Shaksaaz, a tailor in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar, inherited his passion for local Sufi music from his grandfather along with a meticulously preserved collection of audio cassette tapes from the 1970s, which he often listens to as he works.

He's part of a small, dedicated community that believes cassette tapes are the best way to listen to and archive the Sufi music of Indian-controlled Kashmir, where music inspired by local and central Asian Muslim saints has long been a deep expression of spirituality and emotion. Many people turn to the music for spiritual guidance, or seeking an escape from the region’s long periods of street battles, shutdowns and security clampdowns.

For decades, cassette players have carried the soul-stirring poetry of Sufi saints and the mystical melodies of Kashmiri instruments like the sarangi and santoor, and it's long been a local ritual for families to gather around the warm hum of a tape player. Even today, the region’s traditional Sufi music gatherings are often recorded only on the disappearing audio format, which was widely used from the 1970s to the 1990s.

While the music is increasingly available on digital formats, many Kashmiris say that it's best heard on cassette tapes.

“There is something unique about this machine that for me plays recordings of spiritual guides,” said Abdul Ahad, a carpet weaver. “It is a sacred ritual in itself to press the play button of a cassette player to listen to a song on spiritual moorings.”

Many of the most beloved albums were released by local record labels during the heyday of the audio cassette, but dedicated devotees of the genre are still bringing tape recorders to gatherings. Digital recorders are often unwelcome at these nightly music sessions, as Sufi music lovers say they blur together the distinct sounds of the different instruments.

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“It is a different experience to listen to music on a tape recorder," said Abdul Hamid Khan. "Tapes are smooth and you can feel the sound of every instrument, you don’t get that feel in these new players.”

Still, as tapes wear out and more music moves to digital streaming platforms and smartphones, the tactile and deeply personal listening experience of cassettes is becoming harder to keep going.

Many families have been forced to part with their players due to mechanical failures, while others struggle to preserve their cherished cassette collections, some of which hold rare and irreplaceable recordings passed down through generations. Some collectors have turned to digitizing their old recordings to safeguard them for future generations.

Only a few shops in Srinagar, the region’s main city, sell tape recorders or blank tapes, and the availability of spare parts and skilled repair technicians has drastically dwindled.

A handful of mechanics in the Kashmir Valley still cater to a dedicated population of Sufi music lovers, painstakingly restoring machines made by beloved Japanese brands like Sharp and Kenwood in the last century.

Mohammad Ashraf Matoo, a self-taught mechanic, has spent years keeping decades-old cassette players running even as spare parts become increasingly scarce. He purchases non-functional recorders to extract usable components, and manufactures some parts himself to keep his customers' devices going. Once repaired, a well-functioning tape recorder is sold for a price between $150 and $850, depending on its brand and condition.

Shaksaaz, a lifelong Sufi music devotee, called it a “personal mission” to preserve the legacy of cassette tapes.

“It is a bridge to the past, a way to remain connected to our spiritual and cultural roots in this ever modernizing and digital world,” he said.

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