Pune-based Alif featuring Mohammad Muneem Nazir-Lead Vocals and Lyricist, Karan Chitra Deshmukh on Drums, Amit Gadgil on Bass, Hardik Vaghela on Keyboards and Chaitanya Bhaidkar on Guitars fuse Kashmiri and Urdu verses with ethnic sounds. The band often compose music that offer a social commentary on the plight of the people of Kashmir.Radio City Freedom caught up with the band for a quick chat.In an interview Mohammad Muneem once said, 'The more you absorb music, the more you express', Please elaborate.Muneem: The more you absorb things and experience, you let yourself feel and then you share. Poetry and performance become our expression. It39s an inward journey with an outward experience.How hard was it to convince your family about choosing your passion as a profession despite being an engineering graduate with a degree in business administration?Muneem: For a very long time I didn39t tell them. Infact it39s only few years ago did they get to know what I do. There is nothing I can have against them. The exposure, the society that they have lived in is different from ours. Actually, one of my songs that we played on Kappa TV was in circulation on a WhatsApp group and somehow it reached my Abu. Haha it was fun!How musically inclined is Kashmir, for those who are uninformed about the state's culture?Muneem: Kashmir is starting to appreciate art. Opening up, people are expressing themselves through music and other art forms poetry etc. And it feels humbling to be part of that.How do you see the future of independent music?Hardik: Let39s not call it independent music. We prefer non film music. Yes it39s growing and more and more acts are coming out and doing what they believe in. I think there will be more solo acts in future. Unfortunately bands and band members are running out of patience. A band need to taste success and to be successful, it needs gigs as big as acts in west. The energies need to be inwards in the band. Though dynamics are changing fast, in the mainstream music industry, people are producing and arranging music on laptop. The culture to making music together is rare. It39s more of playing music together. There is a difference between playing music together and making music together. Hoping the old school comes back in the main stream. The Local Train is doing great in old school music.What does freedom mean to you?Hardik: To be able to share and say what you want to say and not what you are supposed to say.The above editorial was compiled as an initiative for the Radio City Freedom Awards 5.