The sound not meant to be music

The Zoroastrians, or Parsis, a small religious community in Pakistan numbering around 900 people, are facing the imminent disappearance of their ancient oral music tradition. This tradition, older than Sanskrit devotional music and transmitted through priests' memory, was never meant for beauty but for religious purpose, and is now threatened by the community's dwindling, aging population and lack of successors. The Parsis, whose roots trace back to Gujarat after their ancestors fled Persia in the 7th century, significantly contributed to modern Karachi's development, building schools and hospitals. Their cultural and linguistic heritage is deeply connected to their Gujarati past, with their presence in what is now Pakistan being a relatively recent colonial-era development.