Srinagar: Two days of Battle of the Bands, a musical competition between 21 rock groups of Kashmir, began at a stadium here today.

Organised by the CRPF and Valley Youth Expression, the competition is being held at the city's only Indoor Stadium.

Thirteen bands performed on the first day and the remaining will perform tomorrow. Some of them performed without the drums, which forced the judges to disqualify them from the competition.

Many bands constituted teenage school-going boys and many were performing live for the first time in their life.

"It is good to see new bands have come up and young boys are showing interest in music. It was nice to hear some new music and I am happy that some bands even played metal," Adnan Mohammad Mattoo, founder of the Bloodrockz band and one of the judges of the event, told PTI.

Mattoo said the Kashmiri rockers are aware of the challenges they face from the conservative society here.

"It is not impossible to change the mentality of the people here, we have to make the effort and we are making it," he said.

At the Battle of the Bands contest, most performers played rock and sufi-rock genres.

Tags: Adnan Mohammad Mattoo, Battle of the Bands, Bloodrock, competetion, CRPF, drums, Kashmir, Music, Rock Band, stadium, young bands, youth