Srinagar, July 4: A Kashmir musical concert that was labelled “immoral” and whose title stirred a controversy has been cancelled but it will be resurrected in a new avatar.

The concert is scheduled for the same day — tomorrow — and the cast will be the same, too. The organisers have underscored that the cancelled concert and the scheduled one are different events, though the performers will be the same.

The concert, Aagaz — the journey begins, is set to take off at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Conference, despite threats not to stage the show.

The original concert — Ilhaam, the realisation — was to be a fund-raiser for an orphanage. But Kashmir University’s Business School scrapped the show under pressure from online campaigners who denounced it as “immoral”.

The online campaign had also objected to the concert’s name, Ilhaam, which means revelations from God.

Aagaz lead artiste Saim Bhat, who has lent his voice to two songs in the upcoming Emraan Hashmi starrer Murder 2, said he received threats over phone and “anonymous Facebook accounts”. “Somebody called me and gave a long sermon saying musical concerts are banned in Islam. It was followed by a warning that I shouldn’t perform.”

But Saim, who was born and brought up in Srinagar, said he wanted to “see smiles” on the faces of the people in his state. “I can’t be scared. Youths in Kashmir want me to sing. Those who threatened me are my misguided brothers.”

Musical concerts had almost vanished from Kashmir in the early nineties after the rise of militancy, but such shows are an annual feature now.

Musaib Bhat, one of the organisers of tomorrow’s concert, said Aagaz was “an altogether different” show. “It may just be a coincidence that it is being organised on July 5. Kashmir University has got nothing to do with Aagaz, which is being organised by some individuals,” he added.

The apparent defiance came as the organisers of Ilhaam posted an apology on their Facebook page for cancelling the show.