Music and Dance

Folk Music and Dance form a vital part of Rajasthan's rich culture. Songs are used to describe the legendary battles that the Rajput rulers won fighting bravely. Music and Dance provides identity as well as entertainment from the daily life of the dry land. The amazingly rich music has an extraordinary individuality, tradition and flavour, which gives a unique feature and quality to the different musical sounds, and a certain rhythms that does not fail to fascinate the listener.


Folk Music
The Folk songs are commonly Ballads which relate the heroic deeds and the love stories. It also includes the devotional songs known as Bhajans and Banis and accompanied by percussion instruments such as ektaras or Dhalaks. The communities of Dhadhis, the Dholis, the Mangamars and the Nats are professional singers . The Muslim Mirasis specialise in folk music called Mands which are similar to classical singing.


Instruments
» Dhol - The most common instruments in the villages is the Dholak or the Dhol. Made out of Goat skin,one end is beaten with a stick while another end played with the hand. The smaller version is called the Dholak which is one of the most common in Northern India. Another type of the drum is the ektara, which is played during the devotional functions.

» Matas - These are played in pairs by two musicians. The Mata looks like a earthen pot with a skin stretched over the opening. A popular instruments of the Bhopas, the renowned story telling caste. The Chara is an earthen pot, but the mouth is left open. At times the musician blow in to this space creating a deep resonance with a booming sound.

» Naupat - The instrument is played during marriage ceremonies and consists of two drums, a Nagada, the male form and the Jheel, the female form. The Khazari is a small drum encircled with bras or iron bells traditionally played by the Kalbelias.

» Rawanahattha - The two string bowed instrument is played by the Bhopas in honour of their Deity, Pabuji. One among the two strings is made out of horse hairs and the other from several twisted threads. The bow is made from a coconut shell and the main body from bamboo.

» Sarangi - The instrument has various types. The Sindhi Sarangi is used to accompany Sarangiya Langas. A smaller version is the Gujrati sarangi and there is the Jogiya Sarangi generally played by snake charmers who hail from the district of Barmer and Jodhpur.

Dance
Most tribal groups in Southern Rajasthan practice the age old forms of Folk dances. The Ghoomer is a typical ceremonial dance performed only by the women folks in festivals and weddings accompanied by kettledrums. A new bride on entering her husband home for the very first time has to perform the Ghooma as a ritual.

» Sapera Dance - This curvaceous dance is performed by the Kalbeliya or the Snake Charmer community. The Dancers wear long , black skirts embroidered with silver ribbons. Upon spinning a circle their body sways in an acrobatic manner.

» Terah-Taali Dance - The Dancers dances with Thirteen Cymbals that give rhythm to the intricate movements of the Performer. They give a synchronous body movement with the accompanying musical instrument and the devotional singing. Nine cymbals are fastened on the right leg, seven between the knee and the ankle, and the rest on the toes and the arms. With the fast movement the the cymbals tinkle and the image of the rocking performer is very lovely to see.

» Kachchi Ghodi - Performed mainly by the men-folk of the Bavariia, kumhar and Sargara communities ,the dance is associated with marriage festivals called kachchi- Ghodi. The roots goes to the Martial communities where four to five persons are seen as if riding horses. The horse is made of bamboo sticks and baskets beautifully decorated.