Folk Music of North

Music that is not orthodox Carnatic or Hindustani.
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vgovindan
Posts: 1865
Joined: 07 Nov 2010, 20:01

Folk Music of North

Post by vgovindan »

India's folk tradition of poetry and music has contributed a lot to the Nation's harmony even amidst turbulence of foreign invasions and oppression, and of course exploitation. This is particularly relevant to North India where the effects of foreign - read Moghal - invasion was acutely felt; South was relatively saved, thanks to the sacrifices by our Northern counterparts.

Of all, Kabir was a very influential person and his dohas are legendary. I was fascinated by Kabir's dohas, through cassettes of Hari Om Saran. Of late, Shabnam Virmani has made a significant contribution in this area. She journeyed through North India - particularly in troublesome areas of Rajasthan, Punjab, Sindh - troublesome because the effects of Partition were felt acutely there - where many Sufi saints - like Bulle Shah etc - lived and built communal harmony. The folk music tradition there transcends caste, community and religions. This wonderful harmony is something that we, Indians cherish.

The musical aspect of it, which does away with the rigid structures of traditional classical Music and flows like direct conversation with such bhAva that touches your heart, where more often than not, the traditional music rendered in musical circles fails. A more direct appeal, rather than embellishments is what understood by the so called 'unlettered', but for whose steadfast holding to the dharma, the country's fabric would have been torn apart and we would have become another Philippines or Indonesia or South America.

Here in the link given below, in the folk music of Kabir, Shabnam Virmani spells out in a few words what Upanishads take verses upon verses. (The intention here is not to decry Upanishads, but to point out that the essence of them need to percolate to common man in the language he understands. They - Upanishads - remaining in the safe custody and purity does not serve the real purpose.)

In the song of Kabir, in which she effortlessly describes four Rams sung in simple folk music, touched my heart - யான் பெற்ற இன்பம் இவ்வையகம் பெறுக.

Lyrics and meaning link is also given.

https://youtu.be/84RDvFIkc68

https://sites.google.com/site/kabirinso ... ram_biraje

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