Langa and Manganiar Music

Tha Langa and Manganiar are communities of western Rajasthan which have for long practised music professionally for their living. The Langas are possibly descended from drummers in the militias of chieftains who branched off into civil work. Tha Manganiars were employed as musicians in the smaller courts before they found the patronage of the Meghawal community as singers at domestic life-cycle ceremonies. The principal feature of the music of the Langas and Manganiars is an order of ragas and talas modelled after and named as in Hindustani music but independent of the Hindustani code in performance. Regional elements colour the music strongly. It has a rich repertoire of songs of varied content. The bowed Sarangi and Kamaicha are the chief melodic accompaniments and castanets called Khartal provide the rhythm.

Bihu Dance From Assam

Bihu is a representative dance of Assam and is performed during the Bihu festival in the harvest season. The spring festival has its roots in ancient fertility cults which find expression in the songs accompanying Bihu Dance as well as in the movements of the dance. Bihu is performed by young men and women in a fast tempo to the beat of the Dhol, a drum and the wind instrument Pepa or flute. The Bihu festival also ushers in the sowing season after the harvest and the time for marriages in rural society.
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Yakshagana Dance From Karnataka

Yakshagana is the principal traditional theatre of Karnataka and is practiced widely in the coastal districts of the state. It draws upon epic and religious lore for its content - The MAhabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavatha or Puranas - and chooses its episodes or prasangas particularly for the moral instruction they hold for common folk. The prasangas are enacted with great vigour using a most appealing mis of music, dance, improvised speech and dazzling costume. In all these aspects as in its language of gesture and expression and make-up, Yakshagana has evolved to High artistic distinction since it took shape around the sixteenth century. There are today some forty Yakshagana repertory companies or mandalis, giving around two hundred performances individually every year.
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Theyyam Dance From North Kerala

Theyyam is a shamanistic ritual performed, in its native context, in temples and sacred groves to propitiate dieties who may be heroic, mythological or divine beings. The performer acts as a medium between the diety and the devotee. Fantastic headdresses and costumes, body-painting and the trance-like enactment characterize Theyyam performance. The musical accompaniments are the Chanda drum, cymbals called Elathalam and the Kuzhal horn. The performer along with drummers recites the ritual song narrating the legend of the diety propitiated. Theyyam is performed only by men of a given caste.
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Thang-ta Dance From Manipur

Thang-ta is combat using sword and spear, which weapons thang and ta stand for. This martial art of the Meiteis originates in military practices from Manipur's medival past, when the independent state was often at war with its neighbours. Manipur was annexed by the British and merged with the Indian Union in mid-twentieth century, when Thang-ta began to be performed for audiences.
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Singhi Chham from Sikkim

The Singhi Chham or dance of the snow lion, pays homage to the Kanchenjunga peak in the Himalayas, the guardian diety of the Sikkimese and the five smaller peaks that surround it. Bathed in sunlight on tis flanks, the Kanchenjunga takes on the look of a lion with fiery mane - the snow lion of Sikkimese legend. The dance with its enormous masks brings the mythic figure to life as it enacts the legend around Singhi Chham. It is performed at harvest time, ushering in the new year and is especially associated with the Bhutias of Sikkim.
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Sammi Dance From Western Punjab

The Sammi Dance which possibly has origins in nomadic tribal society in the western part of Punjab, now in Pakistan, has taken on a new life on the stage in recent times. A women's dance, it builds its theatrical context based on certain foci of the communal life of village women and though a narration of the romance of Sammi, a legendary heroine, gives voice to their inner emotion. The dance is performed to a repertoire of songs special to Sammi. The Dhol provides the rhythm.
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Raibenshe Nach From West Bengal

The Raibensche Nach, a vigorous dance by men with stout bamboo sticks, originates in martial practices in the heartland of West Bengal. Performed to a quick rhythm, the dance is accompanied by drumming on the Dhol and Dhamsa.
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Pandavani From Chhattisgarh

Pandavani is a popular form of narration of the epic Mahabharata, focusing on particular episodes for elaboration. The narrator sings the story and enters into religious discourse addressed to the audience, using mime and dance movements. Two or three musicians accompany the main performer. They sing the refrain of the songs, comment on the narration and ask questions to emphasize focal parts of the discourse, enhancing the dramatic character of the performance. A Pandavani artist can improvise on a theme or episodes for hours. The musical instruments accompanying the artist are the Tabla and cymbals called Manjira. Traditionally, Pandavani was performed only by men. Since around the 1980s, women have also entered the field.
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Mayur Dance From Rajasthan

The Mayur or peacock dance is created from an episode in the love lore of Radha and Krishna: Radha, pining for Krishna after a brief separation, decides to console herself by the sight of peacocks, whose feathers Krishna wears on his crown, at the Mor Kuti pavilion. Krishna, knowing her mind from adar, playfully causes the peacocks to disappear, leaving Radha distraught. He eventually yields to Radha's entreaties and himself appears in the guise of a peacock to dance with his beloved.
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Lavani From Maharashtra

Lavani is a popular theatrical entertainment employing song and dance. It is performed by women to catchy tunes and a brisk rhythm provided by the Dholak, a common drum. Commanding audiences in town and country, Lavani has in the past commented on social issues, politics and religion, serving as a vehicle for the work of leading Marathi poets. In campaigns of Maratha armies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Lavani performances have provided entertainment to troops.
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Kathakali Dance From Kerala

Kathakali or 'story-play' took shape in Kerala in the seventeenth century. Stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata mainly provide its content. The theatre form divides its characters according to their nature and employs make-up and costume to build them up as larger-than-life, symbolic entities: the faces of actors are painted according to the type they represent. The main feature of Kathakali costume is a large, billowing skirt for male characters and various elaborate head dresses. The actor's performance is speechless: the liberetto is sung by two singers on the stage, while a pair of drummers also on stage play the Chenda. The story is enacted by actors using an established vocabulary of facial expressions and hand gestures.
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Kalbelia Dance From Rajasthan

This is the dance of the womenfolk of the Kalbelia community of Rajasthan, snake-catchers and snake-charmers by occupation. It is performed to the melody of the Been, the snake-charmer's pipe and a frame-drum to keep the rhythm. The movements are circular and swaying, suggesting those of the snake which in traditional contexts could be seen in the background with the Been-player. Since this street show transfered t the stage, the dance has accelerated in tempo, acquired its dark cosutme and added accompaniments such as the bowed Sarangi, flute and the Jew's harp called Morachhang.
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Hudo Dance From Gujarat(Tarnetar)

This is a dance traditionally performed in the fair at Tarnetar, a small village in Gujarat where young women chose their consorts. The young men who wish to be chosen come to the fair with colourful, beautifully embroidered umbrellas. They also wear equally colourful embroidered jackets. After choosing the consorts, the men and women perform Hudo. They form rows facing each other and dance to music provided by drums, flutes and other musical instruments. The tempo is fast and while dancing the young women clap on the palms of the men.
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Dandiya Raas From Gujarat

Dandiya Raas is a simple, rhythmic dance performed by young people moving around a circle in masured steps to the beat of Dandiya or sticks that they carry in their hands. The rhythm is maintained by the clacking sticks, with clapping hands keeping pace. The Dandiya Raas is performed with traditional songs and folk tunes to the beat of the Dhol and the wind instrument Shehnai.
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Chari Dance from Rajasthan

The Chari or pot dance is performed by women in groups of four or more, balancing flaming brass pots on their heads. The movements are circular, the backs are gently bent and as the women dance to the rhythm of the Dhol and the aerophone Bankiya, their hands and arms bent or extended register responses to the accompanying Chirni songs using a basic vocabulary of gesture and movement. The dance is particularly connected with the Kishangarh district of Rajasthan.You can get more information about this dance here

Cheraw Dance From Mizoram

Cheraw is the distinctive dance of the mizos and was performed in the past to ensure a safe passage for the departed souls of mothers who died at childbirth. Today, Cheraw dance is performed at harvest frstivals, marriages and other happy occasions, where it has a role of sanctifying the proceedings. Long bamboo sticks are used in the dance, held crosswise on the ground by nen who sit facing each other. The female dancers step alternately in and out of the spaces between the bamboo staves, which clack shut as the dancers, feet lift out of them. This clacking marks the rhythm of the dance.


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