Baithak Gana is a form of music originating in Suriname

Suriname

Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

 by the Hindoestanen

Hindoestanen

The Hindoestanen are an ethnic group of South Asian origin in the Netherlands and Suriname. After the Dutch government signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers, the Hindoestanen began migrating to Suriname in 1873 from what was then British India as indentured...

 community. It is a mix of Bhojpuri folk songs with other Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 influences. It is similar to Chutney music

Chutney music

Chutney music is a form indigenous to the southern Caribbean, originating in Trinidad. It derives elements from traditional Indian music and popular Trinidadian Soca music.-History:...

 that originated in Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

. The most popular exponent of the genre was Ramdew Chaitoe

Ramdew Chaitoe

Ramdew Chaitoe was a Surinamese artist and a harmonium player, who released a Chutney/Baithak Gana album called, "The King Of Suriname a.k.a The Star Of Ramdew Chaitoe" in 1967....

.

Instruments

In basic Baithak Gana there are three instruments (though there are other instruments that could be added to the ensemble), harmonium

Harmonium

A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...

, dholak

Dholak

The Dholak is a North Indian, Pakistani and Nepalese double-headed hand-drum Madal. The name dholki may also refer to a slightly different instrument that uses high-pitch tabla style syahi masala on its treble skin. This instrument is also known as Naal or Dholki....

 and the dhantal

Dhantal

The dhantal is a long steel rod which was adapted from the axle used to connect the yokes of the bullocks that transported the cane-filled carts on the estates in Trinidad and Tobago. The metal horseshoe used on the estate's horses and mules was used to strike the dhantal. In this way the dhantal...

. The harmonium is s a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. The dholak is a double headed drum that originated in Northern India, however, it is still used in the folk songs from Pakistan or Nepal. The last instrument that is used in this style of music is the dhantal which serves as the rhythmic piece of the ensemble, it consists of a long steel rod which is then "struck" by a U-formed piece, the origin of this device is unclear, as it may have been brought by the Indian indentured-workers. The origin of the dhantaal was formed from the use of a long steel rod with an almost-enclosed circle tip at the end used in the yoke of bull-driven carts that were used to transport sugar cane to guide the bulls. The U-shaped handle piece was derived the use of a horse shoe.

Places

Baithak Gana has its roots from the North Indian styles of music. The Contract labours brought this from India to South American countries and Oceania. In South America you can think of the country's: Surinam and Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

. In the Caribbean, Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 is one of the islands where this type of singing is more popular. In Oceania they mean the country Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

.
With the migration of the Hindoestanen

Hindoestanen

The Hindoestanen are an ethnic group of South Asian origin in the Netherlands and Suriname. After the Dutch government signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers, the Hindoestanen began migrating to Suriname in 1873 from what was then British India as indentured...

community Baithak Gana has been exported to Holland, the United States and Canada.