Music of Kashmir
Encyclopedia
Kashmiri music reflects the rich musical heritage and cultural legacy of the Jammu & Kashmir region in India. Traditionally the music composed by ethnic Kashmiris has a wide range of musical influences in composition. Due to Kashmir's close proximity to Central Asia, Eastern Asia and Southern Asia, a unique blend of music has evolved encompassing the music of the three regions. But, overall, Kashmiri Valley music is closer to Central Asian music, using traditional Central Asian instruments and musical scales, while music from Jammu
is similar to that of North India
and Ladakh
i music is similar to the music of Tibet
.
, the rubab, the sarangi
and the nout. Chakri was also used to tell stories like fairy tales or famous love stories such as Yousuf-Zulaikha, Laila-Majnun, etc. Chakri ends with the rouf, though rouf is a dance form but few ending notes of Chakri which are played differently and on fast notes is also called Rouf.It is a very important part of the Henna Night during weddings for Kashmiri Pandits and the Kashmiri Muslims
.
s (known as maqam
), and is accompanied by a hundred-stringed instrument called the santoor
, along with the Kashmiri saz
, wasool, tabala
and sitar
. Sufiana Kalam has been popular in Kashmir since arriving from Iran
in the 15th century and has been the music of choice for Kashmiri Sufi mystics. The dance based on the sofiyiana kalam is the hafiz nagma.
. Sarangadeva
, who wrote the famous Sangeet Ratnakara, was a Kashmiri
. Music and musical instruments find mention in the earliest texts like the Nilmatapurana and Rajatarangini
by Kalhana
. The very fact that it was a Kashmiri
, Abhinavagupta
(the great philosopher), who wrote a commentary called Abhinavabharati
on Bharata's Natyashatra shows how much importance was given to music in the ancient times. The most popular folk instrument is the santoor (Shat-tantri-veena), a hundred string percussion instrument which is played by the goddess Sharada
(the goddess of learning and art in ancient Kashmir).
Henzae is a music form sung by Kashmiri Pandits on religious and cultural festivals.
A very notable santoor player from Kashmir includes the maestro Pt. Bhajan Sopori, who has also given Santoor recitals in Iran, from where the Santoor has originated. It must be noted however that the Kashmiri Santoor looks and sounds very different from the original Persian Santoor and Pt. Bhajan Sopori's family was key in adapting the Persian Santoor and creating the Kashmiri Santoor thereafter over several generations. As of today, the Santoor is a very important part of Kashmiri Music.
is the recitation of lengthy narrative
s by singers in unusual costumes.
Popular dances in Ladakh include the Khatok Chenmo (only when headed by an aristocratic family member), Kompa Tsum-tsak (meaning three successive steps), Jabro (dance steps from western Ladakh), Chaams (sacred dance by lamas), Chabs-Skyan Tses (dance carrying a pot), Raldi Tses (swordsmanship dance) and alley yaato (Zanskari Dance and Song Sequence).
Traditional music includes the instruments surna and daman (shenai and drum).
The music of Ladakhi Buddhist monastic festivals, like Tibetan music
, often involves religious chanting in Tibetan
or Sanskrit
as an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals. Yang chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables. Religious mask dances are an important part of Ladakh's cultural life. Hemis monastery
, a leading centre of the Drukpa tradition of Buddhism, holds an annual masked dance festival, as do all major Ladakhi monasteries. The dances typically narrate a story of the fight between good and evil, ending with the eventual victory of the former.
Weaving is an important part of traditional life in eastern Ladakh. Both women and men weave, on different looms. Typical costumes include gonchas of velvet, elaborately embroidered waistcoats and boots and hats. The Ladakh Festival is held every year from September 1 to 15. Performers adorned with gold and silver ornaments and turquoise headgear throng the streets. Monks wear colourful masks and dance to the rhythm of cymbals, flutes and trumpets. The yak, lion and Tashispa dances depict the many legends and fables of Ladakh. Buddhist monasteries sporting prayer flags
, display of thankas, archery competitions, a mock marriage and horse-polo are the some highlights of this festival.
Jammu
Jammu , also known as Duggar, is one of the three administrative divisions within Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state in India.Jammu city is the largest city in Jammu and the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir...
is similar to that of North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
and Ladakh
Ladakh
Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...
i music is similar to the music of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
.
Chakri
Chakri is one of the most popular types of folk music played in Jammu & Kashmir. Chakri is played with musical instruments like the harmoniumHarmonium
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...
, the rubab, the sarangi
Sarangi
The Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
and the nout. Chakri was also used to tell stories like fairy tales or famous love stories such as Yousuf-Zulaikha, Laila-Majnun, etc. Chakri ends with the rouf, though rouf is a dance form but few ending notes of Chakri which are played differently and on fast notes is also called Rouf.It is a very important part of the Henna Night during weddings for Kashmiri Pandits and the Kashmiri Muslims
Kashmiri Muslims
Kashmiri Muslims are Kashmiri people who are Muslims, currently living in Kashmir or those originally with Kashmiri kinship and descent living in Pakistan. Kashmiris are ethinically and culturally closer to central asian culture than Indian or Pakistani culture with significant influence of the...
.
Famous Chakri Players
- Ghulam Hassan SofiGhulam Hassan SofiGhulam Hassan Sofi was a singer and harmonium player of traditional music of Kashmir, India.Sofi began his career from Radio Kashmir, local station of All India Radio, in early 1950s. He also sang for the station Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar, and for the Cultural Academy, besides being part of the...
- Abdur Rasheed Hafiz
- Gulam Nabi Sheikh
- Gulam Mohammad Dar
Rouf or Wanwun
Rouf is a traditional dance form usually performed by girls on certain important occasions like Eid, marriage and other functions. Rouf includes dancing and singing simultaneously. No musical instrument is required for this. Girls arrange themselves in two or three rows, each row has four to six girls. Each row of girls then moves one step forward and then back in swaying motion while singing the Rouf song or Wanwun. Rouf is usually called wanwun when performed at marriages.Ladishah
Ladishah is one of the most important parts of the Kashmiri music tradition. Ladishah is a sarcastic form of singing. The songs are sung resonating the present social and political conditions and are utterly humorous. The singers move from village to village performing generally during the harvesting period. The songs are composed on the spot on issues relating to that village, be it cultural, social or political. The songs reflect the truth and that sometimes makes the song a bit hard to digest, but they are totally entertaining.Sufiana Kalam
Sufiana Kalam is the classical music of Kashmir, which uses its own ragaRaga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
s (known as maqam
Arabic maqam
Arabic maqām is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank. The Arabic maqam is a melody type...
), and is accompanied by a hundred-stringed instrument called the santoor
Santoor
The santoor is an ancient stringed musical instrument, native to Kashmir and Iran. It is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy two strings. The special-shaped mallets are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers...
, along with the Kashmiri saz
Baglama
thumb|180px|Cura and bağlamaThe bağlama is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
, wasool, tabala
Goblet drum
The goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....
and sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
. Sufiana Kalam has been popular in Kashmir since arriving from Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
in the 15th century and has been the music of choice for Kashmiri Sufi mystics. The dance based on the sofiyiana kalam is the hafiz nagma.
Classical
Music in Kashmir performed by Hindus is mainly influenced by Indian classical music, using instruments such as the sitarSitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
. Sarangadeva
Sarangadeva
Sarangadeva was the author of the Sangita Ratnakara, which is considered by many to be the most important work on music, after Bharata's Natya Shastra...
, who wrote the famous Sangeet Ratnakara, was a Kashmiri
Kashmiri people
The Kashmiri people are a Dardic linguistic group living in Kashmir Valley in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Pakistani territory of Azad Kashmir who speak the Kashmiri language...
. Music and musical instruments find mention in the earliest texts like the Nilmatapurana and Rajatarangini
Rajatarangini
The Rājatarangiṇī is a metrical chronicle of North west of the Indian subcontinent particularly the kings of Kashmir from earliest time written in Sanskrit by Kalhaṇa. The Rājatarangiṇī often has been erroneously referred to as the River of the Kings. In reality what Kalhana means by Rājatarangiṇī...
by Kalhana
Kalhana
Kalhana , a Kashmiri, was the author of Rajatarangini , an account of the history of Kashmir. He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be deduced from his own writing, a major scholar of which is Mark Aurel Stein...
. The very fact that it was a Kashmiri
Kashmiri people
The Kashmiri people are a Dardic linguistic group living in Kashmir Valley in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Pakistani territory of Azad Kashmir who speak the Kashmiri language...
, Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta
Abhinavagupta was one of India's greatest philosophers, mystics and aestheticians. He was also considered an important musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logician - a polymathic personality who exercised strong influences on Indian culture.He was born in the Valley of Kashmir in...
(the great philosopher), who wrote a commentary called Abhinavabharati
Abhinavabharati
Abhinavabharati is a commentary on ancient Indian author Bharata Muni's work of dramatic theory, the Natyasastra. It is the only old commentary available on this work...
on Bharata's Natyashatra shows how much importance was given to music in the ancient times. The most popular folk instrument is the santoor (Shat-tantri-veena), a hundred string percussion instrument which is played by the goddess Sharada
Sharada
Sarada or Sharada may refer to:* Another name for the Hindu goddess Saraswati* Sharada script, abugida writing system-Film:* Sharada , Bollywood film* Sharada , Telugu film...
(the goddess of learning and art in ancient Kashmir).
Henzae is a music form sung by Kashmiri Pandits on religious and cultural festivals.
A very notable santoor player from Kashmir includes the maestro Pt. Bhajan Sopori, who has also given Santoor recitals in Iran, from where the Santoor has originated. It must be noted however that the Kashmiri Santoor looks and sounds very different from the original Persian Santoor and Pt. Bhajan Sopori's family was key in adapting the Persian Santoor and creating the Kashmiri Santoor thereafter over several generations. As of today, the Santoor is a very important part of Kashmiri Music.
Ladakh
One of the main features of a Ladakh marriageMarriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
is the recitation of lengthy narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
s by singers in unusual costumes.
Popular dances in Ladakh include the Khatok Chenmo (only when headed by an aristocratic family member), Kompa Tsum-tsak (meaning three successive steps), Jabro (dance steps from western Ladakh), Chaams (sacred dance by lamas), Chabs-Skyan Tses (dance carrying a pot), Raldi Tses (swordsmanship dance) and alley yaato (Zanskari Dance and Song Sequence).
Traditional music includes the instruments surna and daman (shenai and drum).
The music of Ladakhi Buddhist monastic festivals, like Tibetan music
Music of Tibet
The music of Tibet reflects the cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan region, centered in Tibet but also known wherever ethnic Tibetan groups are found in India, Bhutan, Nepal and further abroad...
, often involves religious chanting in Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
or Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
as an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals. Yang chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables. Religious mask dances are an important part of Ladakh's cultural life. Hemis monastery
Hemis Monastery
Hemis Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Drukpa Lineage, located in Hemis, Ladakh . Situated 45 km from Leh, the monastery was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal...
, a leading centre of the Drukpa tradition of Buddhism, holds an annual masked dance festival, as do all major Ladakhi monasteries. The dances typically narrate a story of the fight between good and evil, ending with the eventual victory of the former.
Weaving is an important part of traditional life in eastern Ladakh. Both women and men weave, on different looms. Typical costumes include gonchas of velvet, elaborately embroidered waistcoats and boots and hats. The Ladakh Festival is held every year from September 1 to 15. Performers adorned with gold and silver ornaments and turquoise headgear throng the streets. Monks wear colourful masks and dance to the rhythm of cymbals, flutes and trumpets. The yak, lion and Tashispa dances depict the many legends and fables of Ladakh. Buddhist monasteries sporting prayer flags
Tibetan prayer flag
A prayer flag is a colorful panel of rectangular cloth, often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside and for other purposes. Prayer flags are believed to have originated with Bon, which predated Buddhism in Tibet. In...
, display of thankas, archery competitions, a mock marriage and horse-polo are the some highlights of this festival.
See also
- List of topics on the land and the people of "Jammu and Kashmir"
- Kashmir (song)Kashmir (song)"Kashmir" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin from their sixth album Physical Graffiti, released in 1975. It was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant over a period of three years, with the lyrics dating back to 1973.-Overview:The song centres around a signature chord progression...