India is a land of cultural diversities. Every region in India has its own form of folk music. This rich tradition of folk music is very much alive in not just rural India, but also in some metros.
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Though one may say that music has acquired a totally different definition with the arrival of pop culture and new age cinema, there are many who would beg to differ. The realm of traditional folk music in India is very large and it is basically a countryside representation of the urban Indian society. Many people tend to mix up Indian folk music with tribal music. There is a huge difference between thee two genres of music. Read on to know about folk music of India.
Folk music is very different from classical music as well. To begin with, it is not taught in the same way as classical music is taught. Classical music usually requires a student devoting their entire life perfecting the forms of this music. Folk music is more like a daily ritual without affecting the daily lives of people. People learn it since their childhood and grow up on these songs. One can always carry on with their daily life routine while listening to or singing folk music. Most of the songs are sung in small village functions like weddings, births, etc.
Folk music also uses a number of instruments. The refined versions of these instruments are used for classical music. For instance the "Tabla", which is a very important instrument of classical music, is used in a crude form like daf, dholak or nal. The cruder versions of Sitar or Sarod are used in folk music, which are known as ektara, dotar, saringda, rabab and santur. Not all regions use the same instrument. In fact, the same instrument may not even be called by the same name every where. Most of these instruments are made of easily available material like bamboo, clay pots, empty coconut shells, etc. Most of the folk music in India is dance oriented and many popular forms of dance like Dandiya, Lavani, Garba, etc. are danced along the tunes of popular folk music. They are very enjoyable, as most of them very catchy tunes.