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Rajasthan Folk Music & Dances

Tribal Music & Dances, Rajasthan

Music and dances are such an essential part of tribal life that professional musicians and dancers are redundant. The Garasia tribal inhabit the Abu Road and pindwara tehsils of Sirohi districts and the neighbouring terrotories of Kotra, gogunda and khewara tehsils of Udaipur districts, Bali and desuri of pali districts.

They have a folklore enriched with folktales, proverbs, riddles and folkmusic. Walar is an important dance of the Garasias which is a prototype of the Ghoomar dance. Their dances are generally accompanied by the beats of the mandal, change and a variety of other musical instruments which provide a lively rhythm to their dance sequences.

The most famous Bhil dance is the Gawari, a dance go from village to village for a month, during which the nine functionaries follow a stricts regimen. The main character are Rai Buriya, the shiva, his two rais and Katkuria, the comic handman. Between the enactment of various episodes, the entire troupe dances around a central spot consecrated to a deity.

The dance is accompanied by a Madal and a thali. The Ghoomar is the characteristic dance of the Bhils. Men and women sing alternately and move clockwise & anticlockwise giving free and intended play to the ample folds of the ghagra. The music of the primitive group of Sahariyas (Sourias) of Shasbad, Kota, shows central Indian links, with their songs speaking of Ram & Sita. The fairs of the Meenas had a lot of free dancing which is unfortunately on the wane.

Vibrant, vigorous, graceful, sinuous, plantive and marital the dance and music Rajasthan evoke the desert in all its moods. It is most lilting tribute to the spectacular beauty, the undulating sinuousness and the brutal harshness of the landscape, and to the hardiness and heroism of the people who live in this land of the Kings.