Music of Bihar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Music of India: Topics
Bhavageete Janapada Geete Bhakti Music Bhajane Bhangra Filmi Lavani Ghazal Baul sangeet Sufi music (Qawwali)
Timeline and Samples
Genres	Classical (Carnatic and Hindustani) - Rock - Pop - Hip hop
Awards	Bollywood Music Awards - Punjabi Music Awards
Charts
Festivals	Purandaradasa Aradhane – Kanakadasa Aradhane – Hampi Sangeetotsava – Sangeet Natak Akademi – Thyagaraja Aradhana – Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana
Media	Sruti, The Music Magazine
National anthem	"Jana Gana Mana", also national song "Vande Mataram"
Music of the states
Andaman and Nicobar Islands - Andhra Pradesh – Arunachal Pradesh – Assam – Bihar – Chhattisgarh – Goa – Gujarat – Haryana – Himachal Pradesh – Jammu – Jharkhand – Karnataka – Kashmir – Kerala – Madhya Pradesh – Maharashtra – Manipur – Meghalaya – Mizoram – Nagaland – Orissa – Punjab – Rajasthan – Sikkim – Tamil Nadu – Tripura – Uttar Pradesh – Uttaranchal – West Bengal

Bihar is a state of India. The classical form of the Indian music is already quite well known and the classical music in Bihar is but a form of the Hindustani classical music. Hence this article deals with the folk culture of Bihar which is rather distinctive.

Bihar is among the few Indian states which has a rich subaltern culture. The region's folk songs are associated with the various events in the life of an ordinary person. There are songs like sohar - performed during childbirth, sumangali - associated with wedding, ropnigeet - performed during the season of sowing paddy, katnigeet - performed during the paddy harvesting season, purbi, chaita, hori, bidesia, ghato, birha, kajari, irni/ birni, pachra, jhumar, jatsari, aalah, nirgun, and samdaun. There is also the tradition of war songs called Beer Kunwar.

The influence of Bihari music in seen in regions such as Mauritius, South Africa and the Caribbean, where a large of Bihari indentured labourers were taken as coolies during the nineteenth century.

There is a great tradition of folk songs started by Bhikhari Thakur, the redoubtable artist from the Bhojpur region.

Other wandering folk singers include the Kathaks, who travelled in groups and performed accompanied by dholak, sarangi, tamburu and majira. Other musician classes included Roshan Chouki, Bhajaniya, Kirtaniya, Pamaria and Bhakliya.