Folk music and Dance forms of Gujarat

-Purvi Gupta

One of the folk music of Gujarat includes bhajans which is songs dedicated to gods and goddesses. And the folk music of Gujarat is known as sungam sangeet and the instruments used in the folk music includes -ektaro, Jantar, Turi, bungal, manjira etc. Gujarat has also given some of the best musicians to our country.

The enthusiastic Gujaratis have many different dance forms such as garba, dandiya Raas, garbi, padhar.

Garba is one of the most famous dance forms of Gujarat. The dance form garba is performed during the festival of Navratri one of the most famous festivals among all. Garba has various dance styles including teen Tali, dodhiyu, simple garba, popatiyu, lehree, and many more. For garba males have separate costumes and females have separate. For males it is kediyu and for females it is chaniya choli with silver or metal necklaces, mangtika, Kamar band. Chaniya choli is the traditional form of clothing for females in Gujarat. Garba symbolizes cycle of life as it is performed in circle. The term “garba” is a Sanskrit word which means “womb”. Garba is also famous even outside the India, especially in unites states.

Dandiya is a dance form which is played with sticks. This dance form is usually performed in groups in circular motion. Dandiya is performed by both man and women. And it is believed that dandiya was played by gopis.

While garba is mostly performed by females, garbi is performed by males with the use of instruments such as dhol.