Music of Jammu and Kashmir

Music of Jammu and Kashmir reflects a rich musical heritage and cultural legacy of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Two different regions of Jammu and Kashmir consists the Jammu region and Kashmir Valley. Music of Kashmir Valley has influences of Central Asian music while music from Jammu region is similar to that of other regions of North India.
Sufiana Kalam is the classical music of Kashmir, which uses its own maqams, and is accompanied by the Rubab, the Kashmiri saz, the Santoor, the wasool and the dokra. The dance based on the sofiyiana kalam is the hafiz nagma.
Chakri is one of the most popular types of traditional music played in Jammu & Kashmir. Chakri is a responsorial song form with instrumental parts, and it is played with instruments like the harmonium, the rubab, the sarangi, the Ghatam which is popularly known as Noet In Kashmiri, the geger, the tumbaknaer and the chimta. It is performed in folk and religious spheres, by the Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits. 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 (Ma'enzi raat) during weddings.
Henzae is a traditional and ancient form of singing which is practiced by Kashmiri Pandits at their festivals. It appears to have archaic features that suggest it is the oldest form of Kashmiri folk singing.
Rouf is a traditional dance form usually performed by women on certain important occasions like marriage and other functions and also in cultural activities.
: In Kashmiri language, the normal meaning of ‘Nai’ is related to flute. In Kashmiri folk music, the prevalence of Nai is older than two thousand years as we get its description in Nilamata Purana. "Punyahved shabdin vansi venurvenaya sut magadh shabden tatha vandisvanenc" Nilamata Purana described banshi as well as venu and in the modern era even the Kashmiri artists, especially of Anantnag, are proficient in playing two types of flutes.
1. The first type of flute is empty from inside and there are seven holes for seven musical notes. While playing it, fingers of both the hands are used. This type of flute is more prevalent in the folk life.
2. The second type of flute is also called 'Pi-Pi' in Kashmiri language. This type of flute is made of walnut’s wood. Even this flute has seven holes but the hole from where the air is blown is absent, but its adjacent hole is put into the mouth and blown. The player sees the seven holes clearly. This instrument is used more conveniently and the player does not get tired soon. This type of flute is more famous in Kashmir.
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 to 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.
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. A favorite traditional 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).
Notable santoor players from Jammu and Kashmir include Shivkumar Sharma, from Jammu, and Bhajan Sopori from the Kashmir Valley.
Music in Jammu division is diverse with essence of both mountains and plains. Musical instruments of Jammu include flute, ektara, dafla, sarangi, Chang, narsingha, kansiya etc.
Traditional music includes: