Author: Denyse Baboolal

Baithak Gana has its roots from the North Indian styles of music. It is a mix of Bhojpuri folk songs with other Caribbean influences. In basic Baithak Gana there are three instruments (though there are other instruments that could be added to the ensemble), harmonium, dholak and the dhantal. Baithak Gana is a form of…

Bhajan are songs of puja, worship, and bhakti devotion sung by devotees with fervor, love, and tenderness. The lyrics may invoke or describe a deity, praise divine attributes tell a story and solicit spiritual help in crisis and sickness. It is an important part of temple music, but it is also offered in homes and…

Chowtaal are communal songs of the Spring season. The folk singing begins on the night of Vasant Panchami and Saraswati Awana (birth of Saraswati Maa, Goddess of Knowledge creatrix and patroness of the arts January-February) and continues until Holi, Festival of Spring at Purnima, the Full Moon, beginning the month of Chaitra (March-April). Chowtaal songs…

Sohar are nativity songs offered by female singers at the birth of a sacred incarnations like Rama and Krishna. There are lullabies and cradle songs sung while devotees rock the cradle with the image of the infant deity and offer gifts. There are also sung at the birth of Hindu babies who share with their…

Three nights before the wedding, the mother of the groom accompanied only by female family and friends, except for male drummers, go in procession to the waterside, where they invoke the Water of Life and Mother Earth. Women sing, some songs with sexual innuendo and a few ribald, bawdy jokes, all associated with the theme…

A Hindu Wedding (Vivaha), is an elaborate ritual drama which is continuously recitative (chanting) and musical. Kanyadaan means gift of the maiden, a gifting ritual when the bride’s father places his daughter in his lap then leads her to her groom. Women offer a song at this time also called Kanyadaan.

Ghazals one of the most popular and common subgenres n the Indo-Caribbean local-classical repertoire, accounting or a large portion of a typical song session’s stems, and one being well represented on commercial recordings.Indo-Caribbean Ghazal resembles its sub continental counterpart, especially as flourishing in the early twentieth century. At the same time, its differences are illustrative…

‘Tillana’ is the common South Indian cognate term for ‘tarana’.

The classical Indo-Caribbean style of instrumental and vocal music is called Tan Sangeet. It is based on the 19th century regional musical classicism and religious performance in Varanasi, the Bhojpuri, and Avadhi homelands of North India, from where most indentured immigrants to the Caribbean were recruited. In comparison to other classical traditions, Tan Sangeet was…