Video | Santal flute played by Gokul Hansda: Reviving traditional culture in Santal villages around Santiniketan – West Bengal

Gokula Hansda – Santal bamboo flute (Har tiriyo)

Gokula Hansda is a Santal educator and co-founder of Kulhidhuri, an organization devoted to preserving and reviving traditional Santal culture. Its members collect and sing traditional Santal songs at festivals throughout West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

They wish to re-establish these songs as part of the informal education of village boys and girls. By doing so, they oppose the unfortunate trend perceivable in most Santal villages, viz. to replace Santal songs by Hindi film music and pop songs. They try to weaken the influence of video shows rampant in Santal villages which threaten to tear apart the very fabric of these village communities. It is not averse to modernising Santal songs by including contemporary themes and more rhythmic melodies.

To learn more about Kulhidhuri, click here >>

The Santal people love music and dance. Like other Indian people groups, their culture has been influenced by mainstream Indian culture and by Western culture, but traditional music and dance still remain. Santal music differs from Hindustani classical music in significant ways. […]

The Santal traditionally accompany many of their dances with two drums: the Tamak’ and the Tumdak’. The flute was considered the most important Santal traditional instrument and still evokes feelings of nostalgia for many Santal. […]

Source: Santal music – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Address : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santal_music
Date Visited: Thu Feb 23 2012 19:13:14 GMT+0100 (CET)

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To locate the Museum of Santal Culture in Bishnubati village (near Santiniketan) on the map seen below, open by clicking on the left button: