Sanbok, a music teacher at the Jeebon Roy Memorial Creative Arts Akademi Shillong, expresses the Khasi community’s sense of self-esteem. Folk instruments like the duitara are part of this tradition. They are therefore taught within the family at a young age. The discipline required for the learning of music is seen as benefitting one’s family just as society as a whole. At the same time, the materials used for musical instruments remind him of the need for living in harmony with nature which has always mattered to Khasis like him.

Duration: 01:31 – Researched and filmed by Gayatri Indira Vijaysimha and Dev Narayan Chaudhuri (Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai) © 2010. This is a cutout of their video documentary on the Khasi music of Meghalaya edited for the Tribal Cultural Heritage in India Foundation. 

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