“Within villages around Dang [Gujarat], traditional instruments and artists are waning. Cultural music and dance forms among the adivasis have evolved over centuries. Beautified by elements and nuances of their surroundings, these forms depict their very lifestyles. Played for hours together in the same tempo, music is an integral part of celebrations and mourning. […] Each instrument has a purpose and belief related to it.” – Ashleshaa Khurana in “The ailing art of adivasi music” (Times of India, 30 January 2014)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=13780
3.10. Cultural Forms of the Irula People The life cycle rituals of the Irulas are markedly different from that of the other Hindu or Christian communities. They perform the life cycle ceremonies with the help of their women by well-established cultural patterns and do not depend on outside intervention to keep itself going. They celebrate … Read more
Niranjan Mahawar, 75 [in 2012], is a self-taught ethnologist of Chhattisgarh. He spent almost five decades in southern Chhattisgarh to study the life and art of the Bastar tribes. […] Today, Mahawar — who was made famous in a series of interviews by the writer Dom Moraes — is considered an authoritative voice on central … Read more
Music has an important role in the lives of the Adivasis of the Sundarbans. Groups such as the Santal, Munda, Oraon and Ho were brought to this region by the British in the 19th century. As indentured labourers, they cleared the forests and barricaded the rivers. Their descendants now speak Bengali after decades of living … Read more
Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract There are over 476 million indigenous peoples living in 90 countries across the world, accounting for 6.2 per cent of the global population. Indigenous peoples are the holders of a vast diversity of unique cultures, traditions, languages and knowledge systems. They … Read more