By Nafiz Sadik
Traditional / folk music of Bangladesh
Bangladesh is a small country with a large population. But compare to the size, the folk and traditional music in Bangladesh is huge and diverse. Bangladesh was under the territory of Pakistan although don’t have any borders. Each one reside on one side of India. Its name was East Pakistan and it was a provincial state of Pakistan that existed in the Bengal region. The majority of the country are Muslims.
The folk music of Bangladesh is diverse and vary from region to region. The folk music has a long history in each region and depend on people works and what they do the folk music genre changes. For example Bhatiali is folk music genre in Bangladesh which sung by boatmen. The lyrics traditionally are about fishing, boating and the river or Baul and Ghazal are music from the Sufis. Sari gan is another form which is work song and sing by different type of workers including boatmen.
Many of the folk music genres in Bangladesh are influenced by rich poetry of Bangladesh. Rabindranath Tagore was one of the most important characters who reshaped Bengali literature and music. Or another example is Nazrul Geeti folk genre which mainly are songs written and composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam. Lalon Fokir was a saint, songwriter and thinker in 18th and 19th century who inspired and influenced many poets, social and religious thinkers including Rabindranath Tagore Kazi Nazrul Islam and many others.
The Indian classical music or Hindustani classical music are also very common in Bangladesh. In fact Bangladeshi classical music is based on modes called raga and they are different variation of Hindustani Classical Music. Most of instruments used in Bangladeshi classical music are the same as the ones which are used in India. Allauddin Khan and his son Ali Akbar Khan, are two important Hindustani Classical musicians from Bangladesh.
Some folk instrument which are used in Bangladesh are sitar, sarod, esraj(kind of bow instrument), ektara(“one string”), dotara(“two string”), bansuri (kind of flute), duggi(kind of drum), dhak(kind of drum), dhol(another kind of drum) and many more…
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