Folk Dances from Jammu and Kashmir

Kud is a typical community dance performed in the middle mountain ranges of Jammu. During the rainy season, when the maize is harvested, the villagers come down from the nearby hills and gather in the vicinity of the gramdevata, the presiding deity of the village. To express their gratitude for protecting their crops, cattle, and children from natural calamities, the farmers dance Kud for the diety. Men, women and children wearing their best dress gather around a bonfire for the nightlong festivities. The musical accompaniment is provided by Dhauns, the drum, Bansiri, the bamboo flute, Ransingha, a kind of trumpet. The costume of the dancers vary from place to place as do the song sung while dancing. The Kud is usually danced all night on moonlight nights.

Unlike other places, Laddakh has a traditional marriage custom in which the bride comes to the groom’s house for the marriage. Dance, accompanied by specific songs, is performed when the bride is being brought to the groom’s house. The dancers are called Neyopa. They wear distinctive traditional dresses with equally distinctive and fascinating jewellery. The leader of the group called Neokkpun has to be an expert vocalist with a wide-ranging repertoire of folk songs, especially those sung during the different stages of the marriage.

The accompanying musicians usually belong to the Mon community. The musical instruments are : Surnai, a double-reeded wind instrument similar to Shehnai, and Damama a pair of bowl shaped drum much like the Nagada of North India. In olden days the Damamas were carried on the back of a yak.

This is a joyous dance performed only by girls in Kashmir valley when the spring season majestically approaches the valley with all its grandeur. The dances the songs that the dancers sing are basically romantic in character. In Rauf the girls stand in two rows facing each other. The dancers of each row interlock themselves by putting the hands at the back side of the flanking two dancers. The stepping and dance movements are simple. On the rhythmic beats they come one step forward and on the next beat go backward. Their torsos are, delicately and lyrically, bent forward and backward in consonance with the stepping.