Folk Dances, Music and the Tansen Samaroh of Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh sits at the centre of the country and its performing arts are a meeting of regions. The state divides for this purpose into Bundelkhand in the north-east, Baghelkhand in the east, Malwa in the west, Nimar in the south-west, Mahakoshal and the Satpura belt in the south, and the tribal districts of Jhabua and Mandla. Each has its own dances, songs and theatre. Beside this folk layer the state carries a classical history of the first rank, because Gwalior gave Hindustani music its oldest khayal gharana and gave Akbar's court Tansen.

The folk dances, region by region

The folk theatre of Malwa is Maach, played on a raised platform with sung verse and a long opening invocation, while Bundelkhand and the Gwalior region share the Nautanki and Swang of the northern plains and Nimar has its Gammat. The songs follow the year: Faag at Holi, Alha in the rains of Bundelkhand, Sanja sung by girls of Malwa in the fortnight of the ancestors, Bambulia in Kartik, and the Nirguni songs of Kabir in the Malwa countryside. Common instruments are the nagariya and mridang of Bundelkhand, the dhap and timki of the tribal districts, the algoza flute and the bana, the fiddle of the Gond.

Tansen and the Gwalior tradition

Tansen, born Ramtanu Pandey at Behat near Gwalior, is the greatest name in the history of dhrupad. He learnt from Swami Haridas of Vrindavan and from the Sufi Muhammad Ghaus of Gwalior, served at the court of Rewa, and was then taken into the court of Akbar, where he was counted among the navratna, the nine jewels. Ragas such as Miyan ki Todi, Miyan ki Malhar and Darbari Kanada are attributed to him. He is buried at Gwalior beside the tomb of his teacher Muhammad Ghaus, and singers still speak of the tamarind tree at the grave.

Dhrupad had been nursed at Gwalior a century before Akbar by Raja Man Singh Tomar, in whose reign the treatise Man Kutuhal was compiled and whose queen Mrignayani is part of the city's legend. From the same city came the Gwalior gharana, the oldest gharana of khayal singing, out of which the later gharanas grew. Maihar in the east gave the Maihar gharana of Baba Alauddin Khan, the sarod master who taught Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan and founded the Maihar band of orphan boys. The Indore gharana is associated with Ustad Amir Khan, and Kumar Gandharva made his home at Dewas.

The festivals and the state awards

The Tansen Samaroh is held every year in the winter at Behat and Gwalior at the musician's tomb, and the National Tansen Samman for Hindustani classical music is conferred there. The Khajuraho Dance Festival in Chhatarpur district brings classical dancers to the temple complex in February. Bharat Bhavan at Bhopal, opened in 1982, holds the state's galleries, library and theatre, and the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya in the same city is the national museum of mankind. The Ustad Alauddin Khan Sangeet evam Kala Akademi and the Adivasi Lok Kala Akademi, both at Bhopal, run the state's music and tribal art work.