Indian folk music is diverse because of India's enormous cultural and traditional diversity. It is sung in various languages and dialects throughout the length and breadth of this vast nation and exported to different parts of the world owing to migration.
Allah Jilai Bai was a folk singer from Rajasthan, India.
Komal Kothari (1929–2004) was an Indian folklorist and ethnomusicologist. Komal Kothari had devoted his life to investigation and documentation of folk traditions of western Rajasthan. Kothari received the honour of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan from the Government of India. Komal Kothari painstakingly worked to preserve the cultural memory and made numerous recordings of folk music. He studied Langa and Manganiyar communities of folk musicians of Thar desert. Komal Kothari was not only a scholar but also a man of action. He co-founded Rupayan Sansthan - Rajasthan Institute of Folklore, in 1960 in the village of Borunda. The institution houses a repository of recordings by Kothari and works to collect, preserve, and disseminate the oral traditions of Rajasthan. Kothari was co-editor of the journal Lok Sanskriti, a journal based on the theme of folk culture. Besides, Kothari arranged international performances of folk artists from Rajasthan in several countries. His monograph on Langas, a folk-musician caste in Rajasthan, was enlivened by an accompanying album of recordings of twelve folk songs sung by Langa artistes. His understanding of desert culture and its connections with ecology endeared him to the environmentalists. He planned a museum based on the ecology of the broom’, to show the technical use of specific types of desert grass for specific purposes. His vision was actualised in the form of Arna Jharna - The Thar Desert Museum of Rajasthan in Borunda, near Jodhpur. Kothari was a scholar of patterns of culture and his expertise enriched both folklore studies and history.
The Manganiar are a Muslim community found in the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan, India; mostly in the districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer, and in the districts of Tharparkar and Sanghar in the bordering province of Sindh in Pakistan.
Krishna Mohan Bhatt is a sitar player, teacher and scholar from Jaipur, India.
Vijaydan Detha, also known as Bijji, was a noted Indian writer of Rajasthani literature. He was a recipient of several awards including the Padma Shri and the Sahitya Akademi Award.
The culture of Rajasthan includes many artistic traditions that reflect the ancient Indian way of life. This historical state of India attracts tourists and vacationers with its rich culture, tradition, heritage and monuments.
Rajasthani people or Rajasthanis are a group of Indo-Aryan peoples native to Rajasthan, a state in Northern India. Their language, Rajasthani, is a part of the western group of Indo-Aryan languages.
Mand or Maand is a style of singing in Rajasthan, used in folk songs. It is similar to the thumri and the ghazal.
Kesariya Balam is an Indian folk song from Rajasthan. It is one of the most popular Rajasthani folk music narrations. The song is sung in Mand singing style.
Rajasthanis are predominantly Hindu, Muslims and Jains. However, regardless of their religious segments, Muslim, Hindu and Jain Rajasthanis mingle with each other socially. Most Rajasthani Hindus are vaishnavas, however, Durga and her avatars are equally worshiped throughout Rajasthan. Oswals are predominantly Jains but small section of vaishnava Oswals are also found.
Rajasthan Ratna is the highest civilian award of Rajasthan. Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex is eligible for the award.
Rajasthan International Folk Festival is an annual music and art festival organized to promote traditional folk music and arts held at Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
Sakar Khan (1938–2013) was an Indian musician, considered by many as the greatest exponent of the Kamayacha, a Rajasthani version of the Persian musical instrument of the same name, popular among the Manganiar community of the Indian desert state. The Government of India honoured Khan in 2012, with the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri.
The musical instruments of Rajasthan include: ravanahatha, kamaicha, Sindhi sarangi, morchang, algoze, bin, nagphani,, bankia, tarpi, chautara, ghara, jantar, chikara, ektara, murali, murli, gujari sarangi, deru, bapang, bhapang and khartal.
Veena Music is a music label based in Rajasthan, India. It is owned by K. C. Maloo and is headquartered at Jaipur. Since its establishment, it has released many albums in Rajasthani and Hindi languages. and has also acquired music rights of many Rajasthani films. Its main aim is to promote true Rajasthani music in today's music scenario of adulterated, poor and high-noise music. It was established 25 years ago, and has since been a pioneer in fostering Rajasthani music through its albums and various cultural programmes held across the state and abroad.
Swaraag is an Indo-Western Fusion band based in Rajasthan, India known for its traditional Rajasthani as well as western music. It comes from Swa-self, raag-raga. The band is founded by Arif Khan and Pratap Singh in 2014. The traditional music instruments such as Khartal-Morchang and Zitar make the band unique. They gained fame through his various live performances.
Mame Khan is an Indian playback and folk singer from Rajasthan, India. He has been playback singer for numerous Hindi films such as Luck By Chance (2009), I Am (2010), No One Killed Jessica (2011), Mirzya (2016) and Sonchiriya (2019). Khan was featured on Coke Studio @ MTV along with Amit Trivedi, the duo performed the track Chaudhary. He received the Best Folk Single Award at Global Indian Music Academy Awards (GiMA) 2016. Mame Khan was first ever Folk artist to walk the Red Carpet at The Cannes Film Festival in 2022 and to perform at the Indian pavilion at Cannes. Mame Khan's most recent folk, Sufi, fusion album named "Desert Rose" was released on 13 October 2022.
Bhanwari Devi is a folk singer from Rajasthan, India. She belongs to the Bhopa community, and has gained wide recognition for her performances of traditional and folk music from Rajasthan.
Arna Jharna Museum is a folk museum located in a village called Moklawas near Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The museum opened in 2000 under the aegis of Rupayan Sansthan. It is a Museum of Folk Culture envisioned by eminent folklorist and ethno-musicologist, Padma Bhushan Komal Kothari. Arna Jharna literally means Forest and Spring. Its location showcases the terrain of Marwar region through rocky outcrops, desert cacti, and ravines.
