Music, dance and storytelling
Songs, dances, theatre, epic poetry and oral history.
Music, dance and storytelling traditions are the performances that a community passes down by ear, eye and heart: the epic poem recited by a griot, the dance in a circle at a wedding, the shadow play of Java, the ballad of a village, the lullaby of a grandmother. They carry history, law and humour in forms that people can remember. Many are linked to festivals and rites, and many are on UNESCO's lists of intangible heritage. Here they are gathered by country, with notes on who performs them and when.
Songs and dances of the people
Folk music and dance are community property: they are learnt by joining in, not by lessons, and they change a little with every generation. Circle dances, line dances and couple dances accompany harvests and weddings, and instruments such as the drum, the fiddle, the pipe and the lute are made locally. In many places, there are separate songs for work, for love, for mourning and for children, and each has its own time and place.
Stories and theatre
Oral storytelling holds a society's memory: epics, myths, fables, proverbs and riddles told by elders. Some become formal theatre, such as kabuki and noh in Japan, wayang in Indonesia, the mumming plays of Britain or the Ramlila of India, which retells the Ramayana in a month of evenings. These forms often depend on one master teaching one student, and communities and governments now support them to keep them alive.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background on Music, dance and storytelling (kind of tradition). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇱🇰 Sri LankaSanni Yakuma
A Sinhalese rite where masked dancers summon eighteen illness demons and banish themSpiritual
🇧🇩 Dhaka, Bangladesh and 1 moreBaul traditionবাউল
A Bengali devotional minstrel path uniting mystic poetry, music and dancePerformance
🇮🇳 Ahobilam, IndiaNarasimha Jayantiनरसिंहजयंती
A one-day Hindu festival marking Vishnu's man-lion avatar and the rescue of PrahladaSpiritual
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreBhajanभजनम् (bhajanam)
Devotional songs of South Asia, sung alone or together with drums and cymbalsPerformance
🇮🇳 Puri, IndiaOdissiଓଡ଼ିଶୀ
A classical dance of Odisha, told through bends, gestures and sung poetryPerformance
🇵🇰 PakistanPakistani weddingپاکستانی شادی
Weddings across Pakistan: a match is found, a contract signed, two families joinedRite of passage
🇮🇳 Trivandrum, IndiaKathakaliകഥകളി
A classical dance-drama from Kerala featuring elaborate makeup and costumes to tell epic stories.Performance
🇮🇳 Udupi, IndiaYakshaganaಯಕ್ಷಗಾನ (Kannada)
A night-long dance-drama from coastal Karnataka, with sung dialogue and drummingPerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaSattriya
A classical dance from Assam, kept in monasteries and performed on stages worldwidePerformance
🇮🇳 Imphal, India and 1 moreManipuri danceJagoi Raas, Raas Jagoi
A classical dance from Manipur, danced as an offering to Radha and KrishnaPerformance
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreKoothu
Tamil street theatre with dance, music and epic stories, staged at temple festivals.Performance
🇮🇳 IndiaMohiniyattam
A gentle solo dance from Kerala, once a temple art and now taught in dance schoolsPerformance
🇮🇳 Varanasi, IndiaHanuman Chalisaहनुमान चालीसा
A forty-stanza Awadhi hymn praising Hanuman, said by Hindus each daySpiritual
🇮🇳 Kuchipudi, IndiaKuchipudi
A classical dance-drama from Andhra Pradesh, with roots in temple and bhakti performance.Performance
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreRangoliरंगोली
Floor patterns of rice flour, sand or petals, drawn at the doorstep for festivalsCraft
🇮🇳 Lucknow, India and 1 moreKathak
A north Indian classical dance of stories, footwork and spins, from temples and courtsPerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaGuru-shishya traditionपरम्परा
The lineage system passing spiritual and artistic knowledge from master to discipleSpiritual
🇮🇳 Santiniketan, India and 1 moreRabindra Jayanti
An annual Bengali festival celebrating Rabindranath Tagore with music, drama and verseFestival
🇮🇳 Thrissur, IndiaPooram
An annual Kerala temple festival with percussion orchestras, elephants and fireworksFestival
🇮🇳 Imphal, India and 2 moreLai Haraobaꯂꯥꯏ ꯍꯔꯥꯎꯕ
A ritual dance and music festival kept by the Meitei people to please their deities.Festival
🇮🇳 IndiaPushpanjaliपुष्पाञ्जलि
A Hindu ritual of offering flowers with cupped hands, used in worship and as an opening dance.Spiritual
🇳🇵 NepalJatjatin Dance
A Mithila folk dance performed by couples to seek rain and express the sorrow of parting.Performance
🇳🇵 Kathmandu, NepalGunla Bajanगुंला बाजं
Devotional music the Newars carry through the streets during the holy month of GunlaPerformance
🇮🇳 Kozhikode, IndiaRamanattamരാമനാട്ടം
A Kerala dance drama staging the life of Rama across eight daysPerformance
🇮🇳 Mathura, IndiaKrishna legends in Kathak
The enactment of Krishna's sacred stories in Indian classical dancePerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaKalampattu
A Kerala temple offering where a five-colour floor picture is sung over and danced aroundSpiritual
🇮🇳 Palani, India and 1 moreSurasamharamSūrasaṃhāram
A temple performance of Murugan's victory, ending the week-long Kanda Shashti fastSpiritual
🇮🇳 Chennai, IndiaMadras Music Season
Nine weeks of Carnatic concerts in Chennai, from mid-November to JanuaryPerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaKathaकथा (Hindi/Sanskrit), கதை (Tamil)
A traditional Indian practice of religious storytelling and scriptural commentary, kept across Hindu and Sikh communitieSpiritual
🇮🇳 IndiaHarikathaహరికథ / ಹರಿಕಥೆ / हरिकथा
A South Indian art of telling sacred stories with song, speech and rhythmPerformance
🇮🇳 IndiaBommalattam
A shadow puppetry tradition from Tamil Nadu using carved dolls and oil lamps to tell stories.Performance
🇮🇳 Goa, IndiaVeerabhadra
A ritual dance of a fierce figure performed in Goa during the Shigmo festival and on Chaitra Poornima.Performance
🇮🇳 IndiaMarga Natya
A dance, music and acting tradition rebuilt from Bharata's Natya ShastraPerformance
🇮🇳 India and 1 morePunjabi wedding traditions
The multi-day marriage customs and rituals of Hindu and Sikh Punjabi familiesRite of passage · Sweets given and shared
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Ramanattam: JP Vets, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rabindra Jayanti: Generalstabens litografiska anstalt, Public domain, source
- Pushpanjali: Yosarian, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bommalattam: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, source
- Krishna legends in Kathak: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0, source
- Baul tradition: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, source
- Raslila: https://www.flickr.com/photos/matsukin/, CC BY 2.0, source
- Narasimha Jayanti: anonymous, Public domain, source
- Harikatha: Sanath, CC BY 2.0, source
- Rangoli: SreeramKalyan, CC0, source
- Katha: Tirlochan Singh, Public domain, source
- Guru-shishya tradition: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Sanni Yakuma: Michael Gunther, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gunla Bajan: Kamal Ratna Tuladhar, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kathak: Shinjinikulkarni, CC BY 4.0, source
- Odissi: Melolagnia28192, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pakistani wedding: Rukhsana iqbal, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kathakali: Paul Varuni, CC BY 2.0, source
- Kavadi Aattam: Raja Ravi Varma, Public domain, source
- Yakshagana: Krishnamoorthy Sudhakar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sattriya: User: Sattriyadance, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Koothu: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Mohiniyattam: Shagil Kannur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bhajan: Bootervijay at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hanuman Chalisa: RahulKSaini, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kalampattu: Ranjith A v, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kuchipudi: Augustus Binu / facebook, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Madras Music Season: Martin spaink, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lai Haraoba: Kullachandra Singh, Ngariyambam, CC0, source
- Pooram: Augustus Binu : flickr, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Jatjatin Dance: Ramesh Lalwani, CC BY 2.0, source
- Punjabi wedding traditions: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Marga Natya: Unknown author, Public domain, source