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EveryParampara

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.

About this page

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.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast
🇸🇦 Jenadriyah, Saudi ArabiaJenadriyahمهرجان الجنادرية A two-week Saudi cultural festival of camel racing, folk dance, poetry, and craftsFestival 🇪🇸 Pamplona, Spain and 5 moreProcessional giants Towering costumed figures carried through town streets during communal festivalsFestival 🇮🇳 India and 2 moreSohrai A harvest and cattle observance kept by indigenous communities in eastern IndiaSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreMummers' play A comic folk drama of staged combat, death, and revival by an eccentric doctorPerformance 🇨🇭 Vevey, SwitzerlandFête des Vignerons A once-in-a-generation wine festival and arena spectacle in Vevey, SwitzerlandFestival · Tea, coffee and drinking ceremonies 🇲🇰 Galičnik, North MacedoniaGaličnik Wedding FestivalГаличка свадба An annual village wedding festival celebrated every July in North MacedoniaFestival 🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain and 2 moreDiada de Sant Jordi A Catalan feast day of literature and love, marked by giving books and red rosesFestival 🇮🇳 Kolkata, IndiaDurga Puja in Kolkataকলকাতার দুর্গাপূজা The grand annual autumn festival honouring the mother goddess Durga across KolkataSpiritual 🇮🇳 Kohima, IndiaHornbill Festival A ten-day December gathering of Nagaland's ethnic groups, held at Kisama near KohimaFestival 🇱🇰 Kandy, Sri LankaEsala Perahera A Sri Lankan procession of sacred relics, drummers and elephants honouring the BuddhaSpiritual 🇮🇳 Guwahati, IndiaBohag Bihu A multi-day Assamese New Year festival of cattle rites, music, gifts and feastsSeasonal · Feasts and festival meals 🇮🇳 Chidambaram, India and 1 moreThiruvathira A Hindu festival celebrating Shiva's cosmic dance, observed in Tamil Nadu and Kerala with fasting, processions, and dancFestival 🇹🇳 Douz, TunisiaInternational Festival of the Sahara A four-day gathering celebrating desert life, horse racing and poetry in Douz, TunisiaFestival 🇵🇭 Kalibo, PhilippinesAti-Atihan A week of drumbeats, street dancing, and devotion to the Infant Jesus in AklanFestival 🇵🇭 Baguio, PhilippinesPanagbenga Festival A month-long flower festival and parade in the mountain city of BaguioFestival 🇪🇸 Valencia, SpainCremà The ceremonial burning of large artistic street monuments across the Valencian communityFestival 🇵🇭 Iloilo City, PhilippinesDinagyang FestivalDinágyang An annual festival of drumming, street dance and devotion to the Santo Niño in Iloilo.Festival 🇷🇴 Romania and 1 moreColindă A Romanian and Moldovan Christmas carol tradition where village groups sing Nativity songs door to door.Festival 🇪🇹 Mekelle, EthiopiaAshendaአሸንዳ An Ethiopian festival celebrating women and girls with song, dance and tall grass attireFestival 🇬🇾 Georgetown, GuyanaMashramani Guyana's national republic celebration filled with street pageantry, music and dance.Festival 🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreLezginkaЛезгинка (Russian) · Лезги кьуьл (Lezgian) A fast dance of the North Caucasus, solo or in pairs, named for the Lezgin peoplePerformance 🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom and 6 moreBoishakhi Melaবৈশাখী মেলা A Bengali New Year fair in London each May, with a parade, music and food stallsFestival 🇹🇹 Port of Spain, Trinidad and TobagoCanboulay An early Trinidadian celebration that shaped modern Carnival and calypso musicFestival 🇨🇺 Remedios, CubaParrandas Central Cuban street festivals featuring district rumba music, floats and fireworksFestival 🇭🇷 Konavle, Croatia and 2 moreOjkanje A throat-shaking style of folk singing from Croatia's Dinaric highlandsPerformance 🇪🇸 Seville, SpainSeville FairFeria de Abril de Sevilla A week-long spring festival in Seville of carriage parades, marquee tents and dancingFestival · Dinner 🇧🇪 Aalst, BelgiumAalst CarnivalAalst Carnaval A three-day street carnival of satire, costumed parades and folk rituals in AalstFestival 🇯🇲 Kingston, Jamaica and 5 moreReggae A Jamaican music of the late 1960s: a slow beat, a deep bass line and Rastafari rootsPerformance 🇬🇷 Patras, GreecePatras CarnivalPatrino karnavali A winter carnival of parades, street games and satirical floats in western GreeceFestival 🇨🇦 Montreal, CanadaMontreal International Jazz FestivalFestival international de Jazz de Montréal A ten-day summer jazz festival filling downtown Montreal with free and ticketed concertsPerformance 🇹🇷 Istanbul, TurkeyTurkish folk dance Regional line and circle dances of Turkey, each with its own step and rhythmPerformance 🇱🇻 Riga, Latvia and 4 moreLatvian Song and Dance FestivalVispārējie latviešu Dziesmu un Deju svētki A grand gathering of choirs, dancers and folk artists held every five years in LatviaPerformance 🇺🇾 Montevideo, Uruguay and 3 moreMurga A lively Carnival musical theatre of chorus, percussion and social satirePerformance 🇨🇳 ChinaMuqamمۇقام A Uyghur modal system of melody types, and the twelve long cycles built on itPerformance 🇪🇸 Seville, SpainFlamenco The song, guitar and dance of Andalusia, kept by gitano and other Spanish families.Performance 🇮🇱 Israel and 4 moreTorah readingקריאת התורה The public reading of the Torah scroll in synagogue, chanted to a special tuneSpiritual 🇰🇵 Pyongyang, North Korea and 4 moreMass games Disciplined, large-scale gymnastic spectacles celebrating unity and national prideCeremony 🇨🇾 Pano Lefkara, CyprusLefkara lace Cut-and-stitch needle lace from two villages in Cyprus, once made for brides' dowriesCraft 🇨🇺 Santiago de Cuba, CubaCarnival of Santiago de CubaCarnaval A summer street celebration of percussion troupes, dancing, and parades in eastern CubaFestival 🇵🇰 PakistanShandur Polo Festivalشندور چوگان میلہ A three-day mountain polo competition played with freestyle rules in northern PakistanGame 🇬🇧 Abbots Bromley, United KingdomAbbots Bromley Horn Dance A September folk dance in an English village featuring dancers with reindeer antlers and a hobby horse.Performance 🇧🇴 Oruro, Bolivia and 3 moreDiabladaDanza de los Diablos An Andean masked dance depicting a battle between devils and the Archangel MichaelPerformance 🇷🇴 Bucharest, Romania and 7 moreHorahoră (Romanian), хоро (Bulgarian), оро (Macedonian), הורה (Hebrew) A circle dance from Southeast Europe, danced at weddings and festivalsPerformance 🇬🇪 GeorgiaBerikaobaბერიკაობა An improvised Georgian folk theatre and masquerade of fertility, satire and dramaPerformance · Feasts and festival meals 🇫🇮 Helsinki, FinlandKalevala DayKalevalan päivä A Finnish national flag day celebrating the country's epic poetry and living artsCeremony 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 3 moreHosay An Indo-Caribbean Muharram commemoration with ornate floats, drumming and processionsSpiritual · Fasting and breaking the fast 🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreTuvan throat singing A style of singing from Tuva where one voice sounds a drone and a melody at oncePerformance 🇾🇪 Hadhramaut, Yemen and 1 moreJambiyaجنبية A short curved dagger worn at the waist by Yemeni men, its handle a sign of statusDress
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Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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