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The
musical map of Punjab
Introduction
Ab means "water" and by extension, "river";
punj means "five". Punjab is the land of five rivers, namely
the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutluj, all
westward-flowing tributaries of the mighty Indus. For more
than a thousand years the area known as Punjab stretched from
the Indus basin in the west to the edge of the Yamuna basin in
the east with the Himalayas, including the Jammu region,
forming the northern boundary and the deserts of Sind and
Rajasthan on the south. The ancient sites of Harappa, Taxila,
Multan and Kurukshetra fell within its boundaries. The
partition of 1947 took away West Punjab and the partition of
1966 took away Punjab's southern reaches.
Western Punjab-essentially the valley of the
Indus, comprising the areas of Lahore, Lyallpur, Montgomery,
Jhang, Multan and parts of Sind-is considered the well-spring
of folk forms. After Partition, East Punjab has continued to
evolve independently of its western-Islamic relation. In fact,
it is fair to say that united Punjab's Muslim element remains
a very active 'ghost" in the folklore and performances of
modern Hindu/Sikh Indian Punjab.
In classical music, the Patiala school or
gharana is the best known and most influential-it takes its
name from the royal court of Patiala. However, Patiala is not
the only classical gharana of Punjab. Hoshiarpur is known for
the gharanas of Sham Chaurasi and Talwandi; a gharana was
associated with the royal houses of Kapurthala and Kasur (now
in Pakistan). The Punjab baaz of tabla has its roots in the
court of Lahore. All these gharanas have been nourished
through nationally famous events such as the century-old
Harballabh Festival at Jalandhar.
In I947, following Partition, East Punjab was
left with four regions, namely:
Instruments
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