Balochi Folk Songs and Traditional Dances Chaap/Lewa.

Baloch has a rich musical culture. Music has a significant role on all occasions except ceremonies of death. Most of the Balochi Music is based on Zaheerag which is a kind of melancholic music. The instruments used are mainly a flute, locally called Nal, Tamboora and Soroz. Thanksgiving dances are made of joy at the time of positive weather changes and harvests, which are collectively performed in groups. A special religious dance is carried out by a Baloch sect known as Chogaa. Another common Baloch folk dance is known as Dochaap. In this dance men gather and dance in groups, clapping hands with the movement of foot, neck and head with rhythmical music on drums. On various occasions, women also move in a circle clapping their hands. Other dances include the Lewa, which is thought to be of Arabic origin, along with Latti and Hambo said to be of ancient Balochi origin, are also very popular.

Balochi Chap in Iran

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upoA-zrDGeY&p=7629C7EBEBBCBD81&playnext=1&index=14

Balochi music achieved an extraordinary development which is due in great part to a type of artist and artisan cast whose members are called Osta (master) and whose origins are unknown. The Ostas appeared among the Baloch tribes (particularly theRend), offering to put their music at the service of the tribes ancestral knowledge. Even if the Ostas occupy a modest position, they can at least boast of belonging to prestigious lineages of musicians.

Ziarekan by Sabzal Samigi

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8jftsL9tq4

In fact, there are reasons to think that they are the descendants of the Lulismentioned in the ancient chronicles. In these chronicles, a fifth-century Persian king asked an Indian king to send him musicians so that his subjects could listen to music while drinking their wine. Ten thousand Lulis were thus dispersed over the territory of Iran to put their talent at the service of the people.

Sabzal Samigi

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUS_Ip54vHs

It is impssible to verify whether these are the same tribes as those from which the present-day musicians of Balochistan are descended, which would make them descendants of the first Gypsies. In fact, there are many parallels between Balochi musicians and other groups who are also considered to comprise a part of the initial "Proto-Gipsy" nucleus, for example, certain Sindi groups and the castes of Langaw musician of Rajistan

Balochi Chaap [Folk Dance] as Mengal Perform it in Nushki

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLjquVmimgg&feature=related

Genres and Regional Styles

Balochistan can be divided into several musical areas of which the principal ones are the north and the south, or Makoran. In the Makoran, the genres of professional music are:

1. Shervandi - the art of the bards, and the most sophisticated genre, represented by a small artistic elite in the territory's south central region.

2. Traditional wedding choruses (Nazenk) and songs (Sowt, Noqta, Ghazal).

3. Trance music (Guati, Damali, Shikti or Qalandar) with three repertories that correspond to different rituals.

The music of the South of Balochistan grows out of a scale made from 1 semitones, as in the West or in India. There are more than 20 modes (Zahirig), each with its own name, which, by virtue of their character, belong more to the musical sphere of India than to that of the Middle East or the Persian Gulf. By contrast, the rhythm and symmetrical form of the melodies links themto the West, particularly in the old wedding songs.

Finally, certain African elements are perceptible in the trance songs of the Guatiritual. In addition to meters of 6/8 and 2/4, there are extremely subtle rhythms whose groove or swing does not allow them to be reduced to equal measures of 3, 5, or 7

Balochi Chap [Folk Dance] from Noshki - Balochistan

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdhFGhXNU4w&feature=related

Sabz Ali Bugti

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCWqW4OXT9c

Festive Songs
Feasts on the occasion of a marriage or circumcision are important social and cultural events in which music plays a large role. Wedding songs in genres called Salonk andNazenk for the groom and bride, respectively, belong to the most purely Balochi layer of the repertory, which also includes lullabies and funerary chants.

Each stage of the feast corresponds to particular songs. Marriages provide the occasion for singing both Sawts ----popular songs on themes of love and separation, and ghazals, which typically use learned Persian poetry. Most of these traditional songs can be performed by the participants, but these days, hosts prefer to invite a variety of instrumentalists and female vocalists----all amplified----to give more cache to the event.

Balochi Folk Song by Sabz Ali Bugti

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EniqNa2hh1A

Even during the intimate ceremonies reserved for women, it is possible to engage a group of male musicians to animate the party. To describe all the stage of a complete wedding would take too long, but brief descriptions of a few of the central events will show how music in involved.

Laila O Laila by Late. Faiz Muhammad Baloch


Aye Naz Husn-e-Wala by Late. Faiz Muhammad Baloch


A wedding takes place several days and is announced in the street by performers playing the Sorna, a loud oboe, and Dohl, a drum. In the house of the bride (Banur) a curtain is drawn down the middle of a room, behind which the young woman remains for several days, tended to and fed by 8 or 10 women who are close to her.

Each evening the women feast, sing, and dance among themselves while playing theDohl and Kuzag, an earthen water jug. Meanwhile, the men have erected a high tent canopy (Tanbu) in the courtyard or in the street and pass the time singing and dancing under it. The first evening, the hands of the bride are decorated with henna (Enny) while the women sing songs (Nazenk) that correspond to this ceremony, as well as other songs. Another evening, they wash, make up, and apply perfume to the bride, all the while singing still other songs. The same scene takes place in the house of the groom

Masqat-e-Mairok by Late. Faiz Muhammad Baloch


Wash Gushi by Late. Faiz Muhammad Baloch

Nazenk are sung each time he is the object of a particular type of care. After several days, the groom is led to the house of the bride.

This procession provides the occasion for another musical interlude in the street with the groom. After the nuptial benediction, Nazenks are sung, and the party begins.

Kharmo Kay Bassonay by Akhtar Channal Zehri [Brahvi]

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7M8Q6eCU4o
Parkoi's Lado [Brahvi]

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQPl2SS_3zs

In present-day Baloch society, wedding songs are constantly being lost, and old musicians deplore the fact that nowadays most of the beautiful wedding song like theNazenk and Salonk have been forgotten, and people sing whatever they want at wedding ceremonies. Marriage songs are also practiced for feasts given at the time of a circumcision, and the term Salonk, which appears in most of the songs, designated both the groom and the young boy who is at the center of the festivity.

Baragh Baggi

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1MrKwPogl8&feature=related

Sabz Ali Bugti

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pdM_C-7Rw0&feature=related

ALE Lewa Lewa Balochi Dance of Mekran

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZjz6BNigBo

Secular Celebration and Trance Ritual
The performance of music for weddings or circumcisions can also assume the character of trance music through rhythmic acceleration and a narrowing of the melodic range. In this atmosphere, the music elicits bursts of joy and dance, bringing to mind the modes and rhythms of trance music, yet with different texts.

Balochi Chaap

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bMBNLov3B4&feature=related

Conversely, certain trance melodies are very close to secular repertories, particularly lullabies and Nazenk, or are simply borrowings, superficially adapted. Music for celebration can lead to a certain excitation and in return, trance music and ritual can animate a celebration. The bride and groom are pampered like a patient undergoing spirit exorcism, and the celebration ends with a good meal. Despite these affinities, however, the two repertories are quite distinct and never mixed together in a ritual.

Traditional Brahvi Jani Dastan Bandan

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ybVE1LgZXw&feature=related

Trance rituals reserve a central place for music, and integrate elements of shamanism with the traditions of popular Sufism. When someone becomes ill and cannot be healed by doctors, the person is taken to a Khalife (Shaman), and melodies are played which cause the khalife to enter into trance, and manages to treats the sick person, who often himself enters into trance, and manages to appease the evil spirit.Guati-Damali music can also be simply for pleasure, between friends, and without ritual

Brahvi Chap [Folk Dance of Balochistan]

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsdsUw71JU8

Kand maye jani kand Balochi song by Khadim Hussain Bugti

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z_UBeCAaNk&p=011D6D5C30557B14&playnext=1&index=8

Brahvi Chap

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epe6ia-wz2g&feature=related

Its melodies reflect a simple structure, but abundantly and skillfully ornamented, inspired by Sufi litanies (Zhikr) and the invocations of saints. One type of ritual reveals African stylistic influences: the spirits are of African origin, and certain of the melodies were composed by Balochi musicians of African origin.

Balochi Classic Biya Biya Dilbar by Mureed Buledi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baKTuoiVKgU

Classic Balochi Love Song by Mureed Buledi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih0Gj7V8JTw

Musical Instruments and Rhythm

Preferred instrument of professional Balochi musicians is the Sorud, or fiddle. It is cut from a block of wood (Parpuk, sometimes Mulberry) in a complex shape which suggests a skull and whose soundboard consists of the skin of a gazelle or goat. It is strung with four strings played with a small bow whose sound is amplified by 6 or 8 sympathetic strings. All metered vocal and instrumental performance is accompanied by a rhythmic drone on the large lute called Tamburag, which has two strings, one of which is doubled. Its playing seems simple, but it contains many rhythmic subtleties.

Balochi Song Wash Mallay by Aziz Baloch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSNUtKaQ_Mk

The Benju or Benjo is a dulcimer fitted with a keyboard. It was originally a mere musical toy, but after important improvements made by Balochi craftsmen, it has become a regular part of the Balochi instrumentalism. The Balochi Benju is an imposing instrument----three or so feet in length, with a loud and brilliant sound, and a range of more than two octaves. It can reproduce any traditional style, and these days is found in Sindhi music as well.

The Doholak is a Tambur of Indian origin made from a tree trunk and shaped like a barrel about, 2-3 feet long, the two sides are decorated with skins linked together bystrings whose length can be adjusted, permitting the player to adjust the tension REFERENCE: Maqam; Musical Magazine (Quarterly) Summer & Autumn 1999 By: Ashraf Sarbazi Pages: 126 - 129 August 14, 2009 11:16 PM EDT http://www.balochmedia.org/content-67.html A CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF BALUCHIS August 12, 2009 07:49 PM EDThttp://www.balochmedia.org/content-53.html Knowing the facts about Balochi music, instruments, styles and masters http://balochistanmusic.blogsky.com/?PostID=17

Balochi Folk Music on Suroz (Musical Instrument of Balochistan)

The suroz is a bowed string instrument with a long neck, similar to a fiddle or sarangi and played vertically. It is considered the national instrument of the Balochs. - "Notwithstanding the emergence of a strong nationalistic feeling among the Baloch population both in Iran and Pakistan, the existence of pahlawan (professional singers of verse narratives), and the love for suroz (a bowed instrument played as an accompaniment to narrative songs and considered to be the national instrument of the Baloch) among the educated classes, there seems to be no future for the oral tradition in Balochistan." REFERENCE: Suroz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suroz

Balochi Suroz by Sachu Khan

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVcqh4AlYhY

Makrani (Coastal Area of Balochistan) Suroz

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpzEvu3ryxA

Attired in a traditional Balochi costume and holding a decorated Suroz (a local musical instrument) in his left hand with fingers on its strings, Suchu Khan is out to conquer the world with his music. “Race, colour, language, they are no barriers for me. At my concerts abroad hundreds of youth dance on my tunes in jam-packed auditoriums. It is all very heartening,” he says. Suchu Khan is a recipient of the prestigious Tamgha-i-Imtiaz conferred on him by the president of Pakistan. His is a familiar name among folk music lovers not only in Balochistan but throughout Pakistan. Those who hear him play the Suroz do not let him go away before playing popular folk tunes for them. Suchu Khan was born in 1962 at Sui, Dera Bugti, and hails from a family famous for Suroznawaz whose male members hold the ancestral tradition of playing it for centuries. It was his uncles Zehru and Tungau who discovered the talent in Suchu at a very young age and encouraged him to learn how to play the instrument.

Suchu was also fascinated by the melody of the instrument and accompanied his uncles to performances — be it tribal gatherings, stage or radio stations. He is grateful to them for what he is today. “They were great teachers,” he says proudly. “One needs a lot of dedication and hard work to learn the Suroz. Beside that, one needs a good teacher. The Suroz is played with the help of fingertips which is not at all simple.” Encouragement from his audiences over the years has meant a lot to Suchu Khan. “Once just after my performance, Ata Shad (Baloch/Urdu poet) came on stage and kissed my fingertips. It was a great moment for me. Since then I have received many awards and appreciation but I have never been able to forget his gesture. Even today I often visualize the scene after every performance. It helps me work harder at my performances,” he says. He admits that surviving on music is tough and the journey has been a long and turbulent one. “There are many talented artistes in Balochistan who are not as fortunate. They hardly get noticed. One finds exceptionally talented musicians and singers among the Balochi nomads.”

Suchu is a widely travelled artiste. He had performed in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Greece, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Thailand, Philippine, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Abu Dubai and Dubai. “Wherever I go, my pride on being a Pakistani goes with me,” he says. While abroad, he says he considers himself a cultural ambassador of Pakistan. “People ask me questions about my country, province, art, language and culture. “I tell them that Pakistan is quite rich in art and music. Suroz is a part of our heritage since time immemorial and I explain to them how this instrument is carved out of wood of the Parpuk tree that grows wild in Balochistan. They take a lot of interest and sometimes ask me to sell it to them,” he laughs. He expresses generous gratitude to all who encouraged him, specially the music production team of PTV and Radio Pakistan, Quetta. “They promoted me and my art. Without their patronage it would have been difficult. Had there been more like them, it would have been good for folk music,” he says. “I intend to set up an institute where I will teach talented youth how to play the Suroz. I want this tradition to continue and this art to live longer. It can be promoted through apprenticeship programmes under Lok Virsa or the arts councils network, provided they engage veteran musicians to pass this art on to the next generation,” says Suchu Khan. REFERENCE: Truly enchanted By Babar Baloch November 20, 2005 http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/051120/images6.htm