For many reasons it seems justified to start a Pakistani research project in Sindh: the river Sindhu (or Indus) is the most important river delta in Pakistan connecting south and north; it could be regarded as the ‘jugular vein’ of Pakistan. The river hosts some of the earliest remains of human cultural activities (such as Mohenjo Daro and Harappa). From early times this valley has been a confluence of community religions, Hindu and Islamic belief systems with the result of producing a very sophisticated musical culture (and has established a relative peaceful neighbourhood for all these different communities). Though Pakistan is culturally an extremely diverse country the Sindh region traditionally shows coherence between the different musical cultures prevalent. Most of the musically relevant Sufi shrines (such as Bhitshah and Sehwan) are situated in the Sindh valley. Finally, Sindh shows an
interesting folk-classic continuum, which seems typical for other parts of Pakistan Unlike most of the news about Pakistan, the life in most parts of Sindh, influenced by Sufi shrines, is a haven of tolerance and peace. Muslims of all denominations, Hindus, and Christians visit the shrines of the Sufi mendicants where the professional musicians and singers spread their peaceful messages at the highest musical levels.


Been and Murli Players                                                                                Tanbouro Players and Singers 

                                                                                     

Bangladesh

With 140 million inhabitants Bangladesh is one of the most populous and densely populated country in the world, but culturally extremely diverse. Therefore the collection of musical instruments concentrated on three geographical areas (roughly related to communities):

          Bengali folk music instruments as known all over Bangladesh.

          Musical instruments of the indigenous people living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, including Chakmo, Mro,
          and Bawm (collectively called Jhuma).
         
          Musical instruments of the Adivasi, indigenous people, who have mainly settled in the plains, such as the Santal and Oraon.

Thus the general theme of the Bangladesh research is introducing people through their music and their musical instruments.

For this work it had to be accepted that Bangladesh and West Bengal (now part of India constitute of a single cultural region (based on common language, customs and traditions). From 1947 the eastern part of Bengal became part of Pakistan and after the liberation war in 1971 Bangladesh constituted itself as an independent nation.

Musical instruments belonging to the Hindustani music tradition (north Indian art music) were only collected in West Bengal (India). This is justified because Kolkata is the former cultural capital of India and still regarded as an important centre of Bengali and Hindustani music. Also, after the partition of India , many eminent classical musicians (like Allauddin Khan, Vilayat Khan, Radhika Mohan Moitra) left East Bengal for Kolkata.

In the cultural socialisation of Bangladesh the folk music culture (ie the more traditional and more modern genres alike) and the Bengali language have become important in expressing the identity of being ‘a Bangladeshi’ (juxtaposed to being ‘a Bengali’). Therefore Bangladeshi folk music sets them apart from the Kolkata (India) centred and Urdu/Punjabi speaking “West” Pakistan (who ruled until 1971) alike.

The geographical area, socio-religious setting, and languages form the context for a distinctive music and dance culture in each collecting area.

Though non-Bengali communities constitute only of a small part of the population, they offer a wealth of music cultures. The main Bengali population are mostly Muslim or Hindu (around 10%); while the Adivasi and Jhuma peoples believe in ancestor or community religions, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. Languages spoken in the research areas belong to four language groups, which are North-Indian (Bengali, Chakma), Tibeto-Burman (Mro, Bawm), Austro-Asiatic (Santal), and Dravidian (Oraon). Also, each of the groups live in a distinctive geographical area, that is Bengali in the river deltas, Santali and Oraon in the hotter plains, and Mro, Bawm and Chakma in the hills (Chittagong Hill Tracts).

The Situation of Traditional Musicians and Instrument Makers in Bangladesh

Though the situation for Bengali folk music is quite good, the general situation of traditional music in Bangladesh is dire: Folk music has been successively replaced by film (Bangladeshi and Bollywood) and international pop music. Rural Bengali instrument makers slowly abandon their crafts, as buyers replace their instruments with factory made modern instruments. Generally the music, dance, and instrument making of the Adivasi and Jhuma communities is neither regarded as an important cultural heritage of Bangladesh nor is their disappearing being considered ‘endangered’. Especially the Chittagong Hill Tracts must still be regarded as one of the few remaining treasure troves of traditional music and dance culture in this world. If no immediate steps will be taken, this intangible cultural heritage will disappear forever.

                                                                                         
Drum Makers from Manikgonj                                                                   Plung Players

India

According to the collection interests of the MIM in India Rolf has collected musical instruments belonging to the Hindustani (north Indian), Karnatic (south Indian) and devotional art music.