Who the Manganiyars are
A family trade: Manganiyar boys learn music from fathers and uncles from early childhood, by ear, sitting in on performances long before they sing in them.
Muslim musicians, Hindu songs: the Manganiyars are Muslims who have sung for Hindu patrons for generations, with songs to Krishna, to local gods and to Sufi saints sitting comfortably side by side.
- Community
- Hereditary Muslim musicians
- Homeland
- The western Thar, around Jaisalmer and Barmer
- Patrons
- Mostly Hindu Rajput families, the jajmans
- Signature sound
- Kamaicha, khartal and full-throated voices
- The desert's memory: they sang the genealogies of their patrons' families, the deeds of their ancestors and the stories of the desert, keeping a whole oral history alive.
- Where they live: their villages are scattered through the western Thar, around Jaisalmer, Barmer and the Jodhpur country, close to the patrons they served.
- Their neighbours the Langas: a related community of musicians, more numerous around Barmer, who sang for Muslim Sindhi Sipahi patrons and play the Sindhi sarangi.
- Men on stage, women at home: public performance has mostly been by men. Women of Manganiyar families sing at weddings and family gatherings, and a few now perform more widely.
- From village to world stage: since the late 1970s Manganiyar groups have performed at festivals and concert halls far beyond the desert, from Paris to New York.
The bond between singer and patron
An old singer once told one of our guides that he had two kinds of audience: those who pay him and those he belongs to. He sings beautifully for both, he said, but only one of them knows the names in the songs.
The jajman: the patron family is the jajman. A Manganiyar family served particular jajmans, sometimes several villages of them, and was bound to them for generations.
- Music for every moment: the musicians came for births, especially of sons, for weddings and for festivals, and sang songs suited to each ceremony.
- The genealogies: at a wedding, a Manganiyar might sing the names of the patron's ancestors, generation by generation, a living family tree set to music.
- Payment in kind: patrons rewarded their musicians with grain, cloth, livestock, sometimes a camel or a horse, and money on great occasions. The giving was a matter of honour.
- A two-way loyalty: the musicians sang their patrons' praises, and the patrons owed them support in hard years. Many old Manganiyars still speak of their jajmans with real affection.
- What changed: land reform, the end of the princely states and drought weakened the old patronage in the twentieth century, and many musicians struggled.
- What survives: many families still sing for their jajmans at weddings, even as they also perform for audiences of strangers.
The instruments of a Manganiyar evening
The kamaicha
What it is: the Manganiyar's own instrument, a bowed lute with a round belly of mango wood covered in goatskin.
- The sound: a cluster of sympathetic strings hums under the melody, giving the kamaicha its deep, resonant, slightly buzzing voice.
- Rare today: few makers and fewer master players remain. Hearing a good kamaicha is hearing something precious.
- A master remembered: Sakar Khan of Hamira, near Jaisalmer, was the great kamaicha player of his generation and received the Padma Shri in 2012. He died in 2013.
The khartal
What it is: pairs of flat wooden clappers, one pair in each hand, struck together in astonishingly fast rhythms.
- The show-stopper: a solo khartal passage often brings the audience to its feet. Watch the player's face, which is often laughing.
- Simple and difficult: the wood is ordinary, the technique takes years.
The dholak
- What it is: a two-headed barrel drum played with the hands, the heartbeat of the ensemble.
- Listen for: the bass head on one side and the sharper treble on the other, keeping the singers driving forward.
The morchang
- What it is: a metal jaw harp, held against the teeth and plucked, that twangs like a desert insect.
- Why it's loved: children and grandparents alike grin when the morchang comes in.
The Sindhi sarangi and the algoza
The Langa sound: the Sindhi sarangi, a bowed instrument with a brighter, more singing voice than the kamaicha, often carries the melody in a Langa group.
- The double flute: the algoza, two flutes played at once, one holding a drone, is heard among the Langas and other desert musicians.
- The harmonium: a newer arrival, now common in many groups, especially on stage.
What they sing
Songs to the gods first: many evenings begin with a song to the patron's family deity or to a local hero-god, a reminder that this music was first a form of devotion.
Sufi poetry: the songs of Sufi saints and poets, sung by Muslim musicians for Hindu and Muslim listeners alike.
Moomal and Mahendra: the love story of Moomal of Lodurva, near Jaisalmer, and Mahendra, who rode across the desert to her each night on a swift camel. Every Manganiyar knows it.
- Dhola and Maru: Rajasthan's great romance of a prince and a princess married as children and separated by the desert, sung across the whole state.
- The panihari: songs of the woman walking to the lake or the well for water, full of longing, teasing and the heat of the day.
- Wedding songs: songs for each moment of a wedding, from the arrival of the groom to the bride's farewell, still the heart of the musicians' life.
- Songs of rain: in a land where rain is everything, songs welcoming the clouds and the monsoon are sung with special joy.
- Maand: a refined desert style of singing associated with the courts, from which comes the famous song of welcome, padharo mhare des, welcome to my land.
- Improvisation: good singers weave in the names of the people present, the place and the occasion, so no two performances are the same.
Where we arrange a Manganiyar evening
A village courtyard near Jaisalmer
Why: this is the home of the Manganiyars, and an evening in a village courtyard, with the families of the musicians around you, is the finest way to hear them.
- What happens: the musicians choose their own songs, tea and a desert supper of ker sangri and bajra roti follow, and children wander in to listen.
- How we arrange it: through musicians we know, paid properly and directly, with the visit planned so that the village is a host, not a stage.
A haveli roof facing the fort
Why: Jaisalmer Fort lit up at night across the rooftops, a small group of musicians and nobody else.
- Good for: guests staying in town who want music after a day in the fort and the havelis.
- Pair it with: a sunset at Gadisar Lake, where the singers' water songs began.
A desert camp under the stars
Why: music after dark on the dunes, with a fire, carpets on the sand and the Milky Way overhead.
- Where: luxury camps such as The Serai and Suryagarh near Jaisalmer, or Manvar Desert Camp between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.
- Our choice: a private performance for your party rather than a nightly show for every guest.
The Langa villages of Barmer
Why: to hear the Langas, the Manganiyars' neighbours, with the Sindhi sarangi and the algoza, in their own villages.
- Combine with: Barmer's embroidery and appliqué villages and the carved temples of Kiradu.
- Allow: a full day, or a night nearby.
Mehrangarh in Jodhpur
- Why: each October, close to the full moon of Sharad Purnima, the Rajasthan International Folk Festival turns Mehrangarh into a stage, with Manganiyar singers at dawn on the ramparts.
- At other times: we arrange private performances in Jodhpur's heritage hotels and courtyards.
Anywhere on your journey
- Musicians travel: for a special dinner, a wedding or a vow renewal in Udaipur or Jaipur, we can bring a Manganiyar group to you.
- Read more: our pages on destination weddings and a private dinner in a palace.
An evening with the Manganiyars, hour by hour
Late afternoon, the drive out
- Leave town: about an hour before sunset, through the scrub and dunes west of Jaisalmer.
- On the way: stop at Bada Bagh, the royal cenotaphs, whose names the Manganiyars still sing.
Sunset, arrival and tea
- Welcome: the musicians and their families greet you, and sweet tea is poured.
- Tuning up: the kamaicha player tunes while the light fades, and the dholak player tests the drum skin over a small fire to tighten it.
Dusk, the music begins
First songs: usually devotional, sung slowly, before the tempo rises.
- The middle: love songs, desert stories and a khartal solo that brings everyone to their feet.
- Your names: a good singer will weave the names of your family into a verse, in the old way.
Night, supper and stars
- Supper: a desert meal of ker sangri, dal, bajra roti and ghee, often cooked by the musicians' families.
- Afterwards: quiet songs by the fire, and a sky full of stars on the drive back.
How to listen, and how to thank them
Listen first: keep talking and phone calls for the breaks. The musicians notice, and the quieter the audience, the better they sing.
Clap and call out: applause, a wah or a shabash at a fine phrase is welcome. Desert audiences respond out loud.
- Request gently: you can ask for a song, a love song, a rain song or Moomal, but let the singer choose how to sing it.
- Offer money the local way: guests often hold a note over the singer's head or hand it to him during a song, a gesture of appreciation called nyochhavar. It is in addition to the fee we pay.
- Ask before photographing: most musicians are happy to be photographed performing. Ask before photographing their homes, women or children.
- Think about drinks: many musicians are devout Muslims. Offer tea or soft drinks, and keep alcohol at a distance from the performers.
- Sit on the carpet: if the musicians sit on the ground, so do we, at least for a while. It changes the feeling of the evening.
- Learn their names: ask the lead singer to introduce the group, and use their names when you thank them.
What most visitors miss
The tuning: arrive early and watch the kamaicha being tuned and the dholak warmed by the fire. It is part of the performance, and the musicians talk freely while they work.
The call and response: listen for the lead singer throwing a line and the others answering. It is how songs were taught and remembered for centuries.
- The names in the songs: many verses carry the names of patrons, villages and ancestors. Ask your guide to translate a few lines, and the desert's history appears.
- The second voice: the youngest singer in the group is often a son or nephew, learning in public. Watch the older men guide him with a glance.
- The pause before a high note: good singers hold the audience in silence before their most powerful phrases. Don't clap too soon.
- The cenotaphs and the songs: at Bada Bagh and in the village chhatris you are standing among the very ancestors the Manganiyars sing about.
- The morning after: in a village, ask if you can visit the musicians' homes the next day. Hearing a grandfather sing quietly to a child is unforgettable.
Fair pay and honest music
Paid directly: we agree a fair fee with the lead musician and pay it in full, without middlemen taking a share.
Paid as artists: a Manganiyar evening is a concert by trained musicians, and we price it that way, not as a free extra with dinner.
- Our fee
- Paid directly to the musicians, in advance
- Group size
- Usually three to eight musicians
- Allow
- Two to three hours with supper
- Tips
- Welcome on top, given directly
- No children on show: we don't encourage children performing for tips at the fort gates or on the dunes. If a child joins the family's own performance, that is their choice, not our request.
- No staged poverty: we never ask musicians to dress or behave as anything other than themselves.
- Supporting the craft: where we can, we help musicians who are teaching younger players and keeping the kamaicha alive.
- Recording and sharing: ask before recording, and if you post a video, name the musicians and their village.
How the desert's music reached the world
Komal Kothari: the Jodhpur folklorist who spent his life recording and studying the music, stories and crafts of the desert, and from the late 1970s helped Manganiyar and Langa musicians perform beyond their villages.
Rupayan Sansthan: the institute in Jodhpur that Kothari co-founded with the writer Vijaydan Detha, which documented the folk traditions of Rajasthan.
- International stages: Manganiyar groups have since performed at festivals, concert halls and theatres across Europe, the Americas and Asia, sometimes in large staged productions.
- At home: the Rajasthan International Folk Festival at Mehrangarh, held each October, gives the desert's finest musicians a stage of their own.
- The Desert Festival: each February the Jaisalmer Desert Festival brings the Manganiyars who usually sing for weddings to sing for everyone.
- A changing life: younger musicians move between village weddings, hotels, recording studios and foreign tours. Many worry about keeping the old songs and instruments alive, and are working hard to do so.
When to hear them
October to March: cool evenings, clear skies and the desert at its kindest. Bring a shawl, because nights in December and January can be very cold.
October: the folk festival at Mehrangarh, with dawn concerts on the ramparts. Book hotels and passes early.
- Best season
- October to March
- Folk festival
- Mehrangarh, October, near Sharad Purnima
- Desert Festival
- Jaisalmer, February
- Summer
- Late evenings only, in courtyards
- February: the Desert Festival in Jaisalmer, with music every evening and the full moon near its end.
- The wedding season: from about November to February, the best musicians are busy with their patrons' weddings, so we book well ahead.
- Summer: from April to June evenings stay hot, but a late courtyard performance after dark can be magical. We plan it carefully.
- The monsoon: in a good year the desert turns briefly green, and the rain songs mean more than ever.
A few words to know
Jajman: the patron family a Manganiyar family serves, often for generations. The singers may refer to you, warmly, as their jajman for the night.
Bhajan and kalam: devotional songs to Hindu gods, and the poetry of Sufi saints. A good group moves between them without a pause.
- Jajman
- The patron family
- Kamaicha
- The Manganiyars' bowed lute
- Khartal
- Wooden clappers
- Wah
- Well done, said out loud
- Maand: a refined style of desert singing associated with the old courts.
- Nyochhavar: the gesture of circling money over a performer's head and giving it to them, in appreciation and for good luck.
- Khamma ghani: the Rajasthani greeting. Say it when the musicians welcome you, and watch them smile.
- Shabash and wah: cries of appreciation for a fine phrase or a dazzling khartal run. Use them freely.
Before you go
Listen at home: a few recordings of Manganiyar and Langa music before you travel will help you recognise the instruments and the shape of the songs.
Read the background: our journal piece on Manganiyar music and our page on folk music and dance go further.
- Dress for the ground: loose, comfortable clothes for sitting on carpets, and a warm layer for after sunset.
- Bring small notes: for the custom of offering money during a song, in addition to the musicians' fee.
- Tell us your taste: devotional songs, love songs, a fast khartal night or a quiet kamaicha evening. We brief the musicians.
- Combine it well: pair a Manganiyar evening with a night in the dunes, stargazing in the Thar or a camel safari at dawn.
Who will love it
Music lovers: this is one of the great living folk traditions of the world, heard at its source.
Families: children love the khartal and the morchang, and the informal setting means nobody has to sit still for long.
- Couples: an evening of love songs on a roof facing Jaisalmer Fort is about as romantic as Rajasthan gets.
- The curious: the story of Muslim musicians singing for Hindu patrons, and the bond between them, says a great deal about the desert.
- Not for you if: you want a polished stage show with lights and sound. For that, the folk festival at Mehrangarh is the better choice. Our Under the Thar Sky and Desert triangle journeys include Manganiyar evenings.