A music that belongs to families
The jajman: each Manganiyar family was bound to particular patron families, mostly Hindu Rajputs, and the relationship passed from father to son on both sides.
At every ceremony: the musicians sang at births, weddings and deaths, and their presence was part of the ritual, not entertainment added to it.
- Patron
- Jajman, the family a musician serves
- Bond
- Hereditary on both sides
- Occasions
- Births, weddings, deaths, festivals
- Paid in
- Cash, grain, cloth, animals, gifts
- Repertoire
- Genealogies, folk songs, devotional and Sufi
- Keepers of memory: they sang the genealogies and the deeds of their patrons' ancestors, so the musicians often knew a family's history better than the family did.
- Paid in kind: patrons gave cash, grain, cloth, sometimes a camel or a cow, and customary gifts at weddings. A rich wedding could feed a musician's family for months.
- Two faiths, one evening: the Manganiyars are Muslim, yet their songs honour Hindu gods and folk deities as well as Sufi saints, often in the same night, and nobody finds it strange.
- Our wedding: at our cousin's wedding the musicians arrived before the groom and left after the last guest. They knew our family's songs better than we did.
Manganiyars and Langas
The Manganiyars: found mainly in the Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur districts, traditionally serving Hindu Rajput patrons. Their signature instrument is the kamaicha.
The Langas: more numerous around Barmer, traditionally serving Muslim Sindhi Sipahi patrons. Their signature instrument is the Sindhi sarangi, and many also play the algoza double flute.
- Shared songs: their repertoires overlap, with many of the same love songs and romances, but each community has songs and styles of its own.
- Shared stages: today Manganiyar and Langa musicians often perform at the same festivals, and some groups include both.
- Languages: the songs are mostly in Marwari, Dhatki and Sindhi, the languages of the western desert, and some draw on Persian and Urdu Sufi poetry.
- Say the right name: if you are not sure which community a group belongs to, ask. Musicians are proud of their lineage, and pleased when visitors care.
The instruments, and how to name them
The kamaicha
What it is: a bowed lute with a round belly of mango wood covered in goatskin, a few main strings and a cluster of sympathetic strings that hum beneath the melody.
- The sound: deep, buzzing and ancient, like the desert talking to itself. It sits under the voice rather than competing with it.
- Rare now: fewer players and makers remain every year. If you hear a good kamaicha, you are hearing something precious.
The khartal
- What it is: pairs of flat wooden clappers held in each hand and played at astonishing speed, so the player seems to be making rain.
- Watch the face: the khartal player is usually grinning, and the best of them turn a short solo into a duel with the drummer.
The dholak
- What it is: a two-headed barrel drum, played with the hands, that carries the rhythm of almost every song.
- Why it matters: in a small group the dholak player sets the pace for everyone, quickening the music as the night builds.
The harmonium, the morchang and the Sindhi sarangi
Harmonium: a small hand-pumped keyboard, now common in Manganiyar groups, especially on stage.
- Morchang: a metal jaw harp that twangs like a desert insect.
- Sindhi sarangi: the Langas' bowed instrument, also played by some Manganiyar masters. Our page on folk music and dance describes it.
The songs, and what they are about
Kesariya balam, the song of welcome
- The words: kesariya balam padharo mhare des, come to my land, my saffron-clad beloved. The last words have become Rajasthan's greeting to every visitor.
- The style: it belongs to maand, the refined court style of singing, and Manganiyars often open an evening for guests with it. Our piece on padharo mhare des explains the phrase.
Moomal and Mahendra
- The story: Moomal, the beautiful woman of Lodurva near Jaisalmer, and her lover Mahendra, who rode across the desert to her each night on a swift camel.
- The song: every Manganiyar knows it. Ask for it on a desert night, and the singers will tell you the tale before they begin.
Dhola and Maru
- The story: the desert's great romance of two lovers betrothed as children and separated, whose camel carries them across walls and deserts back to each other.
- Everywhere: the song is sung all over Rajasthan, and the lovers appear in paintings on haveli walls and palace ceilings.
Songs to the gods and saints
Hindu devotional songs: many evenings begin with a song to the patron family's deity, a reminder that this music was first devotion.
- Sufi verses: the Manganiyars also sing Sufi poetry, honouring saints of the desert and beyond, with a power that silences any courtyard.
- Folk deities: songs to Baba Ramdev, honoured by Hindus and Muslims alike, are sung through the night at his fairs.
Wedding songs and laments
- For weddings: songs for each ritual, from the groom's procession to the bride's departure, many naming the family's ancestors.
- For deaths: songs of mourning are part of the old duties too, and are rarely performed for outsiders.
How the music is learned
By ear: songs are learned by listening and repeating, not from written notes. A boy may know hundreds of songs before he can read.
On stage young: sons sing beside their fathers from childhood, first as a second voice, then as soloists. The first time we heard a twelve-year-old lead a song, the whole table went quiet.
- Modes and moods: the musicians have their own names for melodic modes, some shared with classical ragas, such as sorath, and each suits a time of night or a feeling.
- Improvisation: a singer stretches a line, repeats it with new ornaments and plays off the khartal and the drum. No two performances of a song are the same.
- Women's music: Manganiyar women sing too, mostly at home and for women's ceremonies. It is rarely performed for outsiders.
- Changing ways: young musicians now also learn from recordings and from each other at festivals, and some have studied with musicians from far beyond the desert.
From the desert to the world's stages
Komal Kothari: the Jodhpur folklorist who, from the late 1970s, gave the desert musicians the support and recognition to perform beyond their villages. Every music lover in Rajasthan owes him something.
Sakar Khan: the great kamaicha player, who died in 2013, was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2012. Recordings of his playing are the best introduction to the instrument.
- Key folklorist
- Komal Kothari of Jodhpur
- From
- The late 1970s onwards
- Kamaicha master
- Sakar Khan, Padma Shri 2012
- Sindhi sarangi master
- Lakha Khan, Padma Shri
- Festival home
- Mehrangarh, each October
- Lakha Khan: a Manganiyar master of the Sindhi sarangi from Jodhpur district, also honoured with the Padma Shri, and one of the last great players of the instrument.
- Stage shows: theatre productions have staged Manganiyar musicians for international audiences, and singers have worked with musicians from flamenco to jazz.
- On screen: Manganiyar voices are now heard in Indian films and television, and a few singers have become famous across the country.
- At home: the old patronage has weakened as families moved to cities and weddings changed. Many musicians depend on tourism and festivals, and many struggle.
Where to hear Manganiyar music
Jaisalmer and its villages
Why: this is the heart of Manganiyar country, and the finest evenings we know are here.
- The setting: a village courtyard, or a haveli roof facing the lit walls of Jaisalmer Fort, with a desert supper of ker sangri and bajra roti.
- Read more: our Jaisalmer guide and our page on the Manganiyar singers.
Jodhpur and the folk festival
RIFF: the Rajasthan International Folk Festival fills Mehrangarh with music each October, around the autumn full moon, with dawn concerts on the ramparts.
- The Marwar Festival: around the same full moon, the Marwar Festival celebrates the folk heroes of Marwar with music and dance.
- At other times: we arrange private evenings with musicians from villages near the city.
Barmer, for the Langas
- Why: the Langa villages around Barmer are where the Sindhi sarangi still rules.
- A day here: the carved Kiradu temples at dawn, an embroidery village in the afternoon and an evening of Langa songs.
The desert camps and the Desert Festival
- Camps: at a well-run camp near Sam or Khuri, music by the fire is part of the night. Choose the camp carefully.
- Festival: the Desert Festival in Magh, usually February, brings Manganiyar and Langa singers to stages in town and on the dunes.
A private evening, the way we arrange it
Musicians first: we start with the musicians, not the venue, asking families we have known for years who is home and who would like to play.
A setting that suits them: a courtyard with a fire, a roof under the stars, a lamplit terrace. Rugs on the ground, not chairs in a row.
- No microphones: unless the musicians ask for them. These voices were made to carry across open desert.
- They choose the songs: usually starting with a song to the gods or to their patrons' ancestors. If you have a request, ask politely.
- A guide beside you: who translates a line or two, explains which song belongs to which occasion and tells you when to clap and when to be still.
- Supper for everyone: musicians included, eaten together when the singers pause.
- Paid in full, in advance: directly to the musicians, with nothing taken by anyone in between.
- With dance: a Kalbelia dancer often joins later in the evening. Our piece on Kalbelia dance explains the dance.
A desert evening, hour by hour
An hour before sunset, the village
- Meet the family: drive out to a musicians' village with your guide, see the instruments tuned and drink tea in the courtyard while the children inspect your shoes.
- The maker: if a kamaicha maker is at work, he may show you how the goatskin is stretched over the mango-wood belly.
Sunset, the dunes or the roof
- The setting: a quiet patch of dunes away from the camps, a fire at your camp or a haveli roof facing the fort as its lights come on.
- Supper on the way: lanterns, rugs and a simple meal being cooked nearby.
After dark, the music
- The order: a song to the gods, then love songs, wedding songs and the great desert romances, with the khartal growing faster as the night goes on.
- The silence after: when the musicians stop, sit for a while in the quiet of the Thar before driving back. Our stargazing evenings can follow.
What most visitors miss
The names in the songs: many songs name the patron's ancestors and village. Ask your guide to listen for them, and you hear a family history being sung.
The glances: the lead singer cues the khartal and the drum with tiny looks and nods. Watch the faces, and you see the music being steered.
- The tuning: before the first song, the kamaicha player spends minutes tuning the sympathetic strings. That hum is the sound of the whole evening.
- The quiet songs: the loud, fast songs get the applause, but the slow songs late at night, often Sufi verses, are the ones the musicians love most.
- The children: in a family group the youngest boys sit at the edge, singing under their breath. That is the next generation learning, exactly as it always has.
- The words of welcome: the first song is often for the guests. When you hear padharo, come, it is meant for you.
Listening with respect
Pay directly and generously: and never haggle over a fee. If you enjoyed the music, add a gift at the end.
Let them choose: ask for requests politely, not as orders.
- Ask before filming: especially women singers or dancers, and don't use a flash in anyone's face.
- Don't talk over the music: if you need to leave early, wait for the end of a song.
- No child labour: we never book performances by young children late at night or on the street for tips.
- Buy recordings from the musicians: if they sell CDs or offer recordings, buy from them directly.
- Greet them in their language: khamma ghani, the Rajasthani greeting, will light up any musician. Our guide to Rajasthani words and phrases has more.
Seasons for music
October: the Rajasthan International Folk Festival in Jodhpur, the single best week to hear desert music. Our Rajasthan in October guide covers the month.
The wedding season: from November to February, brass bands, dhol players and family musicians fill the evenings across the desert.
- October
- The folk festival at Mehrangarh
- November to February
- Wedding season, the fairs
- February
- The Desert Festival, Jaisalmer
- Best evenings
- Cool, clear nights in the Thar
- Winter nights: December and January are cold and clear in the Thar, perfect for music by the fire.
- February: the Desert Festival ends with music on the dunes under a nearly full moon.
- The hot months: from April to June, music moves late into the night or indoors, and many musicians travel to perform elsewhere.
Fitting the music into your journey
The desert journey: our Under the Thar Sky journey builds music into every desert night.
The desert triangle: our desert triangle of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner covers the heartland of the music.
- Where to stay: Suryagarh on the edge of Jaisalmer and The Serai in the desert both host music evenings. In Jodhpur, RAAS Jodhpur sits right below the fort.
- For the festival: book Jodhpur early for RIFF week, when the best rooms go months ahead.
- Go deeper: our pages on folk music and dance and the bhopa and the phad introduce the desert's other musicians.