Antarved Doab · Upper Indus–Gangetic Plain
A long sung romance, most often the Dhola-Maru story, performed with a shrill lead voice and a nagara. The Doab-Braj-Rajasthan version of an epic that runs across the whole of northern India.
Sung at: Fairs and night gatherings.
Rural moral tales, caste and family politics and comedy, sung in a shared Haryana-Upper Doab repertoire and now circulated heavily on video platforms.
Sung at: Holi, fairs, akhara gatherings.
Shiva devotional songs sung by walking pilgrims. The genre has changed faster than any other here — a folk form that now includes commercially recorded dance music played from trucks.
Sung at: Sawan, on the walk from Haridwar.
The Alha-Udal battle ballad, sung for hours in a driving cyclical metre in the southern districts.
Sung at: The monsoon.
Life-cycle songs sung by women of the household, with a large gaari repertoire of ritual abuse at weddings.
Sung at: Births and weddings.
Devotional songs to the river, sung during the month-long Kartik bathing at Garhmukteshwar, Soron, Bithoor and Prayagraj.
Sung at: Kartik bathing and the ghat fairs.
The sung verse of the Nautanki stage — doha, chaubola and daur — carrying stories of bandits, kings, lovers and, increasingly, current events.
Sung at: All-night performances.
The folk songs of Antarved Doab — what they are about, who sings them and when. (7)