Abstract

The region of Kashmir is renowned worldwide for its rich and distinct cultural heritage. Music forms an important component of Kashmir’s cultural heritage. Music is associated with almost all the functions and celebrations of Kashmiri society and culture like birth, marriage, death, harvesting etc. Kashmir is one of the few regions of India which has its distinct and rich classical music tradition along with a rich repertoire of folk and modern light music. Many musical instruments like Santoor, Sehtar and Saaz-e-Kashmir trace their origin to Kashmir. There are three distinct musical forms prevalent in Kashmir at present namely classical music, folk music and modern light music. This paper provides a brief overview of the current musical forms of Kashmir.