The Lore of Folk in the Mass Media

Sakshi Dhaulta
English 2 (B)
596
Dr. Devika Seth
Cultural History of Modern India
Project Topic: The Lore of Folk in Media: A study of Folk Music as disseminated through mass media.
Culture is the innate identity of a human society which is a result of the multilateral interactions between the various people constituting it. Each society has its distinct cultural heritage and it serves as instrumental in defining and distinguishing various societies. Composite of a community’s traditions, morals, beliefs, customs, norms and various other aesthetic and sentimental developments, culture is passed down from one generation to the other. Broadly speaking, culture gradually evolves into the way of living of a society representing its growth and progress over the passage of time. India is a land that abounds in cultural diversities that make it vibrant as the hues of multiplicity in every respect paint its landscape as well as colour its ethnicity. Every region has its own tradition and culture with its distinctions and peculiarities specific to the concerned region. Though all the regions unify to form one nation and lend India solidarity, but it is in the distinct miscellany of every region that the real essence of India can be found. Art and music have always formed an integral part of all cultures across the world as they trace and bring to the fore important aspects of people’s lives and their interactions with their surroundings. Villages are the fundamental units of the Indian society and the prime repositories of traditional cultures and their associated nativity. As an authentic record and representation of bucolic conduct of life, folk music is an extremely significant and central medium of culture. “It is a spontaneous depiction of the local culture and is a living art” (FilmSound.org).

Exhibiting such cultural variety, India has every region with its own specific and discrete form of folk music. The beauty of folk music lies in the fact that unlike...