Shelley’s remark is applicable to all ages and lands. He said Shelley, too, had reiterated in his famous poem ‘To a Skylark’- ‘Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought’. Loathta says: “Ustad Asad Amanat Ali Khan and Ustad Hamid Ali Khan had once sung ‘Pyar Nahin Hai Sur Se Jisko, Woh Murakh Insaan Nahin Hai Sur Insaan Bana Deta Hai, Sur Rehman Mila Deta Hai Sur ki Aag Mein Jalne Wale Parvane Nadan Nahin Hai Jag Mein Agar Sangeet Na Hota, Koi Kisi Ka Meet Na Hota Ye Ahsaan Hai Saat Suron Ka, Ye Duniya Veeran Nahin Hai.”
He says children studying in schools need to be educated and trained in singing folk songs and music of the hills, which is facing the onslaught of consumerism and climate change.
“Folk music teaches simplicity, serenity and peacefulness that provide essential food for young minds keeping them away from all vices,” says Loathta, who has interacted with Garhwali pundits and scholars like late Dandi Swami, Late Janardan Shastri, Late Shekhranand and Rajender Sharma, who were well-versed in the vedic lore. He has studied great critics from Aristotle to Ustad Asad Amanat Ali Khan to PB Shelly and discovered the folk music and dance of Garhwal and Jaunsar out of his personal penchant for it. Yet, the folk dance and music of Garhwal and Jaunsar of Uttarakhand, which shares border with Shimla district, have maintained its basic essence, tunes and rhythm that still haunts the lovers of folk music of the hills.” Loathta has discovered a host of classic and folk elements in Jaunsari and Garhwali music in his personal research.
He, however, adds: “Due to the onslaught of Bollywood, new instruments and cross-cultural currents, folk dance and music of the hill people is also undergoing changes in the way people sing, dance and play instruments. The same holds true for folk music and dance of Himachal and neighbouring Uttarakhand, says Ashwini Kumar Loathta, an English teacher, who is Principal at Government Senior Secondary School, Dhabas in Chopal. The same music flows in human veins, but people sing and dance and play it in different tunes and rhythm to keep off vices in the world.
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