Punjabi University’s research on special musical genres of Punjab
Kanwar Inder Singh/ March 26,2023
Through research conducted at the Department of Music, Punjabi University, Patiala, an analysis of different types of traditional Kissa singing in Punjab since the Middle Ages has been done. Researcher Manpreet Singh conducted the research work entitled ‘Musical Analysis of Different Varieties of Traditional Kissa Singing in Punjab’ to study various aspects of this valuable tradition of music under the supervision of Dr. Alankar Singh, the aim of this research was to analyze five different genres of centuries-old traditional Punjabi Kissa singing within the context of Punjabi folk music.
Researcher Manpreet Singh said that in this research, the Kissa poetry tradition which started from Patwari Damodar Gulati during Akbar’s reign has been studied from the historical, literary and musical aspects, while the traditional Kissa singing of Punjab has been studied in terms of content, language, instruments, the musical aspect, stylistic aspect, Akhara tradition, singing style, dress, musical changes, present status and future prospects etc. He said that apart from this, the stories collected under the Kissa Akhara tradition will be released on DVD. An attempt has also been made to transcribe under suitable tone, raga and rhythm and to do musical analysis. He said that during the research, brief biographies and portraits of famous kissa singers were collected during the period of development of these singing genres and a detailed study was also done about the titles and contributions of the current kissa singers.
Supervisor Dr. Alankar Singh, while emphasizing on the methodology of this research, said that its method has been mainly analytical, observational and interview based. He said that the collection of various facts related to the research study was a challenging task. For this purpose, success was achieved in this work by using the necessary materials from different books, periodicals, newspapers, printed/unprinted research papers, Akhara tradition and Internet etc.
He said that due to this being an activity based topic, in the field of traditional kissa singing of Punjab, the data was collected through phone conversations and personal meetings with Kavishar kissa singers, dhadi kissa singers, tumba kissa singers, tumbi kisa singers, king kisa singers, storytellers, teachers, music thinkers etc. Conclusions have been reached upon only by collecting authentic facts and anecdotes. He clarified that the analysis of facts/ anecdotes is based on the personal experiences of the researcher.
Punjabi University’s research on special musical genres of Punjab. Vice Chancellor Prof. Arvind specially praised the research work and congratulated the researcher and supervisor. He said that making such special singing traditions of Punjab a center of research study is a commendable step which is in line with the basic purpose of Punjabi University. He said that where Punjabi University is working towards knowledge generation in the field of science and technology accessible to the common people through Punjabi idiom, there are quality researches going on subjects like music, art, language, literature etc. related to Punjab and Punjabi as well. He said that it is a matter of happiness that such a work is included in the beliefs of Punjabi University.
(royalpatiala.in News)
