Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Nagaland

Arts



Music

Music is an essential accompaniment to any Genna or festival. The themes have a wide range of variety. They may glorify a tradition, extol a specific act of heroism, narrate an important event of the recent past or relate to a love story.

A common musical instrument played by the Nagas is Petu. It is a string instrument. The Angamis and Chakhesangs are particularly fond of it and it is used to give the desired accompaniment to one's voice. Another popular string instrument is Theku. Of the wind instrument, the flute is quite common. In earlier days, the instrument was kept in the Morung only, but now the restriction is not observed. In some tribes, only boys are allowed to play the flute, the girls are debarred lest they seduce the young boys. The trumpet is mostly used by the herds men to scare away wild animals from the cattle. Among the present-day youth, the guitar is very popular. Born and brought up in a Christian atmosphere, the young boys and girls are naturally attracted to western music and instrument.