Music of Bhutan

The music of Bhutan is an of its culture and plays a leading role in transmitting social values. Traditional Bhutanese music includes a spectrum of subgenres, ranging from folk to religious song and music. Some genres of traditional Bhutanese music intertwine vocals, instrumentation, and theatre and dance, while others are mainly vocal or instrumental. The much older traditional genres are distinguished from modern popular music such as rigsar.

Instruments used in both traditional and modern genres of Bhutanese music include the lingm (six-holed flute), the chiwang (Tibetan two-stringed fiddle), and the dramnyen (similar to a large three-stringed rebec); modern musicians often update these instruments for use in rigsar.

Other traditional instruments include tangtang namborong (four-holed bamboo bass flute), kongkha (bamboo mouth harp), and gombu (bull or buffalo horn). Newer instruments include the yangchen, brought from Tibet in the 1960s.

While Bhutanese folk music often employs stringed instruments, religious music usually does not. Unlike many countries, Bhutanese folk music is almost never incorporated into popular music.

Bhutan was first united in the 17th century, during the reign of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1652); the same period saw a great blossoming of folk music and dance. Religious music is usually chanted, and its lyrics and dance often reenact namtars, spiritual biographies of saints, and feature distinctive masks and costumes. Today, Bhutan has a robust tradition of monastic song and music not normally heard by the general public. The language used in these lyrics is generally Chöke.

The Cham dance is one of the most conspicuous religious musical subgenres in Bhutan, and is shared among Tibetan Buddhists in Tibet and in other countries, having roots in the 8th century. Lama and founder of Bhutan Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal is also credited with introducing many masked dances into Bhutanese tradition. Performed during modern Bhutanese tsechus (festivals), cham dances act both to achieve enlightenment and to destroy evil forces in a sort of ritual purification. Ordinary people watch cham dances in order to receive a spiritual benefit and merit. The music and choreography of the cham dance are heavily associated with Tibetan Buddhism, however some common features derive directly from the Bön religion. The Dramyin Cham in particular is a focal point of many modern tsechus.

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