Santali music has always been an integral part of the Santals’ day-to-day life. Birth to harvest, love to loss, the people use every emotion to express itself through rhythm and song. Their music is communal, no stage, no spotlight, simply a group of people dancing in the open sky, voices swelling in harmony. The folk instruments, shaped out of nature itself, bring a raw and earthy tone that resonates the rhythm of the earth. The tamak (a hand drum) and tumdak (a small drum) retain the rhythms of their folk songs, and the banam, a one-stringed instrument, narrates tales of heroes, spirits, and dead lovers.
What is so special about Santali music is its strong association with storytelling. The songs are oral histories, with myths, legends, and moral values passed on from generation to generation. Each note is a sense of owning the land, owning the tribe, and owning a common history. The lines sung in the language of Santali are full of metaphors taken from nature. A tree turns into a symbol of resilience, the river into a metaphor for life, and the mountain, a silent observer of time.
Of late, Santali music has found fresh life outside its conventional areas. As there has been an increase in regional media and online channels, young Santali musicians are fusing folk beats with contemporary genres of pop, hip-hop, and reggae. This blending has resulted in a thriving renaissance culture, wherein the new and the old blend together magnificently. Artists such as Guru Besra, Raghunath Murmu, and others have turned into icons, maintaining the spirit of the folk while bestowing upon it the voice of the present.
Even with these thrilling developments, the integrity of Santali music is untouched, its warmth, its group rhythm, and its unflinching emotional honesty. It still acts as a bridge between the generations, a reminder of what Santals are and where they have come from. In a world that races so headlong toward modernity, the Santali song still takes the time to hear the forest, the laughter of the people, and the unbroken rhythm of tradition.
Santali music, unadulterated, is not merely listened to, it is felt. It is the voice of identity resonating down the centuries, a surviving song of pride and eternally joyful living.
