Music of Jammu and Kashmir

Sufiana Kalam is the classical music of Kashmir, which uses its own maqams, and is accompanied by the Rubab, the Kashmiri saz, the Santoor, the wasool and the dokra.

Henzae is a traditional and ancient form of singing which is practiced by Kashmiri Pandits at their festivals.

[5] Rouf is a traditional dance form usually performed by women on certain important occasions like marriage and other functions and also in cultural activities.

In Kashmiri folk music, the prevalence of Nai is older than two thousand years as we get its description in Nilamata Purana.

"Punyahved shabdin vansi venurvenaya sut magadh shabden tatha vandisvanenc" Nilamata Purana described banshi as well as venu and in the modern era even the Kashmiri artists, especially of Anantnag, are proficient in playing two types of flutes.

[citation needed] The very fact that it was a Kashmiri, Abhinavagupta (the great philosopher), who wrote a commentary called Abhinavabharati on Bharata's Natyashatra shows how much importance was given to music in the ancient times.

[citation needed] Music in Jammu division is diverse with essence of both mountains and plains.

Musical instruments of Jammu include flute, ektara, dafla, sarangi, Chang, narsingha, kansiya etc.