User:Jacqke/Bana (fiddle)



Bana, also kikri, vana , is a three-string bowed pike lute played by male musicians of the Pardhan caste in the Mandla area of ​​the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to accompany epic songs. The Pardhans make music for their patrons, the Gonds, with whom they have a social and mythical relationship. Outside of the folk music tradition of this rural area, the fiddle is virtually unknown. For the Pardhans it used to be the residence of their main god Bara Pen and had a magical protective function.

The epic song tradition of the Pardhans represents a very old dramatic form, the content of which derives from the regional Gondawani tradition or from the Indian national epic Mahabharata. The bana provides musical accentuation for the half-sung, half-spoken narrative and enables the listener to imagine the mythical characters and events that are being portrayed. Outside of Mandla, the fiddle of the Pardhans is called kingri.