Music and Dances of Bhutan - Celebrations of the Country's Legacy

Every holiday and celebration in Bhutan includes the country's unique music and dancing styles, which draw their primary inspiration from religion. The entire nation dances and sings to honor their legacy during annual celebrations like tshechus, the birthday of the monarch, etc. The national dances are called chham dances, or masked dances, and they primarily include incidents from Guru Rinpoche's life being reenacted.

One member of the ensemble keeps time and adds melody to the dancing while another plays a musical instrument called a symbal. Some of the most well-known cham dances performed include Joenpa Legso, Drametse Nga Cham, Pa Cham, and others. The genres of the music include folk, religious, and contemporary, such rigsar. Bhutan has a long history of using rigsar, dating back to the 1960s or thereabouts. use of instruments such as the dramnyen (a big rebec), the lingm (a six-holed flute), and the chiwang (a two-string fiddle). Most of the lyrics are in choke or dzongkha.