Roshan Lal

Roshan’s love for music could be seen by his love for his musical instruments especially his ruvana which is 150 years old and belonged to his father. Ruvana is made up of chir or as locally called khumani. The strings were earlier made up of goat’s intestines but now they are made up of nylon. It is a belief that Lord Krishna made it and gave it to Sudama who played it. He says that there is a belief of tying sacred threads or dori at the end of ruvana during puja and asking prayers while the musician plays. It is a wish which one makes to Lord Satya Narayana. Apart from ruvana which is a string instrument, he plays khanjari which is a small dafli like instrument and ghungroo, which he ties on his left wrist. Khanjari is made up of walnut wood. Kanchan accompanies Roshan by singing and playing kalsi or cymbals. Apart from the musada gayan, the songs they sing are about Nature, mainly emphasizing on rivers and mountains, different seasons and lives of people. Apart from this, Roshan also writes songs. The main inspiration for writing songs is Nature. He writes how he feels and what emotions goes through him when he travels through the hills or valleys. The couple belongs to the Gaddi community. The people of the community were historically shepherds and used to graze sheep and cows in high altitude pastures of Himalayas. It is believed that a lot of compositions were made by people while grazing their animals. They are avid worshippers of Lord Shiva and their devotion is visible in their songs. The community has a rich culture, from bright costumes for both men and women to cultural festivals like Basua or Baisakhi, Minjar Mela, etc.

Roshan lives with his mother and his three children, all of whom are studying. He wished his sons to continue his legacy to spread traditional Pahadi music. Although their village has all the basic facilities and infrastructures like electricity, schools and healthcare, their lives are difficult at times during extreme weather conditions. So he and his brothers made a house in Mangala in Chamba where they shift during the winter months. Singing is the only source which brings finance to their home so they do it with utmost passion and love. Very occasionally they go to Bharmour for farming and grazing cattle when they don’t have any other means to generate money.

• Chamba
• Himachal Pradesh