Class 8 English For Today । Unit One: A glimpse of our culture । Lesson: 1 | Our folk songs

A. Work in pairs. Read out the musical instruments and answer the following questions.

dotara	Sarinda	guitar	bamboo flute	drum	tabla
piano	guitar	harmonium	ek-tara	violin

1 Can you sing a song?

2 Can you play any of these musical instruments?

3 Do you know anybody who can play any of these instruments? Tell what you know about her/him.

B. Read the text and answer the following questions.

Folk songs are songs sung in the traditional style of a community or country. Here the traditional style includes the themes, words and tunes of the songs that have existed for a long time among the common people.

লোকসঙ্গীত হল একটি সম্প্রদায় বা দেশের ঐতিহ্যবাহী শৈলীতে গাওয়া গান। এখানে ঐতিহ্যবাহী শৈলীর অন্তর্ভুক্ত গানের বিষয়বস্তু, শব্দ এবং সুর যা সাধারণ মানুষের মধ্যে দীর্ঘকাল ধরে বিদ্যমান। We have a rich history and collection of folk songs in Bangladesh. Of them Palligiti, Bhatiali, Bhawaiya, Jari, Sari, Gambhira, Lalongiti, Palagaan and songs of Hason Raja are very popular. The traditional musical instruments are usually played with these songs.

বাংলাদেশে আমাদের লোকগানের সমৃদ্ধ ইতিহাস ও সংগ্রহ রয়েছে। এর মধ্যে পল্লীগীতি, ভাটিয়ালী, ভাওয়াইয়া, জারি, সারি, গম্ভীরা, লালনগীতি, পালাগান এবং হাসন রাজার গান খুবই জনপ্রিয়। ঐতিহ্যবাহী বাদ্যযন্ত্রগুলি সাধারণত এই গানগুলির সাথে বাজানো হয়।

Questions

1 Who usually likes our folk songs?

2 Can you name some well known folk singers?

3 Do you like folk songs? If you do, who is your favourite folk singer? Which song or songs do you like most?

4 Look at the musical instruments in Activity A above and say which instruments go well with the folk songs.

5 Discuss in groups whether the modern instruments like the guitar and the piano could be played with the folk songs.

C. Discuss in groups and write a paragraph on the following question. Do you want more or less programmes on folk songs on our TV channels? Why?/Why not?