Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

 is a state of India. The region's folk heritage includes songs called rasiya

Rasiya

Rasiya is a style of folk song of North India's Braj region .Rasiya songs are sung in the regional Hindi dialect of Brajbhasha, and are performed in a variety of styles, ranging from unpretentious women's songs to group performances by semi-professional akharas of men, who sing in a more...

 (known especially in Braj

Braj

Braj is a region mainly in Uttar Pradesh of India, around Mathura-Vrindavan. Braj, though never a clearly defined political region in India but is very well demarcated culturally, is considered to be the land of Krishna and is derived from the Sanskrit word vraja...

), which celebrate the divine love of Radha

Radha

Radha , also called Radhika, Radharani and Radhikarani, is the childhood friend and lover of Krishna in the Bhagavata Purana, and the Gita Govinda of the Vaisnava traditions of Hinduism...

 and Shri Krishna. These songs are accompanied by large drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s known as bumb, and are performed at many festivals.

During the eras of Guptas

Gupta Empire

The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed approximately from 320 to 550 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent. Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a classical civilization. The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the...

 and Harsh Vardhans

Harsha

Harsha or Harsha Vardhana or Harshvardhan was an Indian emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 AD. He was the son of Prabhakara Vardhana and younger brother of Rajya Vardhana, a king of Thanesar, Haryana...

, Uttar Pradesh was a major center for musical innovation.

Folk dances or folk theatre forms include,

• Raslila
• Swang
• Ramlila
  Ramlila
  Ramlila is a dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Lord Ram, ending up in ten day battle between Lord Ram and Ravan, as described in the Hindu religious epic, the Ramayana...
  
  ,
• Nautanki
  Nautanki
  Nautanki is one of the most popular folk operatic theater performance traditions of South Asia, particularly in northern India. Before the advent of Bollywood , Nautanki was the single most popular form of entertainment in the villages and towns of northern India...
  
  
• Qawwali
  Qawwali
  Qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...
  
  
• Ghazals
• Naqal - mimicry
• Khayal
• Marsiya