SSC
Ovi (Owi) is a folk song tradition of which state?
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Answer: Option D — Maharashtra
Detailed Solution
Ovi (also written Owi) is a folk song form of Maharashtra. Traditionally, ovis were sung by women while doing household work, especially while grinding grain on the stone hand mill (jaata or chakki). These songs are called "jatyavarchya ovya" (grindmill songs). Women sang them early in the morning, and the rhythm of the song matched the rhythm of the turning stone.
Ovi songs cover every part of a woman's life and feelings: love for the mother's home (maher), relations with in-laws, the birth of children, marriage, devotion to God, and social conditions. They are an important source of oral history about rural women's lives. A large project called the Grindmill Songs Project collected and recorded over 1,00,000 ovis from villages in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Ovi is also the name of a metre (verse form) in Marathi poetry. The great 13th-century saint-poet Sant Dnyaneshwar (Jnaneshwar) wrote his famous Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, the "Dnyaneshwari" (Bhavartha Deepika), in the ovi metre.
Other folk and devotional song forms of Maharashtra:
- Abhang: devotional poems in praise of Vithoba of Pandharpur, by saints such as Tukaram and Namdev.
- Powada: ballads describing heroic deeds, such as those of Shivaji.
- Lavani: a lively song and dance form performed to the beat of the dholki.
- Bharud: devotional songs with humour and social messages, made popular by Sant Eknath.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Gujarat is known for Garba songs and Dayro.
- ✗Karnataka is known for Janapada Geethe.
- ✗Odisha is known for Dalkhai and Sambalpuri songs.
Quick tip
Remember: Ovi = Marathi grindmill songs of women (Maharashtra); Dnyaneshwari was written in the ovi metre; Abhang = Vithoba songs; Powada = heroic ballads.
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Music & Musical Instruments — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Music & Musical Instruments, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers Indian classical music, its two main traditions (Hindustani and Carnatic), gharanas, ragas and talas, folk music styles, and the musical instruments of India along with the artists who are famous for playing them. It also includes the four classes of instruments: string (tata), wind (sushira), percussion (avanaddha) and solid (ghana). Exam questions usually pair an instrument with its maestro, such as the sitar with Pandit Ravi Shankar, the shehnai with Ustad Bismillah Khan or the santoor with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Other common questions ask about the origin of a gharana, the instrument a folk style uses, or the class an instrument belongs to. Making a two-column list of instruments and artists is the quickest way to revise. Practise the music and musical instruments questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.