Nacnī

Tyagaraju known for his extensive contributions to Carnatic music.
Music of India
Genres
Traditional Classical Carnatic Odissi Hindustani Folk Borgeet Baul Bhajan Kirtana Shyama Sangeet Ramprasadi Rabindra Sangeet Nazrul Geeti Dwijendrageeti Atulprasadi Prabhat Samgiita Thumri Dadra Chaiti Kajari Sufi Ghazal Qawwali Sikh Modern Bhangra Bhangragga Filmi Bollywood Ghazal Qawwali Goa trance Dance Indi-pop Asian Underground Jazz Rock Bengali Raga Hip hop
Media and performance
Music awards Filmfare Awards Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Music festivals Saptak Festival of Music Chennai Music Season Dover Lane music festival Purandaradasa Aradhana Tyagaraja Aradhana Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan Music media Sruti The Record
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem Jana Gana Mana Other Vande Mataram
Regional music
Andaman and Nicobar Islands Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar (Maithili) Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Ladakh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab (Folk) Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Ancient Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal
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Nacni means female dancer in north Indian languages. In the east-central Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Orissa, the term nacnī (lit. "dancer" pronounced NUCH-nee) refers to female performers who sing and dance professionally in rural areas, accompanied by male ḍhulkī and nagarā drummers who move around the stage with her.^[1][2]

Women who perform as nacnīs are considered "kept women" and are usually paired in an informal "marriage" with a male manager and dancing partner, typically of a higher caste.^[3][4] In this pairing, nacnīs are thought to embody the goddess Radha while the male dancing partner is a stand-in for Krishna. The performers are considered out-caste and in many ways transgress usual Indian caste and gender distinctions both on and off stage, taking on a certain power role among their "fans" and often engaging in "typically male" behavior, such as drinking and smoking.^[5][6] This style of performance is rapidly disappearing.^[7]

References

Further reading

• Chakravarti, Nisith (2001). Nachni: The Dancing Girls of Rural Bengal. Saptarshi Prakashan.
• Sengupta, Saloka; Narasimhan, Haripriya (June 2020). "Ki sambandha hoibe takhon he? : Locating Nachnis in the Societal Margins of Kinship in Rural Bengal". Indian Journal of Gender Studies. 27 (2): 282–301. doi:10.1177/0971521520910970. ISSN 0971-5215.</ref>