UGC NET Music Unit II: Folk Music (Kindle Guide)
Doctorate in World Music, University of Oxford · teaching since 1992. More about the teacher.
I published the four volumes of UGC NET Music — Unit II: Folk Music (लोक संगीत) on Amazon Kindle, forming Books 2 to 5 of the series. Kindle Unlimited readers can read all four volumes free. The default language is Hindi, and the structure is bilingual: Hindi and English sit beside one another so a concept can be read, taught and written in either medium. It is not a novel and not a question bank — it is a self-study text for aspirants and a guidebook for teachers, treating the four books as one continuous study aid of ninety-six numbered modules in which folk music is handled as an intellectual domain rather than a list of famous songs.
Exam structures, patterns and eligibility follow the information bulletin issued for your testing cycle. Always confirm details with the conducting body before planning; this guide teaches the subject, not the paperwork.
Free for Kindle Unlimited readers
Kindle Unlimited readers can read all four volumes of UGC NET Music — Unit II: Folk Music free on Amazon Kindle. If you do not have Kindle Unlimited, you can buy the permanent Kindle editions. A Kindle device is not required — the free Kindle app works on a phone, tablet or computer. Open Part I on the India listing at UGC NET Music — Unit II, Part I on Amazon Kindle, or the worldwide listing at Amazon.com. The other parts are linked below. Search the title, author "Dr Banerjee" or the ASINs on any other Amazon store. Read each sample first so the Hindi–English mix matches how you study.
The whole series is on Amazon Kindle, and free for Kindle Unlimited readers:
- Unit I: Technical Terms · Amazon.com — the guide
- This page's four volumes: Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV. Worldwide: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.
- Unit III: Rasa and Aesthetics · Amazon.com — the guide
- Unit IV: Research Methodology and Pedagogy · Amazon.com — the guide
Why Unit II needs a book of this kind
Unit II looks generous. Everyone has heard a folk song and can name a drum, but the paper does not reward recognition — it rewards the ability to place a practice: to keep Margi distinct from Deshi when a stem tries to collapse them; to assign a singing style to a region without inventing a neighbouring one; to class an instrument as tat, sushir, avanaddha or ghana and then name the community that carries it; to say why a raga or tala in folk use is not automatically the raga or tala of the gharana classroom. Most candidates try to memorise a state-wise list, and most teachers, short of time, teach the list as a list. Names are recalled; application questions fail. Matching columns mix instrument, community, festival and raga, and the candidate who studied songs rather than structure has nowhere to stand. The four volumes exist because Unit II is a full syllabus — theory, geography, material culture, institutions, and the points where folk and shastric practice touch — not a colourful interval between Unit I vocabulary and later art-music history.
What the four volumes are, and what they are not
The books are bilingual by design, not by afterthought. Default Hindi serves the larger share of the Indian classroom, while parallel English keeps the same concept exam-ready in the other medium; the two registers are parallel expositions, not word-for-word translations, so a student who reads both can write the answer in either. They are written for two readers at once. For the aspirant, each module carries an exam-aligned explanation, a concrete example where the practice can be heard or placed, and a note on the confusions that cost marks. For the teacher, the same pages carry classroom sequence — a hook, board work, an oral diagnostic check, and the caution that keeps a lecture honest when regions, communities and granthas do not line up as neatly as a chart. They are not mock-test books and do not replace previous papers, fieldwork, recordings or the primary writing of folklorists. Where a classification is genuinely disputed, the books say so, because an answer that conceals scholarly disagreement is weaker than one that names it. This continues the chain begun in Unit I: technical terms, which settles the bilingual lexicon on which Unit II rests.
The four parts, as one syllabus
Module numbering runs continuously from 1 to 96 across all four books, and breaking that chain is how textbooks lose students. Part I — Foundations of Folk Music (Book 2; 418 pages) opens the unit with definition, origin and historical development, the Margi–Deshi discourse, systems of classification, and the defining characteristics of folk tradition; until those distinctions are stable, a state-wise list is only a list. Part II — Regional Folk Music of India (Book 3; 588 pages) is the geographical body, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, covering the major folk singing styles of North, West, Central, East, North-East and South India state by state; the paper's matching questions and its region-confusing traps live here. Part III — Folk Instruments, Performers and Institutions (Book 4; 493 pages) turns to material culture and people: tat, sushir, avanaddha and ghana; instrument–community associations; major folk performers; folklore scholars; institutions and honours. Part IV — Ragas, Talas, Fairs and Consolidated Study (Book 5; 580 pages) closes the unit with ragas and talas used in folk music, the folk–classical relationship, fairs, festivals, folk theatre, and the consolidated comparative tables covering the whole unit. Part I is the seed, Part II the country, Part III the sounding body, and Part IV the cycle in which the unit must be revised as a whole.
The seven-section module, and how to use it
Every module in all four volumes follows the same seven-section structure, and the repetition is the pedagogy: A — detailed exposition with an English explanation; B — concrete practical examples; C — for teachers, a classroom hook, board work and oral diagnostic check; D — technical definition, bilingual; E — focus points and examination traps; F — common confusions; G — quick recap. Aspirants who skip C still need D, E and F; teachers who skip B still need C; neither reader should skip A, and the recap is for revision after the concept has been used, not instead of it. Read in series order, keep a notebook in the medium you will write the paper in, and after each cluster explain the term or regional placement aloud in the other medium. Do not begin with Part II because it looks like "the actual syllabus" — a state without Margi–Deshi and a working definition of folk practice is a tourist itinerary — and do not leave Part IV until exam week, because its consolidated tables only work once Parts I to III have been inhabited.
Who should read it
The four volumes are for UGC NET, JRF and SET Music candidates preparing Paper II (Subject Code 16), and for those sitting university service examinations for Assistant Professor in music. They suit college lecturers who need a ready Unit II sequence rather than another photocopied state list, and B.Mus, M.Mus and research students who want a bilingual folk-music map they can annotate. They are not written for casual listening or for anyone wanting a shortcut around study. Neither reader should treat the volumes as sufficient on their own: after a cluster is stable, sit with previous-year questions on those regions, instruments and distinctions. The chain continues in Unit III: rasa and aesthetics and Unit IV: research methodology, and pairs with the Western–Hindustani vocabulary map in 40 foundational music theory terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books make up Unit II?
Four volumes, published as Books 2 to 5 of the series and numbered as one continuous syllabus of ninety-six modules: Foundations of Folk Music, Regional Folk Music of India, Folk Instruments, Performers and Institutions, and Ragas, Talas, Fairs and Consolidated Study. They are designed to be read in order rather than dipped into separately.
Should I start with the regional volume?
No. It is tempting because Part II looks like the "real" syllabus, but starting there without the foundations of Part I — the Margi–Deshi discourse, classification systems and a working definition of folk practice — leaves you with a list of names you cannot defend. Read in series order so each module supports the next.
Are these mock-test books?
No. The volumes teach the subject through exposition, examples, trap-points and comparative tables; they contain no MCQ sets or question papers. That is deliberate, since Unit II is failed by candidates who can tick a famous name but cannot defend a distinction. Practise previous-year questions separately once each cluster is stable.
Can Kindle Unlimited readers read them free?
Yes. Kindle Unlimited readers can read all four volumes free, with no extra charge on top of the subscription. If you do not have Kindle Unlimited, you can buy the permanent copies. A Kindle device is not required; the free Kindle app works on a phone, tablet or computer. Read each sample first.