Some of Bhutan’s folk songs and dances are known and performed throughout the country while others remain traditions exclusive to individual valleys or communities. Using the difference in tunes and melody, songs are generally categorized into four groups including zhungdra (གཞུང་སྒྲ་), bödra (བོད་སྒྲ་), and riksar (རིག་གསར་). The zhungdra genre is most common in the western valleys where the zhung, or central government, was based. Bödra resemble Tibetan songs and are perhaps closely connected to them, as reflected in the name, which means ‘Tibetan sound’. The riksar genre is the most recent type, referring to modern Bhutanese pop, styled on songs and musical cultures in India and other foreign countries. In addition to the three known categories, there are also many songs that are unique to local communities. Some of these local songs are also performed only during specific events or for specific purposes. These include a wide range of local songs such as the Achi Lhamo of Merak, the Aulé of Laya, the Ashi Lhamo of Ura, the cotton song of Kheng and Khoré of Pema Gatshel.

The zhungdra genre of Bhutanese vocal music is, to many, the most prestigious category of songs. Songs sung with zhungdra tunes are said to have been composed by saintly figures such as Zhapdrung Ngakwang Namgyel (1594-1651), the founder of Bhutan and one of his incarnations, Zhapdrung Jigmé Norbu (1831-1861). The content of these songs are primarily religious in nature and describe a holy person, a sacred place, event, or theme although the performers need not be religious persons. The songs are normally performed by ordinary men and women. They were also traditionally performed in important places such as Punakha Dzong, Talo Monastery, and Tongsa Dzong. Some of them also have accounts of their sacred origins and the lyrics are said to possess power to bless people, dispel misfortunes, and bring about auspiciousness.

Zhungdra is commonly performed with long soothing voice. The singers have to be capable of singing very long tunes without drawing a breath. As a result, the songs are very long even when the lyrics consist of only a few verses. The songs are often accompanied by a slow dance with mild but elegant movements. In most cases, the dancers stand in a single file. Thus, the dance is known as dangrim (གདངས་རིངམོ་) or long line, in contrast to the gorgom (སྒོར་སྒོརྨ་) or circular dance. Zhungdra songs are mostly performed with dangrim although some may be performed with gorgorm. The dances generally include some slow steps which the dancers must perform uniformlyalong with gentle hand movements and gestures. Zhungdra songs and dangrim dances are performed along with religious rituals in some places as a part of a religious offering of music.

There are some seventy traditional songs that are performed with zhungdra melodies. The most popular ones include Namkha Trinmé Dangpa (ནམ་མཁའ་སྤྲིན་མེད་དྭངས་པ་), Tsenden Tsokpé Tsokluk (མཚན་ལྡན་ཚོགས་པའི་འཚོགས་ལུགས་), Jaza Böla Midro (རྒྱ་བཟའ་བོད་ལ་མི་འགྲོ་), Chökyi Tsawa Mitsuk (ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྩ་བ་མི་བཙུག་), Tri Nyampa Mépa (ཁྲི་མཉམ་པ་མེད་པ་), Olo Zhönpa Michin (ཨོ་ལོ་གཞོན་པ་མི་ཕྱིན་), Sergyi Lakso Gyeltsen (གསེར་གྱི་ལགས་སོ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་) and the three maṇi songs of Talo. Many of the songs sung in the zhungdra melody are also performed in the boedra style with a gorgorm dance. Due to the popularity of riksar songs and rough and fast music like rap and rock among the youth, the zhungdra genre in the recent past has lost the prestige and popularity it enjoyed among the older generation some thirty years ago. However, some musical contests on national television and school-based competitions have helped revive some interest in zhungdra songs today.

Karma Phuntsho is a social thinker and worker, the President of the Loden Foundation and the author of many books and articles including The History of Bhutan.