Trio Of Indian Researchers Seeks To Decolonise Folk Music And Empower Folk Artists

A team of Indian researchers has challenged long-held global perceptions of folk music, presenting a new framework that redefines the genre as a dynamic tool for cultural design, social change and community participation.

The research paper, titled “Co-designing Culture: A Grounded Theory of Participatory Practice in Indian Folk Music,” was presented at the Design Research Society (DRS) 2026 conference in Edinburgh on June 10. The study was authored by Abhinav Agrawal, Mudit Chaturvedi and Gaurang Agrawal and draws on interviews with 23 first-generation folk musicians from 14 Indian states.

The research emerged from over a decade of fieldwork conducted through Anahad Foundation, a non-profit organisation that has worked with more than 10,000 folk musicians across India over the past 13 years.

According to the authors, existing global definitions of folk music,many influenced by Western academic frameworks and UNESCO classifications,often portray folk traditions as anonymous, communal and primarily focused on preserving heritage. The researchers argue that such interpretations overlook individual authorship, creative agency and the evolving role of folk artists as social commentators and changemakers.

The paper proposes a new definition of folk music as “a living cultural artifact” created by artists embedded within communities, shaped through audience participation and used to build identity while driving social change.

“Having our own India-specific, practitioner-rooted definition lets us study folk music on its own terms, not through a borrowed lens,” said Abhinav Agrawal, lead researcher of the study and a PhD scholar in Design at IIT.

The researchers contend that folk musicians are not merely custodians of tradition but active creators who address contemporary issues such as environmental awareness, child marriage, communal harmony and gender equality through their work.

The study also highlights concerns around intellectual property rights. Historical notions of folk music as anonymous community-owned expression have often resulted in creators being denied copyright protection, royalties and ownership of their work.

“The artists who actually write these songs, real people with names and families to feed, get no copyright, no royalty, no ownership. Their work belongs to everyone except them,” said Mudit Chaturvedi, Head of Operations at Anahad Foundation.

According to the researchers, the proposed definition recognises folk musicians as cultural designers, acknowledges audience participation as a form of co-creation and restores visibility to individual and collective authorship that has historically been overlooked.

The authors believe the framework could influence future cultural policy, research methodologies and funding approaches by encouraging institutions to view folk traditions as evolving creative ecosystems rather than endangered cultural artefacts.

They also hope it will strengthen recognition and rights for folk artists, placing them on equal footing with contemporary independent musicians.

“Folk music isn't disappearing; it's evolving,” the researchers said, arguing that a shift in perspective could open doors to new funding models, skill-development programmes, cross-community collaborations and stronger copyright protections for folk creators.

The paper's presentation at DRS 2026 marks a significant contribution from India to the global discourse on music, culture and design, while reigniting conversations around ownership, creativity and the future of folk traditions.