Ethnomusicology reflects different aspects of traditions, customs-rituals, aspirations, and values linked to various dimensions of the socio-cultural life of humans in musical tradition. Among these, folk music is one of the most effective ways of touching people's subconsciousness. It has come into being through the confluence of feelings and imagination of the individuals confined in a specific geographical space. The Garhwal Himalayas is a region with a consensus in its ethnocultural forms despite physical and social variations. Folk songs in Garhwal Himalayas carve cultural spaces and shape social spaces of identity, belonging, and community. These Garhwali folk songs not only narrate the relationship between women and the environment but also share traditional language and many themes integral to ceremonies and rituals and tend to accompany agricultural work or other forms of productive activity. They are performed in vastly different contexts, such as weddings or intimate gatherings of female friends and relatives.
In the above framework, the present paper tries to understand the status of women in society through women-based folk songs of the Garhwal Himalayan region. This study investigates how folk songs and ritual singing, as a people's oral traditions, lead to the social construction of gendered identity. In general, not only collecting the lyrics and tunes of folk songs, listening to and exploring the environmental, regional, social, cultural, economic, and political contexts of the gendered folk songs also has been a counterpart of this research. Furthermore, with the help of theoretical, ethnographic, processual, and linguistic approaches, the research aims to study the roles of location and environment and analyze community togetherness and belongingness through personal interviews and exploration of the local festivities and events. Finally, an attempt to conduct an in-depth lyrics analysis will be considered to understand traditional ethnomusicology from a gendered perspective.