Zhungdra is one of two main styles of traditional Bhutanese folk music

Music of Bhutan

The music of Bhutan is an integral part of its culture and plays a leading role in transmitting social values. Traditional Bhutanese music includes a spectrum of subgenres, ranging from folk to religious song and music. Some genres of traditional Bhutanese music intertwine vocals, instrumentation,...

, the other being bödra. Arising in the 17th century, zhungdra (zhung meaning "center, mainstream", and dra meaning "music") is an entirely endemic Bhutan

Bhutan

Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

ese style associated with the folk music of the central valleys of Paro, Thimphu, and Punakha

Punakha

thumb|right|Punakha Dzong and the [[Mo Chhu]]Punakha is the administrative centre of Punakha dzongkhag, one of the 20 districts of Bhutan. Punakha was the capital of Bhutan and the seat of government until 1955, when the capital was moved to Thimphu. It is about 72 km away from Thimphu and it...

, the heart of the Ngalop

Ngalop

The Ngalop are people of Tibetan origin who migrated to Bhutan as early as the ninth century. For this reason, they are often referred to in literature as "Bhote"...

 cultural area. Bödra, in contrast, evolved out of Tibetan court music

Music of Tibet

The music of Tibet reflects the cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan region, centered in Tibet but also known wherever ethnic Tibetan groups are found in India, Bhutan, Nepal and further abroad...

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Zhungdra is characterized by the use of extended vocal tones in complex patterns which slowly decorate a relatively simple instrumental melody. Untrained singers, even those with natural singing ability, typically find it challenging to sing zhungdra. This has reduced the popularity of zhungdra compared with rigsar

Rigsar

Rigsar is a music genre, the dominant type of popular music of Bhutan. It was originally played on a dranyen , and dates back to the late 1960s. The first rigsar song, Zhendi Migo was a copy of the popular Bollywood filmi song "Sayonara" from the film Love in Tokyo...

, the fast-paced pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 Bhutanese music style based on electronic synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

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The zhungdra style may be appreciated in songs such as Lhodrak Marpai Zhab, found on Jigme Drukpa's album Endless Songs from Bhutan.

Although formally secular, the lyrics of zhungdra songs often tell Buddhist allegories, such as Yak Legbi Lhadar, in which the singer tells of his former life as a yak

Yak

The yak, Bos grunniens or Bos mutus, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population...

 slaughtered in connection with a non-Buddhist ritual in the Gasa

Gasa District

Gasa District or Gasa Dzongkhag is one of the 20 dzongkhags comprising Bhutan. Its capital is Gasa Dzong near Gasa. It is located in the far north of the county and spans the Middle and High Himalayas. The dominant language of the district is Dzongkha, the national language...

district.