Ethnic Turkmen musicians in Iran claim a distinct regional style of performance they call Gürgen ýoly. Musicians among their kin in neighboring Turkmenistan recognize a number of distinct regional styles of traditional Turkmen music, but they do not recognize a distinct style among Turkmens across the border in Iran. What accounts for this difference in perspectives on regional style? We argue that Iranian Turkmens claimed a distinct regional style as a signifier of their identity as their position diverged from that of Soviet Turkmens, particularly after the Islamic revolution of 1979. At the same time, they also cultivated musical differences on which they could base their claims to a distinct style. We examine the musical character of this style in terms of repertoire and the use of vocal technique, traits that make Iranian Turkmens’ Gürgen ýoly distinct from styles in neighboring Turkmenistan. We argue that the political context further contributed to stylistic differentiation, since in the Islamic Republic, musicians were required to perform religious poems. This circumstance afforded an opportunity to preserve original elements of Turkmen music that had been neglected during the Soviet period in Turkmenistan. Meanwhile in the absence of music schools, ensembles and weddings have played a crucial role in preserving the Turkmen culture in Iran. Ensemble leaders curated a distinct repertoire in this context, choosing songs that might strengthen a sense of shared identity and belonging among Turkmens living as a minority in Iran.

In June 2010, representatives from three Indian NGOs came together to write songs of peace and friendship with Pakistan. Believing that civil society could aid bilateral relations by celebrating shared cultural elements, renowned feminist activist Kamla Bhasin convened a small group of musically inclined community organizers on the campus of Jagori Rural Charitable Trust (JRCT) in the Kangra Valley of Himachal Pradesh, India. There, Bhasin led a three-day songwriting workshop for the local organizers, mostly young women from Kangra Valley, to write songs in their own language. Today, these remain some of the only Kangri-language songs in JRCT’s large, mostly Hindi-language repertoire. Drawing on recent interviews and collaborative analysis with attendees of the 2010 songwriting workshop, this paper examines the impressions left by these Kangri-language songs in relation to the broader musical context at JRCT. While the production of songs in the status-less Kangri language represents a significant shift toward indigenous modes of expression, I discuss how workshop participants themselves share in the more national and international appeal of the Hindi-Urdu songs comprising JRCT’s core repertoire. As the global development agencies that fund NGOs like JRCT increasingly emphasize localization of cultural strategies for mobilization, the JRCT case serves as a reminder for researchers of music and international aid to attend carefully to who defines terms like ‘local’ and ‘indigenous’, and to what end.