What is "dumka"

n. A genre of instrumental folk music from Ukraine

Dumka, headquarters of the Dumka district, is a city and municipality in the state of Jharkhand, India. It was made the headquarters of the Santhal Pargana region, which was carved out of the Bhagalpur and Suri districts after the Santal Hool of 1855. Dumka is the sub-capital of the state of Jharkhand, which was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Dumka is a peaceful and green city.

Dumka (, dúmka, plural думки, dúmky) is a musical term introduced from the Ukrainian language, with cognates in other Slavic languages. The word "dumka" literally means "thought". Originally, it is the diminutive form of the Ukrainian term duma, pl. dumy, "a Slavic (specifically Ukrainian) epic ballad … generally thoughtful or melancholic in character". Ukrainian and other Slavic classical composers drew on the harmonic patterns in the folk music of their countries to inform their more formal classical compositions. The composition of dumky became popular after the publication of an ethnological study and analysis and a number of illustrated lectures were made by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko in 1873 and 1874 in Kiev and Saint Petersburg. The lectures and publication were illustrated by a live performances by the blind kobzar Ostap Veresai who performed a number of dumky singing to the accompaniment of his bandura. Lysenko's study was the first to specifically study the melodies and the instrumental accompaniment played on the bandura, kobza or lira of the epic dumy.

A natural part of the process of transferring the traditional folk form to a formal classical milieu was the appropriation of the Dumka form by Slavic composers, most especially by Antonín Dvořák. Thus, in classical music, it came to mean "a type of instrumental music involving sudden changes from melancholy to exuberance". Though generally characterized by a gently plodding, dreamy duple rhythm, many examples are in triple meter, including the popular Op. 72 No. 2 by Dvořák. Dvořák's last and best-known piano trio, No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, has six movements, each of which is a Dumka; the piece is sometimes called the Dumky-Trio.

Dumka Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 14 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Jharkhand state in eastern India. This constituency is reserved for the candidates belonging to the Scheduled tribes. This constituency covers the entire Jamtara district and parts of Dumka and Deoghar districts.

Dumka (Vidhan Sabha constituency) is an assembly constituency in the Indian state of Jharkhand.

Dumka is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Dumka district, Jharkhand state, India.