Bhojpuri and Me 

Language is close to many people’s heart. Now its somewhat unfortunate that the language that I am talking is something that I can’t speak myself at this point. And I have seen as a kid that my parents never forced to speak the language though they conversed in the language themselves. English is a foreign language but for reasons that is out of the context of this article became a language that many of us Indians picked up and it is becoming a common language between people of different regions now in India. Recently when my mother asked to translate a doctor’s prescription into Hindi my hands literally stopped and I had to try a little to actually write that. Now while growing up not knowing good Hindi or not being able to speak basic Bhojpuri was considered okay but one had to practice his English to face the world out there

I remember listening to Brayan Adams, Eagles, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone when I was in middle school and the audio cassettes were almost four times the rate of what a Hindi cassettes were sold for. But that was what life was like in Arunachal Pradesh and I picked some English accent which many friends condescendingly say that I fake it :-). Now I agree I am not a native speaker and accent is picked. I also have a very different Hindi accent when I speak to someone from Delhi or Western Up where as it is very different when I speak to parents or my Arunachalee friends. So that is also fake in my view. But somehow I have never been able to change that and don’t think there is a need to. Anyways I still need to pick up Bhojpuri and I do try whenever I get a chance.

Bhojpuri Folk Music

Let’s turn to main topic of Bhojpuri music. The Bhojpuri songs and it’s raunchy videos are really very popular with the large population and any YouTube video has millions of views. Now I don’t want to comment of the appropriateness of such music or videos but there is a demand which is being met.

Bhojpuri language has gone to remote corners of the world due to the migration of indentured labourers that Britishers took to different colonies mostly from states of Bihar and UP in 19th Century after slavery was given up. Indentured labourers were not far from slaves but that’s for another article. People were moved in ships to work in sugarcane cultivation in Carribbean, Mauritius, Suriname, Fiji, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, South Africa to name a few and they took their language and culture. In modern times almost all languages of India are across the world with the diaspora of scientists, doctors, engineers, drivers, hoteliers, shopkeepers and others who are spread across the world.

Away from the clutter and the raunchy videos there is the soothing folk music. Some music which very specific to seasons and are called Chaiti, Kajri, Hori or Phaguwa, Sawani. Chaiti is sung in the Hindu month of Chait (April), Kajri is sung in monsoon mostly love song by the longing of maiden for her lover as the black monsoon come hanging in the summer.

Few Chosen ones

Girija Devi is classical singer and I am not yet there in appreciating that kind of music but here is one Chaiti sung by her

Bedesia Project by Revati Sakalkar

Then there are occasion specific songs like Sohar is sung when a kid is born in a family (unfortunately it was sung when a boy was born which is something I feel is more recent change), Mundan which is the tonsure or the first hair cut. Then there are marriage songs for different rituals. Then there are many devotional songs.

Here are some movie songs that I liked 

Gangs of Wasseypur – Humni Ke Chodi Ke 

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi – Sajni  with Beats

India and Folk 

India is country that has majority of people who are bilingual and many people know more than two languages. The kind of diversity we have got is amazing with so much in folk music in different states. This diversity and culture needs to be passed on to generations so that they can enjoy and feel proud of themselves. Every Indian state has so much.

Being in Karnataka for so long, now I do listen to some folk from here and this one by Ananya Bhat is something I liked

Tamil Version

Hindi Version

I hope you like these and suggest me in comments if you like any other folk songs of India and I would really like to listen to more diverse set. Every state, region, clan will have a rich musical heritage.