Folk Music of Manganhar & Banjaras of Tharparkar & Rajasthan.

Originating centuries ago in the Jodhpur and Jaisalmer desert areas of Rajasthan, the Banjaras were bullock transport carriers and builders of great monuments, who ranged throughout the subcontinent negotiating and maintaining expensive contracts to supply goods to important customers as the Moghal armies and the British. For centuries, they efficiently moved their enormous caravans through vast roadless tracts of all India, guarantying safe conduct for grain, salt and messages. Doing so they spread from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, from Orissa to Gujarat, spilling over into Sind, Pakistan, Iran and further west. Since they wore all their wealth, they were famed for their colorful dress and spectacular jewelry, and known for their lyricism, for song, poetry and dance, and for the maintenance of a unique aesthetic in their embroidery.

With the advent of the railway and the building of a road system, the Banjaras lost their primary occupation, but retained their tradition of monument buildings. Typical of peripatetic nomads, the Banjaras maintain strong boundaries so that they can interact with surrounding peoples and yet retain their cultural integrity. Such boundaries include the separate villages called tanda where the majority of the Banjaras still live today, situated near large cities where they work as construction laborers, or in remote rural areas where they farm, raise and herd animals. Their religion very different from the mainstream one. Their myths are origin, traditional taboos and social structure. The language they use is known as “ghormati” or “Banjaraboli”, related to Hindi, Rajasthani, Punjabi and Roma of the European gypsies, unintelligible to most outsiders, while learning, the regional languages of every part of India where they have settled. And their distinctive colorful clothing, jewelry and embroidery.  

Banjara performed by Gulzar Manganhaar (Courtesy: Dr Fouzia Saeed)

  URL: http://www.youtube.com/user/alisoftseo

An endogamous ethnic people, the Banjaras prohibit marriage with outsiders. Among themselves, they are exogamous, marrying only with members of opposite clans, known as gotras. This Hinduized form of exogamy takes its model specifically from the cast system from the Rajputs of Rajasthan. The same gotras are used throughout the subcontinent, allowing Banjaras from distant places to identify themselves to one another by reciting their lineage.

Scentadli lagai re choro (Alghozo) Performed by Tagaram Bheel (Courtesy: Morchang Studio)

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfi1cHJuyhM

Tere dwar khada ek jogi (Alghozo) Performed by Tagaram Bheel (Courtesy: Morchang Studio)

URL: http://youtu.be/0XewJKYPVn4
http://www.youtube.com/user/morchangstudios

Website: http://www.morchangstudios.com

Their religion is animistic and implies a deep respect for natural processes and a close alliance with ambiguities inherent to their life. The Banjaras have a high tolerance for irrationality, for teasing and mischievousness, for ambiguity. These dual aspects or contradictions contribute to the hostility and fear that mainstream people exhibit toward the Banjara…. Nationwide, they trace their origin through a complex lineage to cow-herding God Krishna and his consort Radha. At the same time, they retain allegiance to local and pan. Banjaras heroes, gods, goddesses, pilgrimage sites and rites interlaced with their particular history and pattern of wandering. Banjara deify ancestors and saints are worshipped and revered, their own priests, bhagats, interfacing with ancestors and interpreting omens, dreams, miraculous stories and magic.

Some materially wealthy or some impoverished, the Banjaras appear to feel at ease anywhere, either moving through the country side of Karnataka, or selling their wares on market day in Goa or at home in their tanda throughout the subcontinent. Synonyms for groups and subgroups of the Banjaras, usually having regional and occupational significance, include the following: banjara, banjari, brinjari, gauria, gavadia, laban, labhana, labhani, lamani, lambani, lambadi, sugali, bamania, charan, ghor, marwadi, and many other names…….

Khartal Jugalbandi

Note: The Khartals are a two blocks of wood which are held in the hand of the musician. The pieces of wood are not connected in any way, but when held correctly they can be clapped together at high speeds to make fast complex beats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIYA6nfsfIQ

Courtesy: Travel video Rajasthan http://www.youtube.com/user/visionrajasthanjpr

Chapar (Khartal - wood clapper), Alghozo and Dillo (Matka)

Jugalband with Khartals and others.

URL: http://youtu.be/86XJk_Ca6Jg
Courtesy: Travel video Rajasthan http://www.youtube.com/user/visionrajasthanjpr

Sindhi Rano performed by Rajasthani Folk Artists

URL: http://youtu.be/-ft8aBIWKK0

Embroidery and Dress

Signaling their ethnic membership, all Banjaras embroideries are designed for a nomadic life style and, while featuring geometric, floral and animal motifs used by a majority of India’s village peoples, Banjara embroidery design is strikingly different.

For dancing and ordinary ceremonial wear, women use traditional skirts, shawls and backless blouses generally made of commercial textiles, synthetic yarns and locally available mirrors and metal ornaments. The blouses usually are ornamented on the sleeves and fully embroidered with mirrors across the front. Embroidered flaps with metal ornaments are added to the blouses of married women. The shawls have embroidered borders along the top and bottom edges with a wider more elaborate strip of mirror embroidery at the center top that frames the face. The skirts, hanging low on the hips, are worn with the kodi sadak, a long rope of cowries; the waist bands are generally reinforced with sturdy embroidery, worked on a red quilted or twined ground. Particularly fine pieces are made for prospective brides.

Banjara women throughout India wear elaborate twisted and braided hairdos that support and display jewelry and textiles; those styles are typical of Rajasthan. The traditional dress is completed with rows of ivory or bone bracelets, nowadays made of white plastic, worn on the arms, with silver bangles, nose gold ring (bhuria), beads or silver coins necklaces.

Amongst the Banjaras, the single most important ceremonial textile is an embroidery approximately 50 cm. square, of many uses including wedding water pot cover or ritual table cover. It can pre folded to make up different kind of elaborately embroidered dowry bags.

Reference sources:

“Banjara: Adornment of a people of all India.” by Nora Fisher. In “Mud, Mirror and Thread. Folk traditions in rural India” 1993 – 1994.

“Castes and Tribes of Southern India”. By E. Thurston. Government press, Madras 1909 – Volume IV (Lambadi – Pages 207 to 232)

“The Art and Literature of Banjaras – Lambanis” by D.B. Naik – Abhinav Publications 2000.

Courtesy: http://www.suryasgarden.org/History.html

Snake Charmers of Sindh (Late. Iqbal Jogi & Misri Jogi).

Historically, the earliest evidence of snake charming can be traced to the Egyptians. Till the early 1990s, it was quite normal to see snake charmers wandering in the streets with their colourful bulging bag hanging on their shoulder. Their serpents were in baskets or pots hanging from a bamboo pole slung over the shoulder. These charmers usually wore very colourful attire, comprising a turban and long kurta and had mostly long and curly hair. Necklaces of shells or large beads and earrings would make their personality even more mysterious. They usually attracted people's attention by playing a special flute-like instrument made from gourd, known as 'been'. Once a sizable crowd had gathered, the snake charmer would play the flute and a snake eventually emerged from the cane or straw basket. It is commonly believed that the snake actually dances to the tune of the flute but in reality, the snake can't hear anything. It actually moves with the motion of the flute that the charmer moves while playing it. Baba Kamesha, a 60-year-old snake charmer, has been in this profession for the past 20 years. It is his family profession and even the children in his family are involved in it.

Misri Jogi & Companion with Murli (Snake Charmers of Sindh)

URL: http://youtu.be/34OWd4k3Igs

Kamesha learnt all about snakes, which he calls saanpon ka ilm, from his master Log Bengali. He disclosed that a snake charmer keeps wandering — visiting villages, towns and cities and also spends years in desserts and jungles to search for serpents. Kamesha got his snake from Balochistan's desert. "An inexplicable relationship exists between a snake and its charmer, the jogi," Kamesha confesses. According to him, a snake never hurts its master; and the master, for his own part, is not scared of being bitten by the snake, even poisonous ones. And in case of a snake bite, the jogi uses traditional remedies to treat himself and keeps a white mysterious powder in his pocket which he applies instantly on the bitten area. These days, snake charming has almost vanished because no one is really interested in watching a poor man's art and his serpent's performance. REFERENCE: Feature: Fading with time By Wajiha Jawaid | InpaperMagzine March 5, 2011 http://www.dawn.com/2011/03/05/feature-fading-with-time.html

Late. Iqbal Jogi on Murli

URL:

HYDERABAD, Jan 20: Snake charmers called Jogis in Sindhi warned on Saturday that many rare species of snakes were fast becoming extinct in Sindh and demanded that the government should set up an institution to preserve and conduct research on the reptile. A group of Jogis said while addressing a press conference at the Hyderabad press club that the government should also establish an educational institution for them. Arjun, an expert on snakes, said that the snakes feed on meat, mud and milk and advised the government to set up an institution to preserve the snakes which were fast becoming extinct. He said that the snakes' venom and meat could cure many diseases such as tuberculosis and jaundice and disclosed that Jogis administered a soup prepared from snake meat to their children and believed the diet would help them tell one kind of snake from the other. He claimed that there were 900,000 snakes and 100 scorpions in the province. He said that the most famous specie of snakes were Umel Karo, Pandam, Karar and Lundi and among them Lundi was the most dangerous, which was found only in Sindh. Mohammad Urs Behrani, Syed Mureed Ali Shah and Aslam Channa also addressed the conference. Jogis had brought with them some snakes, which were put on display in glass containers. REFERENCE: HYDERABAD: Snake charmers call for research Bureau Report January 21, 2007 Sunday Muharram 01, 1428 http://archives.dawn.com/2007/01/21/local28.htm

Tribute to Legendary Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor (1910-1986)

A gaunt, regal saffron turbanned figure, yaktaro held aloft, steps onto the stage. Beside him is a smaller, younger man; several other saffron-robed faqirs follow, and as the full throated, open roar of Faqir Abdul Ghafoor rents the night air, they move around him in rhythmic union, echoing the words of the kafi he is singing. It is an unforgettable experience and one that can never be repeated, for Faqir Abdul Ghafoor died last month. (Article was written in 1986 and this post is posted in 2011)

Ant Bahar Di Khabar by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor



 Chalo Way Sayan by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

 

 With his passing, a long chapter in Sindh’s cultural history drew towards a close. It seems tragically symbolic that the greatest surviving Sindhi folk singer should die at a time when monumental changes are taking place in his beloved homeland: changes which will sweep away the society and culture which shaped his musical career.

Sohnay Yar Di Gharoli by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

 Faqir Abdul Ghafoor was born into that environment: the feudal society of Sindh, with its rural base, its village culture, its havelis and autaqs and, most important of all as far as the music is concerned, its dargahs and pirs and faqirs. He grew up surrounded by the sounds of the dargah and the kalam of the sufi poets, and took up the study and practice of music at an early age. At that time, the music of the dargah was the dominant form of musical expression at the popular level, and it was inevitable that the young Ghafoor would gravitate towards a murshed.

Kalangi Walra 2 by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

His choice was Sachal Sarmast, and it was at his dargah at Daraza (near Khairpur), that Faqir Abdul Ghafoor received his early training. Sachal’s shrine was the gathering place for many great singers of his kafis, and Ghafoor gained invaluable experience, listening to them and storing away their particular styles and approach. He presided over the annual ceremony at which a special chadar was laid on the tomb of the saint, and sang the kafi associated with this occasion, and sung only once in a year.

Bar Sudagar by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor



Ghum Charakhra by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

The range and power of Faqir Abdul Ghafoor’s voice had already marked him out as an exceptional kafi performer, but his scope was not limited to the dargah. His intense interest in the politics of Sindh was seldom far from his music. During the period of agitation against One Unit, Ghafoor performed at a students’ function at Liaquat Medical College, Hyderabad. His choice of a Shaikh Ayaz’s wai brought the house down:

Sahando ker mayar o’ yar

Sindhri ta’an ser ker na deendo

(Who among us, my friend, would bear the shame

Of not sacrificing himself for Sindh when the call comes?).

Muhinjey Ranay Khey Raham Paway by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

After this performance, no Sindhi cultural occasion was considered complete without Ghafoor singing Sindhri... A close friend of Ghafoor’s once recalled that, ”Whenever Ghafoor has stepped onto a stage in Sindh during a period of political turmoil, he has always been called upon to sing Sindhri. In fact, the emotions aroused by his performance were so powerful that the authorities banned him from singing this wai on public occasions. They allowed others to sing whatever they wanted to, but Ghafoor was too much for them to handle.”

Nahay Barochal by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor

Ghafoor pioneered and popularised many other now-famous folk songs and kafis, including Dama dam mast Qalandar, Gharoli and Rano. His performance of Rano was a special favourite of the late Prime Minister Bhutto, who often used to call Ghafoor to his home to sing for him. This association between the Prime Minister and the Faqir assumed a special poignance when Mr. Bhutto was in jail, a few months before his death, and Ghafoor sang Rano on the Bhitshah stage: the cry by Moomal (Sindh) that Rano would return, was readily associated by the audience with the then current political situation.

Faqir Abdul Ghafoor’s love of Sindh and his rebellious nature were a natural vehicle for the anti-establishment poetry with which his music was largely associated. But he was much more than just a Sindhi folk musician. His collection of the kalam of various poets and his own development of the songs he discovered during his sojourn at Sachal’s and other shrines, was a unique contribution to the musical tradition of Pakistan. The sufi literary and musical heritage has drawn from a variety of sources; Ghafoor himself was familiar with the poetry of several languages, including Seraiki, Baluchi, Farsi, Gujrati, Punjabi and Urdu/Hindi..

Soorat Jo Sultan by Late. Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor



 Dil Masto Mast by Late Faqeer Abdul Ghafoor

 

 Hithay Nahin To Kithay Nahin Yeh Kaun Piya Bolenda by Faqueer Abdul Ghafoor (Sachal Sarmast)


 Aao Kaanga Kar by Late Faqeer Abdul Ghafoor

 

The environment which produced I. this extraordinary man has now changed so substantially, that it is inconceivable that another Ghafoor could emerge. The spontaneity, lack of artifice and the self-consciousness of Ghafoor’s performance (and that of other Sindhi musicians like Hussain Bakhsh Khadim, his constant companion and co-performer, Allan Faqir and Dhol Faqir) is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Having moved far away from the open maidans and informal gatherings of village life, divorced from the dargah culture which gave birth to the various schools of sufi music, modern performers are a different breed from Ghafoor. Electronic media and stage performances have created new musical forms and changed the relationship between the singer, the audience and the source of inspiration; the latter is, perhaps, now commercial success and money, rather than devotion to the murshid or participation in a life centred around his dargah. Courtesy: Faqeer Abdul Ghafoor (1910-1986) By Amenah Azam Ali (Courtesy: The Herald, August 1986) http://www.the-reporter.info/2009/feb-march09/memoirs/index.htm