Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee |
1.3.20
Bhojpuri Music
Come
holi and the lovers of Bhojpuri music can listen to gems like- Ghusal ba Lehenga me Virus Corona.
Meaning: Corona Virus has entered inside the Lehenga. This song is sung by
‘Diamond Star’ Guddu Rangila. Or a slightly simpler: Corona Virus Kaisal ba? How is the Corona Virus? Singer: Jallu
Raja.
Bhojpuri
music industry is amazing. It can churn out songs on any issue for any
occasion. However, the big release time for Bhojpuri music industry is holi,
like it is Rajo for Odia film industry or pujo for Bengali music industry.
Research threw up some interesting facts about
Bhojpuri music industry whose story in our times, is inextricably linked with the
story of Bhojpuri cinema. In 2003, the Bhojpuri film industry was enthused with
the release of Sasura Bada Paisawala. Made on a budget of Rs.
35 lakh, the film made more than Rs. 4.5 crore at the box-office. Since
then, the Bhojpuri film industry has evolved from being a cottage industry to
a behemoth that makes more than 100 films a year, enlisting big Bollywood
stars.
Avijit Ghosh, the author of Cinema
Bhojpuri, examines the coming-into-its-own of the industry in a Times
of India article titled Mofussil’s Revenge. “The Bhojpuri
film industry’s revival isn’t only about a regional genre finding its market,”
he writes. “The [hinterland] audience seems to be telling mainstream Bollywood:
We want our own smells and sights in the movies. As in post-Mandal politics,
regions and communities are asserting themselves through cinema that suits
their aesthetics.” As Bollywood turned its gaze westwards as well as towards a
more urban multiplex audience, Bhojpuri cinema took over some of the ground it
ceded. It fulfilled the desire of a section of Indian rural and rurban populace
for entertainment rooted in the hinterland. Bhojpuri music—both film
and non-film music—is the product of a similar demand and an expression
that most from its home state can easily identify with. Something similar is
happening with Sambalpuri Music in Odisha.
The market for Bhojpuri music and
cinema isn’t just people living in Bihar, but also hunderds of thousands of
migrant Bihari workers across the country or even abroad. These songs remind
them of what home sounds like in a foreign land. Cheap smart phone, affordable
data tariff and social media platforms
like youtube have made these songs easily accessible.
Bhojpuri songs are often accused
of being vulgar. A Google search of the titles of Bhojpuri music CD can provide
you a glimpse of the fare. But some sociologists have a different take on this.
“Playful irreverence, often bordering on vulgarity, has been an ingredient of
folk songs that have been part of the Indian hinterland’s longest held
traditions. For example, Gaari (derived from the Hindi
word gaali, which translates into ‘swear’) songs are integral to
Bihari weddings. One of the many rituals in such a wedding is a Dwar
Puja— performed to welcome the groom as he arrives with his baraat (the
groom’s family) at the bride’s door. The bride is led to the mandap by
her friends and cousins and they sing cheeky, coarse songs, flouting ideas of
conventional familial propriety, to taunt the groom and his family. Gaari songs
are examples of how perceived vulgarity can function instead as an agent of
creativity, possibly, and even social cohesiveness or simply great fun.
Others, however, refuse to buy
this argument and say: it is a blatant attempt to sell the music to earn cheap
popularity and money.
Time to introduce Namaste over handshake
As a form of greetings the Indian style
‘namaste’, is better than a hug or handshake or high five, when it comes to the
question of transfer of viruses from one humanbody to the other. A study shows
in a handshake over 124 million bacterial colony (CFU) could be transferred
from one person to the other. In a high five, 55 million CFU could be
transferred. In a first bump- which is touch fist to fist- about 7 million CFU
could be transferred. In a ‘namaste’ no CFU is transferred as there is no human
touch involved. At a time when corona virus is wreaking havoc worldwide- it is
wise to adopt Asian form of greetings- like Indian Namaste or Japanese deep
bow.
Tailpiece: Strength and Weakness
Seen on the back of a T-Shirt:
My Wife is my strength.
All other women are my weakness.
Dangerous virus
A highly
dangerous virus called "Weekly Overload Recreational Killer" (WORK)
is currently going around. If you come in contact with this WORK virus, you
should immediately go to the nearest "Biological Anxiety Relief"
(BAR) center to take antidotes known as "Work Isolating Neutralizer
Extract" (WINE) or "Radioactive Unwork Medicine"(RUM) or
"Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter"(BEER) or
"Vaccine Official Depression Killing Antigen"(VODKA).
(Courtesy:
Social Media)
***
This column is published every Sunday in Sikkim Express and posted in http://www.prameyanews.com
This week you can find it here: http://www.prameyanews.com/window-seat-ghusal-ba-lehenga-me-virus-corona/
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