Rajula MalushahiKumaoni
The love of a Katyuri prince for the daughter of a Shauka trading family from the high valleys, and the journey he makes over the passes to find her. The ballad follows the trade route exactly, which is why it is also a document of the trans-Himalayan economy.
कब गाया जाता है: Sung over successive nights by hurkiya bards.
JagarKumaoni
The genealogy, wrongs and powers of a local deity — Golu, Kalbisht, Airy, Haru, Saim — sung to bring it into a human vehicle so that it can be questioned. Functional text, sung for as long as it takes.
कब गाया जाता है: Night-long deity invocation.
NyoliKumaoni
Separation and longing, in a high unaccompanied line named after a hill bird.
कब गाया जाता है: Sung alone while grazing or cutting grass.
Bair and bhagnaulKumaoni
Improvised competitive verse between two singers, each answering the other in metre until one runs out. Subjects range from love to theology to the failings of the other singer.
कब गाया जाता है: Fairs.
Hurkiya baulKumaoni
A heroic ballad sung by a drummer standing in the flooded field, with the transplanting crew answering the refrain and working to the beat. The labour and the song are one performance.
कब गाया जाता है: Paddy transplanting.
ChhapeliKumaoni
Courtship, sung and danced as a duet with a mirror and a handkerchief.
कब गाया जाता है: Fairs and celebrations.
Jhora and chanchariKumaoni
Circle-dance songs in call-and-response, whose texts move between seasonal description, teasing and local news, and which lengthen as more dancers join.
कब गाया जाता है: Fairs and village festivals.
Bedu pako baro masaKumaoni
A young man's song of longing, built on the contrast between the wild fig that fruits all year and is not eaten and the kafal that ripens for a few weeks and is. Arranged for the stage in the 1950s and now the region's unofficial anthem.
कब गाया जाता है: Originally courtship, now everything.
Kafal pako, main na chakhoKumaoni
The tale behind a bird's call — a girl left to guard the kafal, beaten by her mother for eating what had in fact only swelled overnight in the dew, who dies and returns as a bird crying that the kafal ripened and she never tasted it. The bird is heard for exactly the weeks the fruit is on the tree.
कब गाया जाता है: Told and sung in the kafal season.
Ghughuti rhymesKumaoni
Children's calls to the crows, sung while offering the fried dough necklaces made for the day. A rhyme with a job — the crow is being invited, and the winter is being sent off.
कब गाया जाता है: Uttarayani, mid-January.