Marwar & the Thar · Arid Northwest
A woman calls her beloved, dressed in saffron, to come home — "padharo mhare desh", come to my land. Sung in Maand and functioning as the state's unofficial anthem.
Sung at: Welcome, and longing. Popularised nationally by the Maand singer Allah Jilai Bai of Bikaner.
A song about the beaded gorbandh strung around a camel's neck, sung by women as they string it — an entire romance conducted through the ornament.
Sung at: Camel decoration, fairs.
The song of women walking to the well with pots on their heads, the most consequential daily journey in a desert village, and the courtship and gossip that happen along the way.
Sung at: Fetching water.
The Jaisalmer legend of Moomal and Mahendra — a love destroyed by a misunderstanding and pride, sung as a long ballad by the Manganiyar.
A woman addresses the kurja, the demoiselle crane that winters in the Thar, and asks it to carry a message to her husband gone away to trade. Migration and separation, in one bird.
Paired songs praising the bridegroom (banna) and bride (banni), traded between the two families' women, frequently teasing and occasionally merciless.
Sung at: Weddings.
The epic of Pabuji, a Rathore folk deity and protector of cattle, performed across a whole night against the painted scroll by a Bhopa and Bhopi.
Sung at: All-night phad readings.
The folk songs of Marwar & the Thar — what they are about, who sings them and when. (7)