Patkai & Tirap Belt · Eastern Himalaya & Brahmaputra Belt
Origin, agriculture and blessing, sung in a poetic register that differs from ordinary Tangsa speech and varies between Tangsa groups. It is the most thoroughly documented song tradition in the belt.
Sung at: The Wihu observance and other Tangsa gatherings. The documentation was carried out with community singers over roughly two decades and the recordings are used within the community as well as outside it.
Harvest, ancestry and the standing of the chief's household, sung responsorially with the dancing.
Sung at: Chalo Loku, October–November.
Spring, sowing and communal welfare, sung across the several days of the festival with the log drum keeping time.
Sung at: Oriah, February–April.
Origin and migration narrative recited by elders while the files of dancers move around the posts — the same text tradition held by Kachin communities across the ridge.
Sung at: Shapawng Yawng Manau Poi, February.
Field work, absence and attachment. The everyday layer under the festival repertoire, and the one most at risk, because it has no calendar occasion to keep it in use.
Sung at: Jhum labour, evenings, courtship.
The folk songs of Patkai & Tirap Belt — what they are about, who sings them and when. (5)