BARSALO  (the booklet)
Monsoon songs

The state of Rajasthan – second largest of the Indian Union – covers over 342,000 square km, diagonally divided by the Aravallis mountain range. This natural screen prevents the fertilising monsoon rains from travelling north-eastwards to the Thar desert where drought is rife. Only rarely does rain irrigate this arid world – stretching as far as the Valley of the Indus in Pakistan - during the monsoon season in July and August. But it is enough to fill the wells and storm reservoirs and revive nature. Enough to ensure the survival of animals and men alike for a whole year.

Rajasthan literally means “country of kings”. It is par excellence a land of epics and traditions many of which survive today thanks notably to the various communities of bards and professional musicians who perpetuate a plentiful and varied repertoire. Each of these communities is differentiated by its origin, social status, repertoire and the musical instruments they use, as well as by territorial distribution. In the heart of the Thar desert, in the districts of Jaisalmer, Barmer and Bikaner, one mainly encounters the Manghaniyar. The other great community of professional musicians of Rajasthan, the Langa, settled further south and east, between Barmer and Jodhpur. Until the abolition of the feudal system, when India became independent in 1947, the Manghaniyar – Muslims – were tied by a sort of ancestral contract ( jajmani ) to a Hindu land owner of the superior Rajput caste. Their conversion to Islam seems to date back to the 16th and 17 ^th centuries and the handle “Khan” (lord), proudly attached to family names, is a witness to their religious belonging in the same way as the handle “Singh” (lion) identifies the Rajput (Hindus) and the Sikhs. These Muslims have adopted the coloured turbans ( pagri ) and the baggy trousers ( dhoti ) of the Hindus…



In feudal India, professional musicians were at the service of a land owner who partially supported them. In return, they took on all the necessary musical services for both his household and the village community. Today, these musicians are paid a fee per performance directly by their employers, mainly the villagers. They are called upon to perform at weddings, births, religious celebrations, funerals or simply for entertainment. Today, certain Manghaniyar play for regional radio stations and for tourists passing through Jaisalmer, or even play abroad.

There has been a simplification of the repertoire due, in part at least, to the fact that these new audiences prefer more rhythmic and shorter pieces. Some instruments have also been more successful than others. Thus, percussion instruments (easier and faster to learn), such as the dholak (double skinned drum) and the khartal (a sort of castanet), are gradually replacing the shindi sârangî and the kamayacha hurdy-gurdy which are less and less played these days. The kamayacha hurdy-gurdy, played with a bow, is carved from a single piece of wood and has a short handle decorated with inlay. Its hemispherical resonance chamber ( tabli ) is covered with a taut goat skin. The instrument has three melodic strings of gut and seven to nine sympathetic strings in metal, which are played with the bow or plucked. This instrument is only played by the Manghaniyar community. But when the present kamayacha players disappear, that’s to say in a decade or two, its deep tones will disappear from the popular patrimony… Already, there are no more instrument makers who build these unique instruments. On the other hand, new instruments are appearing. For example, the harmonium ( serpeti ) is now very widespread throughout the whole of India.

Of the strong relationship which bonded the Manganiyar – literally “those who stretch out their hand” – to their “bosses”, there remains a rich repertoire recounting several centuries worth of the Rajput’s feats of arms and matters of the heart. This oral tradition also describes many cultural characteristics which are unfortunately gradually falling into disuse, even oblivion.

The Manghaniyar repertoire is divided into “big songs” ( mota geet ), “little songs” ( chota geet ) and religious songs ( hargs ). The whole is focused mainly around themes of daily life and, the main concern in the desert being water, the Manghaniyar devote to it a good deal of their repertoire. On the other hand, as it is improper for women to sing in public, the professional musicians have taken over their repertoire and indiscriminately sing their stories of knocked over jugs ( panihari ) and their love laments… The “little songs”, composed of a series of verses separated by a chorus, generally come from this feminine repertoire and that of the nomads. The “big songs” include the epics and the heroic ballads to the glory of the Rajputs as well as the personal compositions of the Manghaniyar. But the distinction between a mota geet and a chota geet is not always obvious as these songs are continually modified or differently interpreted according to the musician, the place and the time. Moreover, today, the long improvised introductions ( duhâ ) that characterise the “big songs” also precede most “little songs”, according to the musicians’ whim or to warm up their voice…

These recordings were made during the monsoon, in August 2002, in Khuri, a village located approximately fifty kilometres from the town of Jaisalmer.