The Bhawaiya Song : Musical Instruments used in Bhawaiya

Musical instrument is the inseparable part of any kind of song. Such as, the main instrument used for Baul song is Ektara, for Kirtan is Kartaal and Khol etc. The main instrument without which Bhawaiya song is incomplete is Dotora or Dotara. There are some other musical instruments that are also used in Bhawaiya. Some of those are Sarinda, Byana, Ar Banshi, Mukha Banshi etc.

Dotora or Dotara :

 It is about 2 to 2.5 feet long log usually of Jackfruit wood or Neem wood or Saitan wood with the circumference of about 13/14 inches at the bottom end and about 4/5 inches close to the top end. The bottom portion which is about 6 inches length is made hollow and crescent shaped with the help of chisel and covered with the animal skin in order to make the sound resonating. From the upper end of the hollow starts the middle portion of the instrument.

From here the instrument is made thinner and vertically flat; upper surface of this portion made hollow facilitating the skin cover to continue for a stretch of about 6 inches. The rest of the middle portion gradually becomes thinner and takes the shape of half round with the upper surface slightly flat for a stretch of about 6 inches. After this the shape is like a small chignon (topknot) where a hollow is made to facilitate the fixation of the ears made of small pieces of wood for rolling the strings at this end of the instrument. Four ears - two from each side are fixed through the holes made to roll four strings.

Dotora / Dotara

After this portion comes the top end portion of the instrument which is horizontally flat for a length of about 5 inches. At the extreme bottom end a very small chignon is carved out from the log to facilitate tying of a rope or thread to support a 1.5 inches long stick in which the strings are tied. Four strings of the instrument are thus tied with a stick placed over the skin cover at the bottom end rolled on the ears at the top end. For tension, the strings are placed on a bridge made of bamboo, wood or buffalo horn over the skin cover. Strings are tightened or loosened by twisting the ears. Strings are usually of muga spin or nylon.

The primary words (Bol) of Dotora lesson are – Dolodong Dolodong.

Sarinda :

Sarinda is crude form of the classical instrument Sarengi. It is made of a wooden log about 2 feet in length usually of Neem wood. The shape of the instrument is almost like the animal Iguana. 

Sarinda

Sarinda has three strings. The strings are rolled on the ears at the top and then taken along the length over a bridge fixed over the skin cover and then tied on a little stick, which is again tied back on a very small chignon carved out at the extreme bottom end. Stings are tuned by twisting the ears as in Dotora. The instrument is played with the help of bow and not stroke. The bow is made of thin bamboo piece with the horsetail hair fixed with it. Strings of the instrument are made of spun thread or tufted horsetail hair.

Byana :

It is a 1.5 feet long string instrument. This instrument, however, is not made of one piece of wooden log like Dotora or Sarinda. Three parts of Byana are made of three different materials. The bottom portion is a very small coconut shell cut halfway and covered by Goat skin or Iguana skin. Middle portion is a thin hollow bamboo is fixed with the coconut shell. At the top end is 4-5 inches long wooden log of almost equal circumference about 4 inches, which is fixed with the hollow bamboo. An ear made of bamboo or wooden piece is fixed horizontally through a hole made at the joint of the bamboo and wood. Byana has only one string made of a small tuft of horsetail hair.

Ar Banshi :

Flute made of thin hollow piece of bamboo about 1.5 feet long is commonly used in Bhawaiya. The buffalo-keeper, Maishal used to play the flute in addition to Dotora to get rid of loneliness and melancholy feelings and also to attract his ladylove who was expected to come to the river-step for bath or water. 

Ar Banshi

The structure of the commonly used flute is as follows. A small hole is made at a point about 2 inches below the top end and sound is produced with the blow from the mouth on this hole. Another 6 holes, sometimes 7 holes are made on a straight line with gap of about 1.2 inches in between two holes, starting from a point about 4/5 inches below the upper-most hole.

Mukha Banshi :

The main characteristic of this flute is its big mouth. The flute is made of a comparatively fat hollow bamboo about 6-7 inches circumference with the joint intact at top end. A piece of 1.5 inch length of a fatter hollow bamboo, whose inner circumference just fits the outer circumference of the main bamboo piece, is fixed on the top end. An aperture like a cap is made just below the joint of the two pieces and immediately above the hole, a thin flat hole is made through the cap to allow the wind to pass through. As in Ar Banshi, 6-7 apertures are made on a straight line starting from a place about 3 inches below the top aperture at equal interval of about 1.2 inches.

Beside these instruments there are some other instruments used in Bhawaiya. These are : Kartaal, Khol, Kansi, Dhak, Dhol, Dhulki etc.

Reference (text):

1. Bhawaiya____  Dr. Sukhbilas Barma

 Reference (image):

1. Google Images

The Bhawaiya Song : The Folk Community of Bhawaiya

                  Bhawaiya is a folk song. It bears all the characteristics of folk song. Folk songs are regional. Cultural reflection of the wider group of people of the particular region is the main characteristic of folk song. Folk song grows out of the folk community. It is the reflection of philosophy of the folk community.

            What is called folk community? It is a people of common background – social, economic, ethnic, sectional, urban, rural, mountainous, occupational. The background must have developed over a period of generations so that they are well set in the mind of the group. To common backgrounds are added common goals, interests and values and the most of all, common pressures. From backgrounds and common goals and awareness of common pressures evolves a common psychology.

               In the case of Bhawaiya this folk community is the Rajbanshi community of the then Kamrup. This area is nourished by the Rajbanshi cultural environment. However, it has to be made clear that not only Rajbanshi but the Brahmin, Khen, Yogi, Koch, Mech, Rabha, Muslim – all these people who have traditionally resided in the greater area of the then Kamrup are patron as part of this Rajbanshi culture. It can, therefore, be stated that the people of this area – their ideas, manners and behavior, philosophy of life, happiness and sorrow, religious belief, attitude to art and culture, the geographical features of the area, the river, nature, the language spoken in the area – all these have contributed to the growth of Bhawaiya.

                There are more than one viewpoint about the Rajbanshis. Some say, the Rajbanshis are of Kshatriya origin, and they have subsequently become degraded Kshatriya and made themselves known as Rajbanshi, the term denoting their association with the King (Raja), the Kshatriya. Others opine that they are included in the Koch tribe of Bodo origin. Both the viewpoints deserve some amount of discussions.

              The anthropological and cultural history of the Rajbanshi is intimately connected with the history of Kamrup-Kamta, Pragjyotispur, Pundravardhan, and then Cooch Behar. Entrusted with the responsibility of collecting information on the various sects of population of the Eastern India, Sir Buchanon Hamilton did a survey in the years between 1807 and 1817. Based on Buchanon Hamilton’s findings, Montgomary published “The History, Antiquity, Topography and Statistics of Eastern India” in 1838. Buchanon’s report “Account of the District Rangpore, 1810” inserted in that book gives an account of the history of the Rajbanshis. As such it is the principal source of this history. According to this report, Koch and Rajbanshis, both being part of the larger Bodo stock, belong to same caste. The report, however, says that not all the Rajbanshis are Koches, although most of them are. Those who have become degenerated by adopting the profession of palanquin bearer are Koch.

          According to Hunter, the Koches are related to the Mech and the Kacharis of the adjacent region and are descendantof the Himalayan group. They have become Rajbanshis after adopting Hinduism.

          H.B. Rawnwy has stated in his book, Wild Tribes of India, 1872 that as a result of inter caste marriages of the Koches with the Hindus, their ancient behavior, manner, culture and religious rites have undergone substantial changes. A part of the tribes thus Hinduised and converted in Rajbanshi.

        O. Donnel has viewed the whole of the Rajbanshi community to belong to the Mongolian stock from the stand point of origin. According to him, the Rajbanshis are a part of the third batch of Mongolian people coming through the eastern parts.

            We can find some similarities between the lifestyle of the Rajbanshis of North Bengal and the Mongolian people. Such as, the music of Bhawaiya song of North Bengal and Ulan-Batore of Mongolia are the same. As the main theorem of Mongolian song is Horse, the main theorem of Bhawaiya song is Buffalo. In Mongolia, the Maritoj, the horse-keeper is thought to be a lucky person as in North Bengal, the Maishal, the buffalo-keeper is thought to be the lucky person.

          It is clear from above discussion that the folk community of Bhawaiya song is the Rajbanshi community.

Reference:

1. Bhawaiyar Janmabhumi____ Mustafa Jaman Abbasi
2. Bhawaiya____  Dr. Sukhbilas Barma

The Bhawaiya Song : Characteristics of Bhawaiya

It is quite relevant to ask the question – Are the Bhawaiya – Chatka songs characteristically real folk songs?

In the analysis of folk songs, continuity, variation and selection – these three elements have to be studied properly. The process of continuity-variation-selection is contained in the definition of International Folk Music Council. According to International Folk Music Council, held in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1954, the three main characteristics of folk song are – 1) Continuity, 2) Variation, and 3) Selection. If we analyze the inherent qualities of Bhawaiya, we are convinced that the basic characteristics of folk song are very much found in Bhawaiya.

Tune, music and style or form of folk song is the expression of the community life intertwined with the production process. The production process involves the factors like the geographical, physical and natural environment in which the community lives and grows.

The knowledge of intimate relation between a specific musical scale and a specific group of people is quite important. Mode and style of singing, articulation of music mode are regulated by regionality. Regionality is the life-breath of any folk song. The melodic pattern of folk song of any particular community composed with the interaction of ascend, descend, cadence and the related qualities of notes, is closely connected with the special characteristics of that particular community – the social, cultural life of the community.

Whatever forms of songs may exit in that communal life, they cannot go beyond that melodic pattern. That becomes the main tune of the community defined by the particular geographical boundary and dialectical boundary. Such as the main melodic pattern of North Bengal and Western Assam is Bhawaiya.

As the tunes of folk songs are traditional, common people do not have to bother about its tunes. Lyrics are mostly simple and not difficult to memorise and remember. The folk composers hardly bother about the various grammatical and musicological characters relating to meter, pitch, lexicography etc. They sing the songs, which have been sung from generation to generation with little variation here and there. Because they are so close to the soil, nature and are nurtured by the open wide environmental conditions, these compositions are full of unlimited simplicity and liveliness. Folk songs have, therefore, grown out of socio-religious-economic needs coupled with the needs of enjoyment and entertainment.

The Bhawaiya songs have been composed in Kamrupi or Rajbanshi dialect that has remained the lingua franca of this vast area from the ancient times. They have been sung in traditional manner both in solo and chorus forms. Solo Bhawaiya songs relate to love, affection, union, separation, happiness and sorrows of individuals, description of nature etc. Chorus Bhawaiya songs relate to social and ritual functions, marriage ceremonies, folk-dramas etc.

The intimate relation between the folk and nature is another main characteristic of Bhawaiya. In Bhwaiya nature takes the fore front place. Buffaloes, Elephants, Birds, Rivers of this area, all find place in this song. Sometimes they reflected directly and sometimes obliquely through comparisons.

          

           According to Hemanga Biswas, the famous folk singer and researcher - “Besides the beautiful lyrical qualities, even from the viewpoint of melodic structure and sharpness, Bhawaiya is a rare wealth of not only Bengal but also the entire nation.”

Judged from the above - mentioned important characteristics, it is clear that Bhawaiya is one of the popular folk songs of Bengal.

Reference:

1. Bhawaiyar Janmabhumi____ Mustafa Jaman Abbasi
2. Bhawaiya____  Dr. Sukhbilas Barma