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Work Songs, Agricultural Songs

Songs associated with agricultural activities have long been a part of a number of traditions followed in rural India. Essentially, they are work songs usually sung at the time of planting or harvesting. They also draw upon the images and metaphors such as the plough, wet clay and the young grain shoot swaying gracefully in the breeze. People give vent to their hopes, fears and aspirations through these songs.

Tabo

Work songs are often sounds or syllables that give rhythm to coordinate action, and sometimes to relieve the tedium of mechanical tasks. This work song was recorded in Tabo, Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.

Track Information : The women sing a song while digging the soil. The song, that is sort of like a rounder with lines overlapping one another, roughly translates as “forgive us for all our sins because we’re simple people and we don’t know what we do, and please don’t let our sins mix into the soil and let us have a good crop”.

Performer(s) : Women of Tabo village, Himachal Pradesh

Collection : U-Ra-Mi-Li

O Bele

O Bele is a work song from Karnataka. This song is especially sung for planting seedlings, never for pulling them up. It is mainly sung by women working in the fields.

Track Information : O Bele by Paddakka Oderti, Sitakka Pujarti.

Performer(s) : Paddakka Oderti, Sitakka Pujarti.

Collection : Peter Claus

Harvesting Songs of Western Tibet

Drongon Ma - a Shepherd Song. Singing accompanied by the musical instrument dramyin.

Track Information :

Performer(s) : Various Artists

Collection : Karma Khedup