In the contemporary world, music is not merely an art form, but rather, a symbol of representation of culture. “If I hear any song in Bihar’s dialect, it’s only the ‘abominable’ Bhojpuri pop which strikes in my head,” said eighteen-year-old Khushbu Singh. The phenomenon of the filthy songs of Bihar as a symbolization of its culture, purportedly goes with the case of Bihar. The pop form of Bhojpuri music has, undoubtedly, been gaining immense popularity, mostly, among the young generation and this growing popularity matters so much amidst the established monopoly of Bollywood music – which is primarily the component of Indian pop music.
Makers of Bhojpuri music, for now, are, perhaps, and must be, blithe to compete with Bollywood music but at what cost is the real discourse. “Bihari songs are too vulgar to be played openly,” says 23- year-old Prabhat Pant who has a keen interest in music; Prabhat also added that “regardless of having most of the friends from Bihar only, I’ve no interaction with decent and elevated songs of this state.” Unfortunately, the other or rather the most prominent side of the music of Bihar – the folk music – remains not so popular especially among the youths, who are the first to cut off from the folk culture and essential consumers of mass culture – Bhojpuri pop.
However, rural India hasn’t, completely, adapted to the change yet. Therefore, folk music is still a form of mass culture for the people and by the people. In Bihar, traditional folk music which is also a form of Hindustani classical music primarily consists of Maithili music. Each district of Bihar has its own melody which people sing and dance to. Every single song is the reflection of one’s individuality and the various events taking place in the life of an individual. “Here the songs are infinite, you cannot empirically count them. We have specific songs for even trivial occasions,” said Shiv Mishra, a resident of Nayagaon in Vaishali district.
Folk music of Bihar, for its people, is deemed as a real organ and key to grace and spirituality. “Whether it’s marriages, childbirth, Upanayanaa (Indian tradition restricted to the upper caste of society only), festivals, the season of sowing paddy or harvesting of same, we sing our traditional songs, no matter wherever you go in Bihar the religious songs are sung regularly for twenty-four hours,” said a villager. Women gather in groups during festivals and perform their own form of art in ways of singing.
According to these women, “the songs, particularly for Vidai (Farewell after the wedding), can simply make anyone cry.” Every evening the local temples witness the melodious chanting of religious songs, i.e. bhajans and geet which is sung by the rural women using their favourite musical instruments: harmonium and tabla. However, these women do not vouch for the fact but certainly, they deserve social recognition beyond the four walls of the temples. In another case, there are numerous small groups of street singers who go to different villages and sing the folk songs of that region. Alike the local women, these groups, too, are waiting for a reckoning.
Nevertheless, the beauty and fragrance of folk traditional music still needs to surpass the abusive form of music – unfortunately, more prevailing and popular than the former. Because, in some way or the other, the wide touch of vulgarity in Bhojpuri songs is consuming the essence of folks of Bihar. Hence, it becomes the need of the hour to critically scrutinize the form of music people, or more typically youngsters, are tuned to.