Stories of life in songs of labour: 'Beeso haada'

Swatee Jog describes the unique history of the folk songs sung by women during their daily work in the years gone by

Belagavi witnessed a rare kind of performance last weekend. A troupe of artistes performed ‘beeso haada’, or songs sung while grinding flour on the stone mill (beeso kallu). These are songs sung mostly by womenfolk of the agrarian and pastoral communities, as they go about their daily lives. Intrigued by the title, hundreds of people came and were fascinated by what unfolded that evening. Shilpa Mudbi, who led the troupe, was invited to Belagavi by a new cultural outfit, Nanu Nammavarondige, and supported by another team of performing artists.

Watching Shilpa and her team perform is an experience like no other. As Shilpa performs using only the shruti and chowdki, the interludes linger in your mind. The casual but deep explanations make you understand and relate to the songs. 

“These songs belong to the labourers. They are sung when no one is listening, sung before your own folks,” says Shilpa.

Behind the songs

As women went about their daily chores of grinding, pounding and de-weeding, they sang these songs to the beats of the work. So, beeso haada are sung to the beat of the stone mill being rotated.

There are others, like the kooto haada, which are sung while you pound something, so the beats are much closer together. 

“There is no condition of a good voice or a good tune to sing these songs, the song becomes yours once you own it,” Shilpa adds. 

The first song was called ‘Baare nanna Ratana, bharampura vachana’. One has to know the back story of this song to understand its context — it depicts the journey on the road to Chengti (a village near Kalaburagi) that is lined with mango trees, laden with fruits that look like marigold flowers. Beyond the trees is a pond surrounded by parrots. The song says, ‘just like the pond is home to those parrots, may you be that home to your daughters-in-law’. 

Common themes

These songs contain various expressions from women, they wish each other good, tease each other, complain, celebrate, dream and support each other. Beeso haada reflect themes of various life events. There are songs of oiling rituals, a girl’s coming-of-age, baby showers, weddings, songs of a married daughter coming home and missing her mother who is no more. 

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Folk heritage

Gender plays a key role in the beeso haada. These songs are a medium of expression for women mostly confined to household work. Their joys and sorrows, anxiety and a sense of sisterhood, all reflect in these songs. The listener is able to envision the life of these women as it is, and that’s the beauty of beeso haada. 

Shilpa Mudbi started The Urban Folk Project in 2017 to collect the lost, disappearing, rare and unknown art forms of Karnataka after having learnt that there are 250 such forms. So far, she and her husband, Aditya Kothakota, have traced almost 35 such art forms and collected 60 songs. The songs in beeso haada find roots in those sung by Shilpa’s grandmother, Gundavva. She also got some songs from Mahesh, who plays the small percussion instrument during the troupe’s performances. 

“It is important not to lose this heritage. These songs embody the lives of the women of the marginalised communities who had no other platform to express themselves,” says Shilpa. 

Some songs have been documented from the performing artists at the Savadatti Yellamma temple. Radhakka is one of them. She opened a treasure trove of Yellamma songs that were traditionally sung using the shruti and chowdki. “Every project I worked on has had women who have brought their music along. That is how I found this treasure trove of songs and music that was on the verge of being lost,” Shilpa says. Shilpa’s latest project, Radhakka and Me, is a musical conversation between the two women as they share their lives through songs, offering two diverse perspectives. 

In performing beeso haada, Shilpa has also collaborated with the Kalaburagi Kala Mandali, trained its artists over three years, and has had them join her in performing.