Grinding Songs from Goa
As Women Grind Grain and Predicaments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-2096.2021.25541Keywords:
working songs, oviyos , folklore , Goa, women singersAbstract
The aim of this paper is to bring an analysis of oviyos, folkloric songs that Indian women from the Hindu community of Goa, former Portuguese colony in India used to sing while working at the grinding stone. These songs, a sample of Goan folklore, were collected by Heta Pandit in the book Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa (2018), based on her field work with singers Subhadra Arjun Gaus, Saraswati, Dutta Sawant and Sarojini Bhiva Gaonkar. The songs, sung in a dialect of Marathi-Konkani, were transcribed into English. These elaborate songs are of psychological and social significance as they provide a release from a sometimes harsh reality, at the same time they are an invaluable cultural document. They have been analyzed from the perspective of Goan folklore as discussed by Phaldesai (2011), the meaning of folkloric narratives (Dundes, 2007) and a reflection on the genre oviyos (Jassal, 2012).
Downloads
References
BRONNER, S. J. (ed.). The Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgrzn
DUNDES, Alan. Folklore as a Mirror of Culture. In: BRONNER, S. J. (ed.). The Meaning of Folklore: The Analytical Essays of Alan Dundes. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2007. p. 53-66. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgrzn.6
GAONKAR, Sarojini. Evening Song. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa: The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 59.
GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018.
GAUS, Subhadra Arjun. The Monsoon Song. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 21.
GAUS, Subhadra Arjun. Flower Friends. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 23.
GRACIAS, Fátima da Silva. The Many Faces of Sundorem. Women in Goa. Panjim, Goa: Surya Publications, 2007.
JASSAL, Smita Tewari. Unearthing Gender: Folksongs of North India. Durham: Duke University Press, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822394792
NILES, John D. Homos Narrans. The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. DOI: https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812202953
PANDIT, Heta. The Gods come to Stay. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 31.
PANIKER, K. Ayyappa. The Dravidian Narrative: Cilappatikaram Model. In: ______. Indian Narratology. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Sterling Publishers Private Limited, 2003. p. 108-119.
PANIKER, K. Ayyappa. The Folk/Tribal Narrative: Multiple Models. In: ______. Indian Narratology. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Sterling Publishers Private Limited, 2003. p. 120-133.
PHALDESAI, Pandurang. Folklore Studies. Saligão Goa: Goa1556 & Broadway Publishing House, 2011.
SAWANT, Saraswati Dutta. Radhika’s Song. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 41.
SAWANT, Saraswati Dutta. Grinding Grain is Life. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 43.
SAWANT, Saraswati Dutta. A Sister’s Song. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 45.
SAWANT, Saraswati Dutta. I can only come for the Ganesh Festival. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 50.
SAWANT, Saraswati Dutta. A Set of Glass Bangles. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 52.
SAWANT, Saraswati Dutta. The Homecoming. In: GAUS, S. A.; SAWANT, S. D.; GAONKAR, S. B. (ed.). Grinding Stories. Songs from Goa. Ed. and trans. Heta Pandit. Saligaõ, Goa:The Heritage Network, 2018. p. 56.
STOELTJE, Beverly. Introduction. Journal of Folklore Research, Bloomington, v. 25, n. 3: Special Issue: Feminist Revisions in Folklore Studies, p. 141-153, Sept.-Dec., 1988.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Cielo Festino (Autor)
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).