Tracing the Tunes That Travelled: Geet Gawai and A Study of Bhojpuri Folk Music in Mauritius

After the abolishment of slavery throughout the British Empire, under the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, a system of indentured labour was instituted in 1834 by the British Empire to combat the sudden labour shortage in enslaved colonies, ultimately resulting in forced migration. A significant majority of the Indians brought to foreign colonies (referred to as girmitiya /coolie/jahajis and jahajins) were Bhojpuri speakers from the states of Eastern Uttar Pradesh (then the United Provinces) and Bihar – two of the poorest provinces under colonial rule. With no means to return to their homeland, the Girmitiya (indentured labourer) settled in countries such as Mauritius, Trinidad, Fiji, et cetera. Though they had to leave behind their families, assets, and livelihoods, the girmitiya took a rich heritage of Bhojpuri folk songs, known as Geet Gawai (in Mauritius). Recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016, Geet Gawai is a musical ensemble encapsulating the ‘intangible cultural heritage’ brought to Mauritius by Indian (primarily ‘female’) indentured immigrants. It is a combination of rituals, prayers, songs, music, and dance, which mirrors the oral traditions prevalent in the Bhojpuri-speaking regions of India. Also, it serves as a means of livelihood for the Geetharines (the performers of Geet Gawai). The songs in Geet Gawai are sung mainly during weddings and address the history and hardships of Indians (descendants of indentures living in Mauritius), separation from loved ones (in purbi and birha folk songs), the change of seasons (in bara-masa folk songs), ceremonial tunes (sanskar geet), et cetera. Instruments like dholak and jhaal and vibrant dancing are involved. This paper will, hence, explore the phenomenon of Geet Gawai as an extraordinary saga of cultural perseverance despite continuous threats of identity and language erasure. Various folk songs of different categories will be studied to delineate the musical expression of themes including, indentureship, marriage, womanhood, and the survival of Bhojpuri language and diasporic culture of a distant home, i.e., India, in the folksongs of the girmitiya.