Jakari folk songs are sung by Haryanvi women in a routine manner. As these are songs about mundane life, they are the most authentic expression of a Haryanvi woman’s tryst with life as a young woman. This documentary film is based on the ethnographic audiovisual material collected by Dr. Devender Kumar (Asst. Professor in English, Banaras Hindu University) during fieldwork since 2012 around Ghirai, Juglan, Jalalpur and Shahpur villages in Haryana since 2012 . Dr. Kumar approached Rajat Nayyar (founder of Espírito Kashi) with an interest to explore innovative ways to present his academic research material to diverse audiences as well as to popularize Haryanvi women’s folk songs. Rajat played an important role in weaving the material into a film about a significant genre of women’s folk songs in Haryana. The film was published as part of Dr. Devender Kumar’s book ‘Jakari: Haryanvi Mahilaon ke Sarv-Sulabh Lok Geet’ (2015). Having garnered over 900,000 views on YouTube, the film continues to be appreciated by people, especially Haryanvi diaspora, all around the world.
More about Jakari folk songs:
These songs are quite different from other genres like ritual songs, seasonal songs, etc. As these are songs about mundane life, they are the most authentic expression of a Haryanvi woman’s tryst with life as a young woman. Jakari folk songs mostly cover the most significant phase in the life of a young woman—from puberty to motherhood. That is exactly the phase during which a woman in Haryana undergoes the most drastic changes and upheavals of life. She enters the age of youth; she gets married and departs for her conjugal home leaving her natal kin behind for ever; in her conjugal home, she has to establish herself as a part of family; and she becomes mother. Different shades of these experiences take the musical shape in the form of Jakari.
As a genre Jakari consists in many sub genres also: songs about conjugal kin, songs about natal kin, songs about love, songs of humour, songs of self-reflection, etc. The documentary focuses primarily on Jakari songs about conjugal kin, humorous Jakari songs and also Jakari songs about self-reflection.
The Film was screened at The Centre for Women’s Studies and Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Banaras Hindu University on 18th March 2015.
Espírito Kashi 
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