Music8 min read
Bhojpuri Music: Roots and Rhythms
A primer on the song-forms of Purvanchal — Kajri, Birha, Sohar, Nirgun, Chaita — where they are sung, who sings them, and what they are really about.
Editorial Team·
Ballia
Ballia
Confluence country at the edge of the Ghaghra and Ganga, shaped by rivers and migration.
Ballia sits where the Ghaghra meets the Ganga, a district defined by water. It is remembered as Baghi Ballia — the rebel Ballia — for its 1942 uprising against the British. The district has long sent its sons to the army and its daughters to distant kitchens, and the folk music of the region still carries the weight of that separation. Birha, in particular, belongs here.
Stories
From Ballia
Festivals8 min read
Chhath at the Waterline
Chhath draws whole streets to the water at sunrise and sunset. A report from two neighbourhoods — one in Varanasi, one in Ballia — and the women who keep the vow.
Anjali Rai·