Asāre Geet: Agricultural Labor, Cultural Identity, and the Transformation of Agricultural Folk Songs in Eastern Nepal

Abstract

Asāre Geet are agricultural folk songs of eastern Nepal, sung in the month of Asar (mid-June to mid-July), particularly during the monsoon period, for planting rice, the region's major crop. These songs go far beyond entertainment. They are part of the farm's functional life, life together, and cultural identity. This article explores the development, the music of this tradition, its significance in culture, and the present status of this tradition. The article, based on ethnographic sources, musicological analysis and cultural studies, proposes that Asāre Geet combines labour organisation, seasonal awareness, linguistic inventiveness and cultural resistance. The research demonstrates the preservation of indigenous knowledge, the expression of gender relations, and the expression of identity with the agrarian way of life; one of the traditions increasingly endangered by commercialization, media change and urbanization. The study explores the structure, performance context and lyrical themes of the poems as a way to situate Asāre Geet in Nepali folk traditions, as well as to identify the distinctive characteristics of Nepali folk traditions and how they have changed over time. This article is a contribution to literature in agrarian folk cultures, oral literature in South Asia and the politics of cultural preservation in Nepal.