Bangladesh
has a rich tradition of folk music. Although internationally the Baul
music is the most well known, there is also the vaoaiya (bhawaia), jari,
shari, bhatiyali, jager-gaan, jhumur-gaan, shoitto-peerer-gaan, gajir-gaan,
gomvira, baul-gaan, jhapan-gaan, maijvandari-gaan, jogeer-gaan, marfoti-gaan,
murshidi-gaan, alkap-gaan, torja-gaan, ghatur-gaan, letor-gaan, dhuaa-gaan,
khapa-gaan, and a host of others. This page will concentrate on the vaoaiya(a.k.a.
Bhawaia), which is one of the most popular mainstream folk-songs of
northern Bangladesh.
Background
The
history of the vaoaiya folk song, like the history of most folk arts, is
not always clear. It is believed that the vaoaiya originated in
the Rangpur Districts and the Koch Behar. Many believe that it is
traceable back to the 14th and 15th century.
The
first scholarly approach to the subject of vaoaiya appears to be the
work of Sir Abraham Grierson (1851-1941). He was a former British Deputy
Collector of the Rangpur district. He collected two vaoaiya lyrics
1898 and used them as an example of the local dialect. It is published in
his book Linguistic Survey of India (1903), Vol-V, Part-I.
