Traditional Songs of Caribbean Hindus

When Hindus from India came to Caribbean countries like Trinidad, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Martinique and Guadeloupe in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they brought with them many songs and chants relating to important ceremonies. This book is a unique collection of some of those songs relating to eventgs like the matikor (asking blessings a day or two before the wedding), the vivah sanskar (Hindu wedding), the barahi (birth of a child), and the first cutting of the child's hair. They come from the memory and reportoire of Chano "Auntie" Kunjoo, the most prominent of the singers of traditional songs of Caribbean Hindus. Chano lives in Canada but is in great demand in the United States, Trinidad and Guyana to perform these songs at Hindu ceremonies. This book contains just 100 songs out of Chano's vast repertoire of several hundred, which she offers as a gift to future generations so that these treasured songs will not be forgotten. The songs are rendered as Chano heard them in her youth, and as she sings them today, in the bhojpuri dialect of Hindi spoken by most of the Hindus who came to the Caribbean so long ago. She hopes that younger Hindus will be tempted to learn these songs and perform them at the appropriate ceremonies long into the future.