Women's Desire Portrayed in Bhawaiya Folksong in Northern Bangladesh

Music is called a powerful medium of expression. It is Music which is a conscious effort done to represent the human thoughts and emotion. Human cultures, societies, and stages of evolution are mirrored in the variety of music. A researcher’s interest to study music as an issue which is the manifestation of human life combining family, love, conflict etc. can be derived from the perception of life events along with the assimilation of social environment she/he belongs to. Music is certainly the strongest outcome of any culture. The folksong as a discipline associated with folk’s life and experiences qualifies it to be a worthy area of interest with its evolutionary history and uniqueness. Folksong conveys the way of life, the cultural milieu; is the outcome of the relationship between human and his/her perception of different aspects of life (Khan 1987).Thus there is scope to concentrate on how women and their feeling of desire, separation, sorrows etc. are portrayed in the Bhawaiya folksong. Attributes and kinds of the desire are reflected very saliently through the songs. Bhawaiya is that kind of folksong of Bangladesh which is sung by men about women’s experience. Prominent folklorist Dr. Ashraf Siddiqui identifies it as a ‘song of women sung by men’. Bangladeshi folksongs, especially Bhawaiya display a picturesque amour which is the main attribute of the songs. This amour in the folksongs is awfully spread in different directions. The universal love is sometimes moonstruck awful affection and sometimes it is encumbered in deep melancholy.