Kaura songs are traditional folk songs sung by people from the Magar community of the mid-western and western hills. They are sung during Dashain, Tihar, and Chandi Purnima. The tempo of the song is slow at the beginning and gradually moves up to medium or fast beat. Kaura songs are sung in a question-answer form.

This cradle song is sung by a Charan singer. The Charans form a community known for its prowess in recitation and singing. The lyrics describe Devki, the mother of Krishna, putting him to bed. Lullabies and cradle songs about the god Krishna are common in many parts of India. They are sung also on Janmashtami or Gokulashtami, when Krishna’s birth is celebrated. Children are often compared to Krishna and seen as forms of gods. Krishna is often represented in child form, worshipped and referred to as Bal Gopal, which is perhaps why lullabies to Krishna are so common.

“Chandi Kaati Chandra Maalaa” is a traditional Tappa song from the mid-western region of Nepal. This song has a distinctive rhythm and uses a question-and-answer form between two groups of singers, one male and one female. This type of song is heard when people gather in the evening at the haat bazaar (temporary market), where goods are exchanged by bartering.\nInstruments: maadal, baansuri, saarangi, chum chum, machetaa

This track about the Rali rituals and songs combines speech with singing. This is included as a particularly interesting way to present intangible cultural heritage. Subhadra Devi gives instructions, in Hindi, about why and how the goddess Rali is worshipped each spring. Rali is identified as a form of Parvati, with her husband Senkar a form of Shankar, in the annual spring ritual for unmarried girls to gain a good groom by celebrating the marriage of goddess Rali to Senkar, with her brother Bastu in attendance. Subhadra Devi describes the rituals and the appropriate songs in dialect. She begins with the song for gathering spring flowers and making garlands for Rali each morning. Then, she moves on to the song about assembling objects for rituals. She goes on to describe how observant girls fast over four Mondays and go from household to household singing in order to gather donations for their Rali ritual. She then offers an example of this sort of song, in which the theme of male migrant labor common in the hills spills into mythological domains here, with Rali’s brother Bastu off to Delhi, while Senkar has gone to work in Chamba, each offering to send her gifts. Subhadra Devi ends by singing an example of the sort of devotional song or bhajan sung by grown women at the auspicious ending of the Rali ritual, when the goddess is carried to a pool to be submerged. This song addresses the mulberry tree from whose wood a flute for Krishna might be made. It describes the unfinished fates of those who haven’t ever given alms, fasted on ritual days, constructed raised stands for wayfarers to rest under shady trees, or given daughters in marriage. Recorded and collected by Kirin Narayan