The Song of Harvest

The villages of Bangladesh is now enchanted with the wind of Autumn. Smiles are on farmers and their wives faces. Its harvest time. It is the time to synch with the Saari Song.

Oh Sailor lets go to the village of my soul-mate

Lets go to my soul-mate.

Heiaho Heiaho Heiaho

My boat sailing through the wind oh Brother!

Sailing through the wind

Lets go the village of my soul-mate.

Saari song is an ancient folksong of Bengal. It is also known as the 'work-song'. The reason behind such naming is the unavoidable relationship among activity with rhythm and beat. Once the song was sung during the sailing. However, over time this song is sung by the farmers at harvest time of rural Bangladesh.

Saari song conveys a special nobility within the hard-working people. Because, by this song they can get back their strength and enthusiasm. The magical rhythm of such song can easily overcome the travail of doing something hard.

The First form of Saari song can be found in the Padmapuran written by the medieval poet Bijay Gupta. There the word 'Saari' used as synonym of 'Sangeet' (which means 'song' in Bengali). After that, this Saari highly promoted due the influence of boat-racing which was initiated by the naval force of Mughal emperor.

Mainly, the Saari song is sung by the men at a single rhythm and single melody, ordered in a row. But there is no obligation for the women to attend while they are also giving effort.

There is a main vocalist in singing the Saari song. He is called 'Boyati'. Others just follow his lead. And, the others are called 'Dohar'. The Saari song continues it's journey as the melody of Boyati and Dohar continuously synched with each other.

The Very basic idea of Saari song is the rhythm. The works which contains rhythm, such as sailing boat, harvesting, cutting trees, Saari is synched perfectly with those. Even at the time of building roof, Saari performed. Though, as the harvesting period is now watched over in Bangladesh, you can hear the rhythm of Saari if you walk through the rice fields.

Though the basic purpose of the Saari song is to overcome the labor of work or to gain some momentum, it is much more entertaining. Especially, the villagers usually make gatherings to listen the Saari. Because, this Saari can unfolds the story of love between men and women, the tale of Radha-Krishna and also can represent some of lyrical devotion. Saari can also be written as comedy or offensive. Amongst many other instruments usually Dhol, Mondira, Kortal are used as percussion with Saary.

There are different Saari for different work. The clue can found in between lines. At the time of cultivation, the farmers sing, “Oh kala, thy heart is full of sorrow/I can not be happy/when I am in love with you.” Again, this song sung at the time of collecting fibers from jute- “the currents under the bamboo/water flowing rapidly/oh dear friend/Lets go and harvest the jute”

Even the Saari is the song for harvesting crops, the long lasting and delayed tune of this song can be heard somewhere in the rural Bangladesh at all the period. It is mainly heard at the riverside, swamp area, farming land or in the site of work of labors. The East and lowland area are called the land of Saari. Beside these, Saari is also popular at Dhaka, Sylhet, Mymensing, Faridpur, Pabna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Jessore, Khulna and Barishal.

Though so many tradition of Bengal lost, Saari survived till today. It is mainly because, Saari is sung to soothe the pain sensation of labor. And, the labor is compulsory to hold up the civilization. Thus, as long as there is work, there will be Saari song too.