Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 01: MISS USE,<\/em> Singers: Vishwanath Singh and Khushi Mehra. Publisher: DHAIYA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> This album cover epitomizes the raunchy Bhojpuri music scene of today.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The typically punning title has been updated to English, but it remains catchy and clever as ever.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The classic encounter of the village bumpkin and the snazzy lady is depicted with characteristic humour.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Don’t miss the new coinage for the raunchy genre inside the bursting-bubble: ‘Bhojpuri Bomb Blast’<\/p>\r\n\r\n Note the interesting mug shots of the singers on the bottom left – both of whom typify marginal showbiz characters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The male singer Vishwanath Singh [nickname: Bhootan (ghost like)] is also credited as the Assistant Director. Uniquely, even the make-up man has been credited on the album.<\/p>\r\n\r\n All in all, this album cover is really telling of the space that vernacular media now comes from.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n Background and Context<\/strong> These semi-literate and unskilled migrants from the hinterland carry with them a rich and deep-rooted folk culture. The dynamic and expressive Bhojpuri song traditions and theatre forms have provided fodder for a growing media market in this dialect. Bhojpuri music albums are widely available in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, and Bhojpuri films have overtaken the B-grade cinema houses. There is a huge demand for Bhojpuri content in Jammu and Kashmir, Jallandhar, Ludhiana, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Noida and Gurgaon. Bengal and Nepal are emerging as the next big markets. After the southern regional languages, Bhojpuri is emerging as a huge entertainment market in the country. The effect of the interaction of this regional culture with urban cultures is the subject of this study on the Bhojpuri music industry.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The Bhojpuri diaspora is also spread out in different pockets around the world – from Fiji, to Mauritius, to Trinidad. They were mostly brought in as indentured labourers to these plantation lands after the abolition of slavery in the British colonies in 1834. Further emigration from these lands has resulted in the dispersal of Bhojpuri population from Netherlands to New Zealand. 270 million people are estimated to speak this dialect all over the world. Even in these distant lands, with all links from the native culture having dissolved over time, the Bhojpuri diaspora has sparked new trends in music and performance, displaying a remarkable cultural dynamism.<\/p>\r\n\r\n In today’s age of increased global interaction, there is a growing possibility for greater media exchange between these dispersed Bhojpuri populations. How these long lost cousin cultures may then impact each other should provide an interesting case for examining how ‘linguistic communities’ and ‘diaspora’ evolve in the age of rapid globalisation, mass urbanisation and digital media communication.<\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n A note of translation:<\/strong> Caution<\/strong>: This image gallery contains some visual material suited only for ADULTS (18 years and above)<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n The Bhojpuri Music Album in India: From a fringe regional category to popular urban subculture<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n It all began with the “cassette culture” (a term attributed to ethnomusicologist Peter Manuel) in the 1980s: cheap and portable audio cassettes and players made recorded music a mass culture. This gave rise to number of small recording companies publishing local content. By the 1990s, music labels were publishing a flood of regional titles catering not only to the vast hinterland audience, but also, increasingly, to the growing market of migrant populations in the cities. Coinciding with the process of mass urbanisation that began in the latter part of the decade, the market for regional media in cities became so dominant that it started dictating the trends in the regional music industry.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Fashioned according to marketing perceptions of music company executives and fuelled by its commercial success, the folk genres have now transformed into a form of pop music – an urban sub-cultural phenomenon.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Bhojpuri media has been spearheading this surge of regional media in the metro towns and cities of India. The recent rush of Bhojpuri films (from early 2000s), featuring the biggest stars from the mainstream industry and playing to packed houses in Delhi, Mumbai and Ludhiana, has been a startling phenomenon. However, Bhojpuri films - mostly social dramas accultured to a middle class audience - do not display any of the ribald raunchiness that the music albums have become synonymous with.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The Bhojpuri music album has had a long and consistent trajectory. Over the last two decades it has continued to grow on the fringes in an almost subversive manner. In it is thus encoded the transforming cultural ethos of this regional media. Although Bhojpuri media in the form of films, stage performances, television channels, magazines and newspapers and lately online content, continue to grow, the music album is still the dominant form in which this regional culture is available for mass consumption. In fact many of the big names in Bhojpuri cinema such as Manoj Tiwari and Dinesh Lal Yadav began their careers as singer-performers and had several successful albums to their credit before going on to cinema stardom.<\/p>\r\n\r\n In an interesting transformation (starting in the early 2000s), the music album is now widely published as a video CD with accompanying music videos. This change was necessitated by the increasing popularity of easily available VCD players (at the fraction of the cost of audio tape players) that connected to the television sets that had become a ubiquitous commodity in urban dwellings and also in many rural areas. With this an audio category was transformed into an audio-visual category. These music videos, with no real precedent in the traditional culture to take its cue from, have taken on a rather hybrid and haphazard form. These accompanying visuals have added their own twist to this emerging media category, further divorcing it from its traditional form and firmly ensconcing it as an urban sub-cultural category.<\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n From Risqué Folksongs to Raunchy Music Albums<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 02: ODHANIYA-WALI<\/em> (Woman with the Modesty-Scarf). Singer: Mahant Mehtoh. Publisher: SMILE AUDIO VIDEO VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 03: TWO-PIECE-WALI<\/em> (Woman in a Two-Piece). Singer: Sunil Deewana. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> These two albums represent the extreme poles that bracket the sexual representation of women in Bhojpuri media. Fig. 02: ODHANIYA-WALI<\/em> (Woman with the Modesty-Scarf). Singer: Mahant Mehtoh. Publisher: SMILE AUDIO VIDEO VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 02<\/a>: #Odhaniya<\/u> is a traditional piece of clothing used by women to shield themselves from the male gaze. The tagline reads: ‘Parivarik (family) Bhojpuri Album,’ implying that even though the songs have titillating themes, the album on the whole is still suitable for family viewing\/ listening. This is a unique album, as normally it is the raunchiness of Bhojpuri albums that is promoted as their U[nique]S[elling]P[oint].<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 03: TWO-PIECE-WALI<\/em> (Woman in a Two-Piece). Singer: Sunil Deewana. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 03<\/a>: #A two-piece<\/u> dress, on the other hand, reveals more than it covers. A ‘two-piece-wali’ is thus a woman who readily offers herself to the male gaze. The tagline reads: ‘Tani Daide De Ge Hamar<\/em>’ which roughly translates to ‘Please give it to me’. (This album is in the Mathili dialect that is very close to Bhojpuri.)<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n Songs of sexual expression are a big part of Bhojpuri folk culture, but they do not exist as a separate category. Traditionally these songs are performed by family members and friends in private gatherings and are not a form of public entertainment. They are expressed in various musical traditions, such as ‘shaadi’ (marriage) songs sung at nuptial ceremonies, seasonal songs such as ‘kajris’ (monsoon songs), the ‘holi’ (spring festival) songs, ‘bidesia’ (literally: foreigner; implying the emigrated lover) songs, Braj songs about the flirtations of the mythical figure of Krishna, etc.<\/p>\r\n\r\n By picking these songs from different traditional genres and publishing them as compilations albums, stripped of its original context, the recording industry has created a new category of ‘Raunchy Bhojpuri Music,’ often referred to as “chat-paté lokgeet” (sweet-salty folksongs).<\/p>\r\n\r\n The traditional raunchy songs employ clever phrasing, double entendres, subtle innuendos and suggestive imagery to euphemistically convey taboo sexual acts and desires. Often bordering on the bawdy, they are nevertheless playful in spirit. When these sons were sung and performed, words and phrases in these songs were often interchanged or passages skipped or added to attune them to the level of permissiveness in the social gathering.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Exploiting this malleable quality of the folk tradition, recording companies have given this genre their own spin. By coarsely emphasizing the subtle and by turning a phrase or two, these songs have been converted into vulgar commodities.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Traditionally sexual expression forms a part of everyday life in Bhojpuri culture. Especially amongst women’s gatherings in family settings, these songs are a way of teasing and coaxing to diffuse sexual tensions; causing merry embarrassments to warm up relations; an explicit expression of yearning for the migrant beloved to lighten the heart; or a satirical rendering of incestuous tendencies to clear out hidden intensions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n However, once recorded, and published for public consumption, these song texts get falsely rearticulated as sexual objectification of the characters and situations portrayed in them. A social medium for sexual expression thus becomes a consumable commodity for ribald bemusement. This very quality became a unique selling point for the commercially inclined music labels.<\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n Public Performances to Recording Studios<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n In orthodox folk cultures, performing for public entertainment is looked down upon as an undignified practice by the upper castes and women are especially shunned from these spaces. The vast repository of women songs therefore remained absent form the public domain for very long. Professional troupes that perform for public entertainment consisted largely of lower caste men. For example, the ‘birha’ (a popular narrative song tradition) is performed largely by the ‘Ahirs’ (low caste cowherds). Even ‘nautanki’ (musical folk theatre) performances consisted of lower caste all-male troupes with women’s roles being played by men in drag. However ‘nautanki’ troupes were drawn from different castes and across religions. In time even women became part of these troupes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The ‘nautanki’ is a free form entertainment act. It was in these ‘nautanki’ performances that culturally subversive trends began. The ‘nautanki’ became a secular and democratic space where religion and caste lines were freely transgressed under the spell of heady entertainment. It also became notoriously famous for its raunchiness and ribaldry. It was in these permissive forums that traditional songs of sexual expression first started to take on taboo connotations as subtlety and caution was thrown to the winds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n This male monopoly over public performance was broken around early to mid 1900s when women from the ‘mujra’ (song and dance performed by female courtesans) tradition entered the ‘nautanki’. The ‘mujra’ that originated in Mughal courts and then moved to the ‘kotha’ (mistresses’ house) has been a waning tradition since the patronage of the kings and feudal lords disappeared. After the adoption of the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act in 1959, many prostitutes and ‘nautch’ (dance) girls, forced to leave their profession, joined the ‘nautanki’ troupes. These ‘tawaif’ (courtesan) women, well schooled in the arts of singing and dancing, thus became successful ‘nautanki’ stars.<\/p>\r\n\r\n When raunchy songs began to be recorded, it was these women who provided the voice for the albums. It was therefore through their voices that the vast repository of female songs of sexual expression got introduced into the public domain.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 04: BHOJPURI MUJRA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Courtesan Performance). Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 04: BHOJPURI MUJRA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Courtesan Performance). Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 04<\/a>: BHOJPURI MUJRA<\/u> This album title directly refers to the ‘mujra’ tradition that merged with the ‘nautanki’ and became the precursor to the raunchy Bhojpuri music album.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n Raunchy Comes to Town <\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 05: BALAM PARDESIYA<\/em> (Beloved Migrant). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 06: SHAHAR KE TITLI<\/em> (City Butterfly). Singer: Manoj Tiwari aka Mridul. Publisher: T-SERIES VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 07: RUPAIYA BOLELA BHAI<\/em> (Money Talks, Brother). Singers: Sapna Avasthi, Anil Bawra, Rekha Rao. Publisher: CHANDA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> These three albums tell the story of the migration of Bhojpuri men to cities where they encounter a different value system.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 05: BALAM PARDESIYA<\/em> (Beloved Migrant). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 05<\/a>: ‘Balam Pardesiya’ <\/u> (Beloved Immigrant) is an album with songs about lust and longing for the lover who has left for the city in the train.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 06: SHAHAR KE TITLI<\/em> (City Butterfly). Singer: Manoj Tiwari aka Mridul. Publisher: T-SERIES VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 06<\/a>: ‘Shahar Ke Titli’<\/u> (City Butterfly) refers to the fickle urban woman.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 07: RUPAIYA BOLELA BHAI<\/em> (Money Talks, Brother). Singers: Sapna Avasthi, Anil Bawra, Rekha Rao. Publisher: CHANDA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 07<\/a>: ‘Rupaiya Bolela Bhai’ <\/u> (Money Talks, Brother) proclaims the city culture where money rules over values.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Featured on this cover is the top model Sushma Reddy in the yellow sari.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n Of the various oral traditions that got recorded and distributed, it is the raunchy genre that really took root in the city. Albums with folklore, ceremonial and festival songs, specially the ‘birha’ albums, have languished without a fertile context. Devotional song albums are the only other prominent market category. The sexually expressive genre, however, really came into its own in the metropolis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Since the urban Bhojpuri demographic comprised largely of single young adult male wage labourers, it was their tastes and needs that have largely dictated the market trends. The young Bhojpuri man in the city, indulging in his new found social and economic independence, was more prone to demand the raunchy album as he explored taboo ideas and chased big city dreams. For the Bhojpuri youth, this sexually energized media, in his native dialect, became a force against the alienating emanations from the giant city hoardings featuring sleek models and bold English text. At the same time, these albums also connected him to the city culture of unlimited desires and uninhibited craving.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The raw raunchiness of the Bhojpuri songs has even caught the fancy of people outside the diaspora, their sexual themes being of universal appeal. It is this genre of music that has now come to define the migrant Bhojpuri culture in the city.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The other reason that has pushed a rich folksong tradition into a predominantly sleazy genre is the B-grade rating of the vernacular media in the city. Vernacular media often shares the same space in cities as the peripheral entertainment industry of cheaply made porn films, horror flicks, cheesy music albums, pirated foreign films, etc. This B-industry shares a common pool of talent and facilities - music arrangers, editing studios, publicity designers, etc. – and hence the rub-off was inevitable. Also the production budgets and distribution channels automatically align the Bhojpuri music album with Malayali porn film on the shelves of small music shops in informal city markets.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Now, increasing gentrification is altering the profile of the typical Bhojpuri immigrant. The media industry is also wealthier than ever before. With more mainstream exposure, well-entrenched genres like the raunchy album may witness new transformations - alternate forms and new sub-categories may emerge.<\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n TRANSITIONING SEXUALIZED IMAGERY ON RAUNCHY BHOJPURI MUSIC ALBUMS<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n This is a survey of raunchy Bhojpuri music cassettes and music video CDs, popularly available in the cities of Mumbai and Delhi. It presents an opportunity for observing how this tradition and media culture has transformed over the last decade and a half.<\/p>\r\n\r\n These cultural transformations can be vividly tracked through the changing titles of the albums and the changing representation of the sexualized women center-staged on these album covers. These titles and images reflect the changing gender dimensions and class associations within Bhojpuri culture. It maps the tensions between rural and urban cultures and their relative impact on each other.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The influence of media and technology can also be observed in the changing iconography of these album covers. From ‘classical’ paintings to graphic illustrations, moving on to photography and then digital compositions, each media and process brings in its own ethos and cultural linkages that add its own spin to the representations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The various stages of this transitioning image can be broken up to the following categories according to style and period:<\/p>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n 1. The Nubile Series <\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n In the infancy stage of audiocassettes, the primary aim of music labels was to make it very clear through the title that this was a Bhojpuri album. This was more to inform the distributors or retailers in the city so that they could recommend these titles to their growing Bhojpuri clientele that mostly comprised of illiterate daily-wage workers. Album titles thus had names that always carried the word Bhojpuri as the prefix: ‘Bhojpuri Gujariya’, ‘Bhojpuri Rasiya’, ‘Bhojpuri Angiya’, etc. These titles immediately identified the region and the genre to which the album belonged.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The prevalent object of Bhojpuri male fantasy, then, was the nubile Bhojpuri lass from the hinterland, and therefore, most early raunchy album covers had images that signify this female stereotype.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 08: BHOJPURI GUJARIYA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Married Woman). Artist: Yasmeen Faizabadi. T-Series.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 09: BHOJPURI RASIYA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Beloved). Artist: Yasmeen Faizabadi. T-Series.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 10: BHOJPURI ANGIYA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Blouse). Singer: Munni Devi. Publisher: T-SERIES MUSIC CASSETTE.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 11: BHOJPURI JHARELIYA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Shimmering Woman). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: T-SERIES MUSIC CASSETTE.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Depicted on the album cover were photo-realistic illustrations of voluptuous rural women in the ‘calendar art’ style. Here the woman is an idealized ‘classical’ sensual being. She represents innocent sexuality and sensual purity: a lusty gift of nature; an almost mythical beauty; a lovely object of divine creation; a heart’s desire to be won through grace, charm and virtue; a being only the most blessed and most fortunate could obtain. These qualities were depicted through her coy posture, her downcast eyes and her innocent smile and by placing her in a mythological pastoral setting. (The semiotic code and stylistic conventions employed in Indian ‘calendar art’ in the depiction of the ‘classical’ sensuous woman has been well expounded by the sociologist Patricia Uberoi.)<\/p>\r\n\r\n Under the garb of depicting a naive tribal beauty, these album covers were able to publish some of the most explicit sexual imagery available in mass media at that time. The barely covered breasts, see-through clothing and a frank voluptuousness depicted on these album covers are barely permissible in mainstream media even today. What probably also helped in escaping the censor’s scrutiny was that these are illustrations rather than clear photographic images and are thus a product of artistic imagination rather than exploitation of a personhood. Another fact is that these cassettes were availed by only a marginal diaspora, even though known music labels published and distributed these albums through regular channels. The Bhojpuri music industry thus continued in an almost subversive fashion.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 12: JHARELIYA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Shimmering Woman). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 12: JHARELIYA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Shimmering Woman). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 12<\/a>: JHARELIYA<\/u> Compare this VCD version of ‘Jhareliya’ with the cassette version (#11). The photographic depiction of the “fairytale beauty” on this cover lacks the mythical quality of the illustrated image on the cassette cover and comes across as a counterfeit impersonation. The real purpose of the photographic image seems to provide a titillating picture under the pretext of illustrating a classical title.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The image in the center seems to be one of the most risqué photographs the publishers seem to have managed. It has thus been repeated on several subsequent covers (see: Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 18: BHOJPURI KELA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Banana). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 18<\/a> and Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 48: PAAN-WALI<\/em> (Betel-leaf serving Woman). Performers: Kailashnath Mishra and party. Publisher: SWARPRABHAT VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 48<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n <\/p>\r\n\r\n 2. The Luscious Series<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n A series of music albums from the 1990s started a “super-hit” trend where the album titles attached the name of a luscious vegetable, sweetmeat or a hot snack to the Bhojpuri prefix. These luscious objects were obviously phallic or indicated a woman’s breasts, or equated the craving for the delectable food item with the desire for a lusty woman. The album art was a literal illustration of a luscious woman along with the luscious food. The albums had names like ‘Bhojpuri Baigan’, ‘Bhojpuri Kaddu’, ‘Bhojpuri Rasgulla’ etc.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The sexualized woman on these covers had lost her coyness. Unlike the bashful beauty of the nubile series, this woman looks directly at the viewer in a pose of sexual challenge, or longingly gazes at the giant phallic fruit depicted alongside. This woman is a crude illustration of an urban male desire for a raunchy tribal woman. She is obtainable in the urban male imagination by exercising the power equation of superior might and wealth. In a striking contrast to the woman of the ‘nubile series,’ this woman is not placed in any setting, pastoral or otherwise; against a bare background, she is without any real context.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 13: BHOJPURI BAIGAN<\/em> (Bhojpuri Brinjal). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: T-SERIES MUSIC CASSETTE.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 14: BHOJPURI KADDU<\/em> (Bhojpuri Pumpkin). Singer: Munni Devi. Publisher: T-SERIES MUSIC CASSETTE.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 15: BHOJPURI RASGULLA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Syrupy Sweetmeat). Singer: Sairabano Faizabadi. Publisher: T-SERIES MUSIC CASSETTE.<\/p><\/h2>\"> This bawdy series was such a hit that different labels introduced different versions of the same title. The trend continued into the VCD era (starting early 2000s). This series firmly established the new genre of Bhojpuri “chat paté lokgeet” (sweet-salty folksongs). In time, the ‘Bhojpuri’ prefix was also dropped: an album with a title such as ‘Rasgulla’ was indicative enough that it was a raunchy Bhojpuri album.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 16: BHOJPURI BAIGAN<\/em> (Bhojpuri Brinjal). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 17: BHOJPURI BAIGAN<\/em> (Bhojpuri Brinjal). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: T-SERIES VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 18: BHOJPURI KELA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Banana). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 16: BHOJPURI BAIGAN<\/em> (Bhojpuri Brinjal). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 16<\/a> - Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 17: BHOJPURI BAIGAN<\/em> (Bhojpuri Brinjal). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: T-SERIES VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 17<\/a>: woman in the centre on these covers is an unknown model used only for the purpose of allure. The images on the fringe are of starlets who feature in the videos in the album.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 18: BHOJPURI KELA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Banana). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 18<\/a>: The woman in the center is Katrina Kaif, a prominent sex symbol from the mainstream glamour industry, while, in comparison, the image on the right is of an unknown starlet recycled from the central image of album Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 12: JHARELIYA<\/em> (Bhojpuri Shimmering Woman). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 12<\/a>. These models are eye-candy for the cover and do not feature in the videos in the album.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 19: RASGULLA<\/em> (Syrupy Sweetmeat). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 20: RASMALAI<\/em> (Syrupy, creamy sweetmeat). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 21: GULAB JAMUN<\/em> (Fried Syrupy Sweetmeat). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 22: GARAM SAMOSA<\/em> (Hot, deep-fried patty). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 16: BHOJPURI BAIGAN<\/em> (Bhojpuri Brinjal). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 16<\/a> – Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 22: GARAM SAMOSA<\/em> (Hot, deep-fried patty). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 22<\/a>: these album covers display a confusion about the rural-urban identity of the cover girls. Sometimes vernacular models have been dressed up in western clothes; at other times fusion outfits – in between a bikini and a ‘choli’ (traditional blouse) – are used; yet in other instances urban seductresses have been juxtaposed with rustic belles.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n ‘Lal Timatar’ is the most popular title in this series with different labels publishing different versions of the same album title. In fact this title has been credited for sparking off the whole “luscious series” trend with its first publication in 1988. (Also see image Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 32: LAL TAMATAR<\/em> (Red Tomato). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: T-SERIES MUSIC CASSETTE.<\/p><\/h2>\">Fig. 32<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n\r\n Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 23: LAL TIMATAR<\/em> (Red Tomato). Singer: Tara Bano Faizabadi. Publisher: T-SERIES VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Fig. 24: LAL TIMATAR<\/em> (Red Tomato). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA VCD.<\/p><\/h2>\"> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span> Fig. 25: LAL TIMATAR<\/em> (Red Tomato). Singer: Tarabano Faizabadi. Publisher: GANGA MUSIC CD.<\/p><\/h2>\">![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/01-miss-use.jpg\" "\\"01-miss-use.jpg\\"")
Fig. 01<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nBhojpuri is a folk dialect. It is native to eastern Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar and Jharkhand in India. It is mostly spoken by Hindus, but Muslims and a number of tribal peoples also use it. A whole range of castes and classes speak this dialect. As Bhojpuri regions have vast impoverished populations, people from here have for long been prone to migration in search of livelihood. There is a sizeable Bhojpuri population in most large Indian cities. It mostly comprises of male daily-wage labourers: rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers, porters, etc. The process of accelerated urbanisation, starting in the mid 1990s in India, has led to a swell in Bhojpuri migrants in the various city centres.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nIt is not always possible to vouch for the English translation of some of the album titles because some of the terms and phrases employed herein are not really a part of the dialect lexicon. Often they are freshly coined colloquialisms that make for catchy titles. Their meaning is sometimes deliberately left ambiguous, but can be guessed from similar-sounding or rhyming words. These translations have therefore been derived after consultation with Bhojpuri speakers and Bhojpuri music label executives and from a contextual understanding of their use.<\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/02-odhaniya-wali.jpg\" "\\"02-odhaniya-wali.jpg\\"")
Fig. 02<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/03-two-piece-wali.jpg\" "\\"03-two-piece-wali.jpg\\"")
Fig. 03<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\nMiss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/04-bhojpuri-mujra.jpg\" "\\"04-bhojpuri-mujra.jpg\\"")
Fig. 04<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n
![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/05-balam-pardesia.jpg\" "\\"05-balam-pardesia.jpg\\"")
Fig. 05<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/06-shahar-ke-titli.jpg\" "\\"06-shahar-ke-titli.jpg\\"")
Fig. 06<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/07-rupiya-bolela-bhai.jpg\" "\\"07-rupiya-bolela-bhai.jpg\\"")
Fig. 07<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n
![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/08-bhojpuri-gujariya.jpg\" "\\"08-bhojpuri-gujariya.jpg\\"")
Fig. 08<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/09-bhojpuri-rasiya.jpg\" "\\"09-bhojpuri-rasiya.jpg\\"")
Fig. 09<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/10-bhojpuri-angiya.jpg\" "\\"10-bhojpuri-angiya.jpg\\"")
Fig. 10<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/11-jhareliya-cassette.jpg\" "\\"11-jhareliya-cassette.jpg\\"")
Fig. 11<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/12-jhareliya.jpg\" "\\"12-jhareliya.jpg\\"")
Fig. 12<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n
![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/13-baigan-cassette.jpg\" "\\"13-baigan-cassette.jpg\\"")
Fig. 13<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/14-bhojpuri-kaddu-cassette.jpg\" "\\"14-bhojpuri-kaddu-cassette.jpg\\"")
Fig. 14<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/15-bhojpuri-rasgulla-casset.jpg\" "\\"15-bhojpuri-rasgulla-casset.jpg\\"")
Fig. 15<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/16-baigan-ganga.jpg\" "\\"16-baigan-ganga.jpg\\"")
Fig. 16<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/17-baigan-t-series.jpg\" "\\"17-baigan-t-series.jpg\\"")
Fig. 17<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/18-kela-ganga.jpg\" "\\"18-kela-ganga.jpg\\"")
Fig. 18<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n
![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/19-rasgulla.jpg\" "\\"19-rasgulla.jpg\\"")
Fig. 19<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/20-rasmalai-ganga.jpg\" "\\"20-rasmalai-ganga.jpg\\"")
Fig. 20<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/21-gulab-jamun.jpg\" "\\"21-gulab-jamun.jpg\\"")
Fig. 21<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/22-garam-samosa-ganga.jpg\" "\\"22-garam-samosa-ganga.jpg\\"")
Fig. 22<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n
![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/23-lal-tamatar-t-series.jpg\" "\\"23-lal-tamatar-t-series.jpg\\"")
Fig. 23<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>Vishal Rawlley<\/span>![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/24-lal-tamatar-ganga.jpg\" "\\"24-lal-tamatar-ganga.jpg\\"")
Fig. 24<\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n![](\"http:\/\/tasveergharindia.net\/uploads\/gallery\/33\/thumbnail\/25-lal-tamatar-ganga-mp3.jpg\" "\\"25-lal-tamatar-ganga-mp3.jpg\\"")
Fig. 25<\/a><\/span> Miss Use<\/h4>