“Thaari shararat sab jaanu main Choudhary” this line from the famous Rajasthani folk song immediately gives a glimpse of a rural set up where a girl is singing for her partner. But do we need to restrict the voice to that of a girl?
If you have noticed our rich culture of Indian music, never really restricts a song to any gender. The above example of the Rajasthani folk can be sung even in a male voice and still have the same impact.
Such types of vocal blends are very common. Even in Bollywood we can see glimpses of such instances where the girl imagines the guy’s thoughts or vice versa and the emotions are sung.
For example see the below song ‘Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein’ from the 1976 movie ‘Kabhie Kabhie’.
Rakhee imagines Amitabh Bachchan singing it for her and sings the verses in her voice.
When the line “suhaag raat hain ghoongat utha raha hoon main” comes, the on screen depiction is such that first Amitabh Bachchan is shown then Rakhee is shown to sing the same line.
This was beautifully seen in most of Kailash Kher’s songs as well.
Take for example the song – Teri Deewaani:
The feelings or the expressions of the girl are sung in his voice. Irrespective of the voice more importance is given to the emotions.
The emotions play a key role and hence their depiction can be in any voice as long as the thought is reached.
There is another famous song by Ustad Sultan Khan and Chitra – Piya Basanti
They both sing the same verses.
The line ‘Piya Basanti re kaahe sataye aaja’ is depicted on the main girl on screen who is the center of the storyline.
The depth of folklore is so vast that gender becomes insignificant. Such is our rich diversity that even gender seems to blur and we here fight in the name of caste and creed.
