OLAC Record: The Traditional Songs And Poetry Of Upper Assam – A Multifaceted Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of the Tangsa, Tai and Singpho Communities in Margherita, Northeast India

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oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI1450702

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Title: Wamjung stories

Wamjung Stories

The Traditional Songs And Poetry Of Upper Assam – A Multifaceted Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of the Tangsa, Tai and Singpho Communities in Margherita, Northeast India

Contributor: Meenaxi Barkataki

Contributor (consultant): Wamjung Ronrang

Coverage: India

Date: 2011-01-09

Description: SDM-25-2011-01-09-04-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-4-birds-story.wav SDM-ass-2011-01-09-05-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-4-birds-story.wav There were 4 birds – the tiniest called the chekanri, then one slightly bigger called Wujok, and two bigger ones called wesum and wecolin. One day these four birds decided to go hunting together. They caught a pharing (grasshopper) and decided to divide the hunt amongst themselves. The wujok said that the portions should be such that: the smaller the bird, the smaller the portion. Hearing this, the tiny chekanri got very angry and hit the wujok with a dao on its head. Seeing the blood flow the wesum went to hold the bird and became red all over. The wecolin acted like a doctor and treated the wound with its hands – till today the wecolin has red feathers and a green body. The wujok still has a red head where it had been hurt. SDM-25-2011-01-09-06-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-one-eyed-girl-story.wav SDM-ass-2011-01-09-07-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-one-eyed-girl-story.wav Once upon a time there was a king who had a one-eyed daughter, Not knowing what to do with her, he put her on a boat and set her afloat downstream. She kept going till she almost reached the sea where she got off. A man from the skies appeared and they began to live together. When they were hungry, the man would call out to the animals of the forest and they would all come and bring them food to eat, the moneys bringing fruits, the tiger being flesh etc. In due course of time this couple had three sons. One day, the mother put the three sons on a boat and asked them to row upstream. They went and landed in the ghat of the king, from where the mother had been set afloat a long time back. The king heard of the three boys landing at his ghat and got them brought to his palace and asked them who they were. Whe they said that their mother was one-eyed he understood that the three boys were his grandsons. He then put the three boys back in the boat and gave the eldest a dhol (drum) and said that he should carry it and get off from the boat when the dhol would start to beat. He gave a pigeon to the second son and asked him to hold it in his hands and to get off the boat when the pigeon flew away from his hands. To the third he gave a sword (tarowal) and asked him to get off when the tarowal would fall off from hsi hands. The meaning of a one-eyed woman is to the sun or the moon. And the eldest son gave rise to the Tangsas, the second gave rise to the peaceloving people (of Assam) and the third gave rise to all the warriors (in foreign lands). SDM-25-2011-01-09-08-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-ant-monkey-story.wav SDM-25-2011-01-09-09-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-ant-monkey-story.wav SDM-ass-2011-01-09-10-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-ant-monkey-story.wav Once upon a time there was a little bird called ‘Gumuk’. One day it asked the monkey to get some fire to roast meat. The monkey went looking for fire. It saw a black ant with a tiny branch of fire and snatched it from him. Then the ant was angry and bit the monkey. That made the monkey scream in pain. A squirrel was sitting on the tree eating seeds. When it heard the monkey scream so loudly it was shocked and the seed that it was eating fell down the tree. It hit the head of a snake lying under the tree. The snake was frightened and rushed out and went inside a piga’s house made of leaves and soil almost buried under the ground. The pig was distrubed and rushed out and hit a banana tree, which then fell. A bat which had it’s home in the banana tree then flew away in shock and went inside the ear of an elephant. The elephant was maddened and went and hit a stone, which rolled down and killed a child of the ‘forest man’ – a spirit. The forest man was very upset at losing a child and tried to find out who was to blame. The blame went back all the way to the Gumuk bird. They all decided that it was to blame and as punishment they would cut and eat the bird. The bird agreed to this and said that they should put in inside a bamboo sunga with a lid and roast it over a fire. When it was ready for eating it would make a oo—oo sound and then they could open it and eat it. The others agreed. When the bird made the oo-oo sound, they opened the lid of the sunga and the bird flew out and away. They managed to catch just the tail of the bird. So till today, the Gumuk bird has no tail and still makes an oo-oo sound.

This project contains linguistic, musicalogical, ethnographic and other cultural information about three communities in Upper Assam: Singpho, Tai and Tangsa. The recordings and analyses have been done by Stephen Morey, together with Palash Kumar Nath (Gauhati University), Juergen Schoepf (Phonogrammarchiv, Vienna), Meenaxi Barkataki Ruscheweyh (Goettingen Academy of Sciences), Chaichuen Khamdaengyodtai (Rajabhat University, Chiang Mai), Zeenat Tabassum (Gauhati University), Karabi Mazumder (Gauhati University), Krishna Boro (Gauhati University), Paul Hastie (LaTrobe University). The key aims of the project were • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the varieties of Tangsa language spoken in the Margherita Subdivision of Upper Assam, India, • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the traditional songs, and poetry of three endangered language communities in the Margherita Subdivision: the Tangsa and Singpho (both Tibeto-Burman) and the Tai (Tai-Kadai), including a study of Tai traditional manuscripts, which are highly relevant for language and culture maintenance among the Tai. Within each of these communities there is considerable linguistic and cultural diversity, so all the files have been divided up and named according to this system: Tai SDM01 Phake SDM02 Aiton SDM03 Khamyang SDM04 Ahom SDM05 Khamti Singpho SDM07 Turung SDM08 Numhpuk Hkawng SDM09 Diyun Hkawng SDM10 Tieng Hkawng Tangsa SDM11 Youngkuk SDM12 Cholim SDM13 Kimsing SDM14 Tikhak SDM15 Lochhang SDM16 Ngaimong SDM17 Maitai SDM18 Shechhyv SDM19 Mossang SDM20 Khvlak SDM21 Lakkai SDM22 Lungri SDM23 Hakhun SDM24 Lungkhe SDM25 Ronrang SDM26 Sangte SDM27 Sangwal SDM28 Halang SDM29 Haseng SDM30 Morang SDM31 Moklum

Format: audio/x-wav

Identifier: oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI1450702

Identifier (URI): http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser?openpath=MPI1450702%23

Publisher: Stephen Morey

Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University

Type: audio

OLAC Info

Archive: The Language Archive's IMDI portal

Description: http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl

GetRecord: OAI-PMH request for OLAC format

GetRecord: Pre-generated XML file

OAI Info

OaiIdentifier: oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI1450702

DateStamp: 2011-11-10

GetRecord: OAI-PMH request for simple DC format

Search Info
Citation: Meenaxi Barkataki; Wamjung Ronrang (consultant). 2011-01-09. Stephen Morey.

http://www.language-archives.org/item.php/oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI1450702
Up-to-date as of: Wed Nov 23 5:06:34 EST 2011

Metadata
Title:		Wamjung stories
		Wamjung Stories
		The Traditional Songs And Poetry Of Upper Assam – A Multifaceted Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of the Tangsa, Tai and Singpho Communities in Margherita, Northeast India
Contributor:		Meenaxi Barkataki
Contributor (consultant):		Wamjung Ronrang
Coverage:		India
Date:		2011-01-09
Description:		SDM-25-2011-01-09-04-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-4-birds-story.wav SDM-ass-2011-01-09-05-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-4-birds-story.wav There were 4 birds – the tiniest called the chekanri, then one slightly bigger called Wujok, and two bigger ones called wesum and wecolin. One day these four birds decided to go hunting together. They caught a pharing (grasshopper) and decided to divide the hunt amongst themselves. The wujok said that the portions should be such that: the smaller the bird, the smaller the portion. Hearing this, the tiny chekanri got very angry and hit the wujok with a dao on its head. Seeing the blood flow the wesum went to hold the bird and became red all over. The wecolin acted like a doctor and treated the wound with its hands – till today the wecolin has red feathers and a green body. The wujok still has a red head where it had been hurt. SDM-25-2011-01-09-06-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-one-eyed-girl-story.wav SDM-ass-2011-01-09-07-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-one-eyed-girl-story.wav Once upon a time there was a king who had a one-eyed daughter, Not knowing what to do with her, he put her on a boat and set her afloat downstream. She kept going till she almost reached the sea where she got off. A man from the skies appeared and they began to live together. When they were hungry, the man would call out to the animals of the forest and they would all come and bring them food to eat, the moneys bringing fruits, the tiger being flesh etc. In due course of time this couple had three sons. One day, the mother put the three sons on a boat and asked them to row upstream. They went and landed in the ghat of the king, from where the mother had been set afloat a long time back. The king heard of the three boys landing at his ghat and got them brought to his palace and asked them who they were. Whe they said that their mother was one-eyed he understood that the three boys were his grandsons. He then put the three boys back in the boat and gave the eldest a dhol (drum) and said that he should carry it and get off from the boat when the dhol would start to beat. He gave a pigeon to the second son and asked him to hold it in his hands and to get off the boat when the pigeon flew away from his hands. To the third he gave a sword (tarowal) and asked him to get off when the tarowal would fall off from hsi hands. The meaning of a one-eyed woman is to the sun or the moon. And the eldest son gave rise to the Tangsas, the second gave rise to the peaceloving people (of Assam) and the third gave rise to all the warriors (in foreign lands). SDM-25-2011-01-09-08-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-ant-monkey-story.wav SDM-25-2011-01-09-09-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-ant-monkey-story.wav SDM-ass-2011-01-09-10-MB-Phulbari-Wamjung-ant-monkey-story.wav Once upon a time there was a little bird called ‘Gumuk’. One day it asked the monkey to get some fire to roast meat. The monkey went looking for fire. It saw a black ant with a tiny branch of fire and snatched it from him. Then the ant was angry and bit the monkey. That made the monkey scream in pain. A squirrel was sitting on the tree eating seeds. When it heard the monkey scream so loudly it was shocked and the seed that it was eating fell down the tree. It hit the head of a snake lying under the tree. The snake was frightened and rushed out and went inside a piga’s house made of leaves and soil almost buried under the ground. The pig was distrubed and rushed out and hit a banana tree, which then fell. A bat which had it’s home in the banana tree then flew away in shock and went inside the ear of an elephant. The elephant was maddened and went and hit a stone, which rolled down and killed a child of the ‘forest man’ – a spirit. The forest man was very upset at losing a child and tried to find out who was to blame. The blame went back all the way to the Gumuk bird. They all decided that it was to blame and as punishment they would cut and eat the bird. The bird agreed to this and said that they should put in inside a bamboo sunga with a lid and roast it over a fire. When it was ready for eating it would make a oo—oo sound and then they could open it and eat it. The others agreed. When the bird made the oo-oo sound, they opened the lid of the sunga and the bird flew out and away. They managed to catch just the tail of the bird. So till today, the Gumuk bird has no tail and still makes an oo-oo sound.
Description:		This project contains linguistic, musicalogical, ethnographic and other cultural information about three communities in Upper Assam: Singpho, Tai and Tangsa. The recordings and analyses have been done by Stephen Morey, together with Palash Kumar Nath (Gauhati University), Juergen Schoepf (Phonogrammarchiv, Vienna), Meenaxi Barkataki Ruscheweyh (Goettingen Academy of Sciences), Chaichuen Khamdaengyodtai (Rajabhat University, Chiang Mai), Zeenat Tabassum (Gauhati University), Karabi Mazumder (Gauhati University), Krishna Boro (Gauhati University), Paul Hastie (LaTrobe University). The key aims of the project were • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the varieties of Tangsa language spoken in the Margherita Subdivision of Upper Assam, India, • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the traditional songs, and poetry of three endangered language communities in the Margherita Subdivision: the Tangsa and Singpho (both Tibeto-Burman) and the Tai (Tai-Kadai), including a study of Tai traditional manuscripts, which are highly relevant for language and culture maintenance among the Tai. Within each of these communities there is considerable linguistic and cultural diversity, so all the files have been divided up and named according to this system: Tai SDM01 Phake SDM02 Aiton SDM03 Khamyang SDM04 Ahom SDM05 Khamti Singpho SDM07 Turung SDM08 Numhpuk Hkawng SDM09 Diyun Hkawng SDM10 Tieng Hkawng Tangsa SDM11 Youngkuk SDM12 Cholim SDM13 Kimsing SDM14 Tikhak SDM15 Lochhang SDM16 Ngaimong SDM17 Maitai SDM18 Shechhyv SDM19 Mossang SDM20 Khvlak SDM21 Lakkai SDM22 Lungri SDM23 Hakhun SDM24 Lungkhe SDM25 Ronrang SDM26 Sangte SDM27 Sangwal SDM28 Halang SDM29 Haseng SDM30 Morang SDM31 Moklum
Format:		audio/x-wav
Identifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI1450702
Identifier (URI):		http://corpus1.mpi.nl/ds/imdi_browser?openpath=MPI1450702%23
Publisher:		Stephen Morey
Publisher:		Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University
Type:		audio
OLAC Info
Archive:		The Language Archive's IMDI portal
Description:		http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
GetRecord:		Pre-generated XML file
OAI Info
OaiIdentifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:MPI1450702
DateStamp:		2011-11-10
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for simple DC format
Search Info
Citation:		Meenaxi Barkataki; Wamjung Ronrang (consultant). 2011-01-09. Stephen Morey.