“The Bidesia Project”
This is an initiative to preserve, archive and promote Bhojpuri folk music traditions. Our goal is ensure that this rich heritage is passed on to the next generation before it fades away from public memory.
The Bidesia Project is a not for profit initiative that works to conserve, archive and promote Bhojpuri folk music traditions. Our goal is to systematically document this intangible heritage and pass on for the next generations to come.
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As a part of this initiative, we have produced an award winning feature-length documentary film
‘In Search of Bidesia’, set up a digital folk music archive and recorded over 30 artists and
200+ Bhojpuri folk songs so far. Our film has travelled to multiple film festivals in India and
across the world. The film won the Best Music Documentary Award at the Royal
Anthropological Institute Film Festival in the United Kingdom (UK), 2021.
We have received wide media coverage in India and outside from media outlets
that include Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Times of India, The Hindu, Scroll,
Outlook, FirstPost, HT Mint among others.
In Search of Bidesia
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In Search of Bidesia is a musical documentary on Bhojpuri folk music that connects the history of indentured labour migration from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to the last living musicians in these states, who are now struggling to ensure these songs of love and longing do not slip into oblivion.
अँखियाँ में नींद नैखे
मथवा पे बिंदिया नैखे
मोहे काल जैसे लागेला
कोठरियाँ में हो राम
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These shadows creeping up on me
These shadows keep me sleepless
Don’t let me put on my bindi
Sleep and marriage both evade me
– An excerpt from a Bhojpuri folk song
about love and the pain of separation.
अँखियाँ में नींद नैखे
मथवा पे बिंदिया नैखे
मोहे काल जैसे लागेला
कोठरियाँ में हो राम
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These shadows creeping up on me
These shadows keep me sleepless
Don’t let me put on my bindi
Sleep and marriage both evade me
– An excerpt from a Bhojpuri folk song
about love and the pain of separation.
Bidesia Music Archive
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The folk music expressions from this region are based on Indian seasons and highlight the everyday life of people; their suffering and pain, festivals, customs and traditions. Some of the popular Bhojpuri folk music genres include Chaiti, Kajri, Birha, Barahmasa, Phagua, Jatsaar amongst others. Unfortunately, due to
cultural evolution, lack of written records and dearth of performers to continue this tradition,
Bhojpuri folk music is on a decline.
The Bidesia Music Archive is an effort to conserve this music, promote folk musicians
and also become a one-stop place for accessing Bhojpuri folk music traditions.
Check the Music Archive here
Bidesia Migration Story
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Under the indentured system, over two million Indians (mostly from the Bhojpuri region) were taken to
British colonies across the world (such as Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, Suriname, Caribbean islands
among many others.) to work as labour. When the indentured migrants left the ports in Kolkata
to various countries, they also took along their folk music, culture and their language – Bhojpuri
with them. While India’s formal history books largely forgot about this part of colonial history,
this trend was reflected through Bhojpuri folk songs. Thankfully, traces of which can still
be found today in India and many diaspora countries.
Through this musical archive, we aim to explore this rare musical connection that binds
India and diaspora countries together. Our vision is to create a repository and
a one-stop place for accessing Bhojpuri oral traditions.
Listen to the Bidesia Migration Story
Media Engagement
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“Simit Bhagat’s In Search of Bidesia is a poignant narrative of longing, pain and separation”
– First Post
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“Indian docu portraying songs of
separation at Dhaka fest”
– The Times of India
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“Digital archive tunes into the
forgotten songs of Indian slaves”
– Reuters
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“In these Bhojpuri folk songs, forgotten
tales of Indian indentured workers in
British colonies”
– Scroll
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“Indian folk icon who also printed fake
notes to fight the British”
– Al Jazeera
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“How Do I Walk All the Way?”
– Open the Magazine
