Tsa Kha Tiyo - by the Tetseo Sisters (tetseosisters) A song heralding the onset of the agricultural cycle, sung when the first cuckoo bird of the season starts singing. Doshe mori, do küda tele Hele, hele tsakha tiyo, zho le rule tiyo mo. Cejü hilü külhü tüce no, Uphe u be püno doti no yo she. Khüsatato... Khüsatato Practice makes perfect yet here is our humble attempt. As you sow, so shall you reap! Tend to the earth and it will feed you. In this life we shall all toil and eat the fruits of our labour. Use your hands and feet, to nurture and shape your destiny and legacy. Learn your lesson from the foolish crickets that laze away while the sun shines and starve to death when winter comes. Even the song they sing says, Lazy bones starve to death The charismatic singing sisterhood from India! Mercy, Azi, Kuvelü and Alüne Tetseo singing Vocals and playing the Tati / Heka Libuh. Tsakha tiyo, Zhole rüle tiyo mo is the title of a Li we sing. Our forefathers in their infinite wisdom have coined the phrase which can be translated loosely as As you sow so shall you reap. Tsa = seed; kha = to give/sow; zhole = leisure; rüle = lethargic and lazy; tiyo mo = unfed/wont bring food thus the phrase means Leisure does not bear fruit but tilling the soil and sowing the seed will keep you full. And so they lived their lives, industrious, routine and yet happy. Our ancestors understood the subtle and volatile characteristics of nature and could interpret and make forecasts by reading the signs available to them in their immediate surroundings. The bird calls, animal movements, wind and rain......were all messengers. Most of the Li sung while working have short stories with a moral lesson to be shared. Li while providing a natural rhythm for the motion of work is also a means of passing on lifes lessons. Li talks about the importance of timely work and brings in elements of nature as examples. The cricket sings mütsü tsü! mütsü tsü! (lazy lazy lazy lazy) while the ant works hard in summer and store food for the winters. The summer bird mocks the crickets singing Khüsatato! Khüsatato! (you will starve to death!) and finally makes a meal out of the cricket. While the other lazy crickets actually starve to death come winter. The agricultural season can be roughly divided into different phases and stages. The first phase is sowing and has four stages. First comes the Khuho tü which involves clearing the old fields, burning the cast out twigs/plants and tiling the soil. This happens from November to Febraury each year. Tsakha tü is the period of sowing seeds in a special germination area in the fields. This happens around March-April. Elders say our forefathers depended on the arrival of certain birds especially the cuckoo bird to signal the time to sow. Tetseo Sisters are four sisters with a repertoire of folk songs from Nagaland. We sing our Li in the Chokri dialect of the Chakhesang Naga tribe of Nagaland and our songs are often accompanied by the age old Naga one stringed instrument, the Tati / Heka Libuh. We are trying to keep the tribal Naga tradition of folk singing alive, and in our songs, we tell the stories of our people, their joys and sorrows, hopes and aspirations. WFIL is proud to present the Tetseo Sisters and their music to the world. youtu.be/HsReoYnK9Bs
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 16:55:48 +0000
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