© Copyright 2001 MIT Bhangra
"Jaago" literally means "Wake up!". It is a ceremony performed, mostly exclusively by women in Punjab, at midnight. The ceremony is performed by taking a clay (or copper) pot and covering it with many (20-30) candles or diyas using some wet "atta" (flour). The women take turns carrying this well-illuminated pot over the head, and marching in a procession through the village gathering up more women as they go along and singing "bolis" regarding various topics. Typically, as in most Punjabi folk songs, the bolis sung in the beginning are just an interlude or a framework for the women to start improvising Bolis that are more specific to the occasion as they warm up to the night. Typically the procession halts at various stops and everyone does gidda in the light illuminated by the jaago. Precussion is typically clapping...sometimes dholki (small dhol) or sometimes the Dhol. Typically the theme is "women"-oriented (women making fun of men, of their mother-in-laws, their young brother-in-law, their old father-in-law). As such Jaago has no "standard" lyrics, so each "Jaago" song you here will probably be different - all with a common theme, but illustrating different parts of Punjabi culture (birth of child, wedding, relationships, hardships, violence, etc.).
| Jaago aiyan, saneha liahiya,
lagdee meri parjaiya ve, Hun jaago aiyan Jatta jag bhai O,
Uchhi adi de pa gurgabi,
Husna paree arshaan ton ayee,
Gore rang te kaala doria,
Dhaliwal dee phulan naalon
A special verse made on the occasion
Vaisakhi de mele te,
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Wake up, someone has brought a message (saneha) for me,
Looks like my parjai (brother's wife) Jaago is here CHORUS: Oh Jat, wake up now,
Wearing high-heeled (uchchi adi) shoes,
The fairy (paree) of beauty has come from heavens (arshaan)
On her fair skin (gore), black rope (doria)
More delicate (komal) than the flowers of dhaliwal (famous)
At the Vaisakhi festival,
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