On our last night in Rakkar, we hung out on the balcony at Ghoomakad with friends and made music.
When we’d trekked up the mountain a few weeks previously, Foja hummed and whistled a tune that was an earworm. I was really glad that it was played that night with the lyrics explained, too. It’s a Gaddi herder’s folksong about the difficultly of long distance relationship in the Himalayas. Essentially, “You’re from the next ridge, this love is over.”
I got two videos of the song. Shot in the dark around the big slate table lit by a single bulb you can barely see Foja at all, but Christian is visible playing guitar in one and melodica in the other. I wish I’d filmed some of the other songs from that night, but this one was the one I really wanted to remember. The camera pans around, the audio quality is poor but it captured the tune and the moment.
There’s a page of Gaddi folk music with lots of songs in case you want to hear other local tribal tunes.
