Himanshu Chutia Saikia

large_01-PVT-Assams_Santo_Tanti_sings_a_jhumur.jpg

medium_01-PVT-Assams_Santo_Tanti_sings_a_jhumur.jpg

small_01-PVT-Assams_Santo_Tanti_sings_a_jhumur.jpg

thumbnail_01-PVT-Assams_Santo_Tanti_sings_a_jhumur.jpg

01-PVT-Assams_Santo_Tanti_sings_a_jhumur.jpg

“Assam is all around us,” sings Santo Tanti in this video; the 25 year-old has composed the music and lyrics in the jhumur style. The song refers to the hills and mountains of Assam that he says are his home. Tanti lives in Dhekiajuli division of the Sycotta Tea estate in Jorhat district of Assam and works in a cycle repair shop; he regularly posts his music on social media.Jhumur is a popular local musical style and Tanti mentions the beat of the drums and melody of the flute, in the song. These songs are sung in the Sadri language and performed by many Adivasi groups who migrated from central, south and eastern India – Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana – to work in the tea plantations of Assam.The Adivasi groups went on to intermingle with each other and local communities. Referred to as ‘Tea Tribes’, there are an estimated six million that live in Assam. While recognised as Scheduled Tribe in their state of origin, that status has been denied to them here. Some 12 lakh of them work in the state’s 1,000-odd tea gardens.The dancers in this video are tea garden workers: Sunita Karmakar, Gita Karmakar, Rupali Tanti, Lakhi Karmakar, Nikita Tanti, Pratima Tanti and Aroti Nayak.To watch Santo Tanti’s other videos and read about his life see <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/santo-tantis-songs-of-sadness-work-and-hope/">Santo Tanti’s songs of sadness, work and hope</a>, published on PARI in September, 2021.

Pranshu Protim Bora

Assam’s Santo Tanti sings a jhumur

جھومور گاتے ہوئے آسام کے سنتو تانتی

అస్సామ్‌లో ఝూమూర్ ఆలపిస్తోన్నసన్తో తాఁతి

அசாமின் சாண்டோ டண்டி ஜுமுர் பாடுகிறார்

ਅਸਾਮ ਦੇ ਸੈਂਟੋ ਤਾਂਤੀ ਦਾ ਝੁਮੁਰ ਗੀਤ

ଝୁମୁର ଗାଉଥିବା ଆସାମର ସାନ୍ତୋ ତନ୍ତି

आसामच्या सांतो तांतीचं झुमुर गीत

അസമിലെ സാന്റോ താന്റി ഒരു ഝുമുർ പാടുന്നു

ಅಸ್ಸಾಮಿನ ಸಾಂತೋ ತಾಂತಿ ಹಾಡಿರುವ ಒಂದು ಝುಮುರ್

असम के लोक गायक संतो तांती का झुमुर गीत

આસામના સંતો તાંતી ઝુમુર ગાય છે

झूमुर गावत असम के संतू तांती

আসামের সান্তো তাঁতি গাইছেন তাঁর প্রাণের ঝুমুর গান

অসমৰ ঝুমুৰ গায়ক চান্তো তাঁতি

Jorhat

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


हमारी दुनिया की झलक

पारी पर आपका स्वागत है

पाठकों के लिए हमारा सभी कॉन्टेंट मुफ़्त उपलब्ध है. अगर आपको हमारा काम पसंद है, तो आप हमारे लिए वालंटियर कर सकते हैं या हमारी आर्थिक मदद कर सकते हैं, ताकि हम अपना काम जारी रख सकें.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

Assam’s Santo Tanti sings a jhumur

The 25-year-old musician sings about an inclusive Assam in the jhumur style of music, accompanied by the madol, jhumur dhol and flute

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit