OLAC Language Resource Catalog

Dancing in Nima's House 01 (Ñuksü) -- hru_1208_001 -- Documentation and Description of the Hrusso Aka Language of Arunachal Pradesh

https://lat1.lis.soas.ac.uk/ds/asv?openpath=MPI1193790%23

IGS0277

Yes

Vijay D'Souza (recorder)

Dorjee Jebisow (recorder)

Anu Jebisow (consultant)

Delu Sapon (consultant)

Villagers of Buragaon (consultant)

Vijay D'Souza

University of Oxford

Videos beginning with the name 'hru_1208_' show Hrusso Aka recreational dances performed during family and social celebrations. The dances shown here are of three types. First, the 'shedü gü ñuksü daw' or 'ñuksü a a daw' (single dance), in formal language known as 'dolü-dügie' (Source: Nima Jebisow), shown in the videos 'hru_1208_001' and 'hru_1208_002'. During this dance each one gathered comes forward to perform a single dance to appropriate music and singing. The second type of dance, depicted in the video 'hru_1208_003', a boisterous and comical challenge between a man and a woman, is called 'lyumdrow'. Here the goal of each dancer is to defeat the other by making him or her feel so bashful as to bow out. All sorts of gestures and moves are allowed, however bawdy they may be, but touching is prohibited (in all but a few specific circumstances). One's dance partner is socially defined: one can only perform this dance with those who fall outside a certain circle of kinship. For example, one cannot dance with a clan member or sibling, a man may dance with his elder brother's wife (but may not with his younger brother's wife). This dance is usually, but not exclusively, performed by young people, and adds lots of mirth and hilarity to celebrations. The third type of dance is called 'damtŝa-damñew', is another for of comedic dance, and encapsulates elements of bufoonery and michievious playfulness. It is traditionally associated with wedding festivities, and is part of celebration and entertainment. Its dancers might wear masks or smear their faces with charcoal (to conceal their identity), and dance as they try to find items of food, playfully concealed by their hosts, so that it might be distributed to the assembled guests. This form of dance can be found in a reduced form (without facial disguises) in 'hru_1208_001' and 'hru_1208_002'. The fourth type of dance is group dance called 'ñuksü üka daw'. This is a well-rehearsed and synchronised form of dance, sung and performed only by women while men play the instruments. These are shown in videos 'hru_1208_004' to 'hru_1208_011'. Usual musical instruments include a wooden drum made of deer or goat skin (nowadays often replaced by a hollow iron cylinder), and a pair of bronze cymbals (nowadays, a stainless steel plate). Both are played by men. See video 'hru_1215' for more details. The rhythm is kept by beating bamboo sticks on the floor (as seen in the video). In the olden days it was common to play an indigenous horse-hair fiddle (bzüva), the bamboo flute (sülülü) and the mouth harp (do), but nowadays they are increasingly rare. These instruments can be seen and heard in bundles: hru_1215, hru_1223b, hru_1713 and hru_1714a-d.

Born in Karnataka, India. Working in Northeast India since 1999. Involved with Hrusso Aka orthography development and language support since 1999. Currently doing PhD in linguistics at University of Oxford, UK. Thesis: A Grammar of Hrusso Aka.

Born and brought up at Buragaon. Daughter of Mr. Nima Jebisow. Married to an Apatani person. The couple is temporarily staying at Buragaon for business. Anu runs a small shop. She is fluent in Hrusso Aka and a very good public speaker. She is well known for her leadership qualities and is active in women's self-help groups coordinated by UFS nuns at Buragaon.

Delu coordinated with the women of Buragaon to organise these dances.

Dummy age and date of birth used to enable the metadata to be acceptable to the upload system.

Kabülo is the brother of Delu Sapon. He died in December 2016.

English

Hruso

Hindi

Indo-Iranian

Indo-European

Germanic

Indic

Sino-Tibetan

Tibeto-Burman

India

2016-02-18

video/mp4

audio/x-wav

image/jpeg

Dance

Party dance

English

Hruso

Hindi

Video

Audio

Image

http://www.language-archives.org/item/oai:soas.ac.uk:MPI1193790

http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/olac/record.html?id=soas_ac_uk_MPI1193790