10/05/2026
“কি দিবো যাদৱ ৰায়” | Traditional Assamese Lokogeet | Arun Ramdhan | Rahul Dev Nath | Folk Archives
For a long time, I’ve wanted to slow things down here — to step away from the noise, point the camera toward the things that rarely make it onto a screen, and simply let them exist as they are. This is the beginning of that journey.
The idea is simple: to travel and document real, living folk music — songs that were never written down, songs passed from one generation to the next by memory, voice, and feeling alone. I’m starting close to home, with the tribes and communities of Northeast India, and over time, I hope to carry this journey across the country.
No studio polish. No autotune. Just the song, the singer, and the place the song belongs to.
The only thing you’ll hear beneath the voice is a soft pad and a quiet bass line — held back on purpose, just enough to hold the song gently without ever standing in its way.
For this first episode, I’m in North Lakhimpur, Assam, at Padumoni Aai Than — a sacred shrine dedicated to Maa Padumoni, a form of the Mother Goddess. Resting quietly beside the highway and surrounded by green, this place has welcomed people for generations — to pray, to gather, and to sing.
The two artists you’re about to meet are Arun and Ram Dhan. They are wandering musicians in the oldest sense of the word. They walk from place to place carrying their instruments, singing songs wherever they go. What they earn in a day is what they live on that night.
The song they bring to us is called “কি দিবো যাদৱ ৰায়” (Ki Dibo Jadav Ray), a traditional Assamese Lokogeet. It is the voice of a devotee standing before God with empty hands, asking: What do I truly have that is worthy enough to offer you?
Coming from these two men — carrying their lives on their shoulders and their faith in their voices — the question lands somewhere very deep.
So sit down for a few minutes and listen.
What no school taught them, no record label shaped, and no algorithm discovered — they carry within them.
This is memory.
This is inheritance.
This is offering.
Turn the volume up, put your phone aside, and let Arun and Ram Dhan take you where the song wishes to go.
