Jugni
During the British rule in India, there was some jubilee celebration (maybe Golden Jubilee of British Empire in India) organized by the British in India. A big memento-like thing was scrolled in a caravan throughout the streets of India to mark that Jubilee celebration. There were two illiterate persons in some village of Punjab province of British India who sang together all day in the village streets, and entertained people through their songs to earn a living. Since they did not know the English language, they pronounced 'Jubilee' as "Jugni," and composed songs of Jugni to entertain people. I do not remember the names of those singers and their village (The name of singers were Mahanda or Mohammad from village Khadoor Sahib and Bishna Jatt from village Vero Val of Tarn Taran District)but I have read their story in a book since long. Their songs of Jugni got very popular. Later the British reckoned their songs as a part of the Indian Freedom Movement, and hanged them on a Banayan tree in their village. But their songs could never be hanged as they found popularity in Punjabi folk music. Jugni is now an essential part of Punjabi folk music.
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Jugni is an age-old narrative device used in Punjabi folk music and sung at Punjabi weddings in Pakistan, India, US, Canada, Australia and UK. The word literally means 'Female Firefly', in folk music it stands in for the poet-writer who uses Jugni as an innocent observer to make incisive, often humorous, sometimes sad but always touching observations. In spiritual poetry Jugni means the spirit of life, or essence of life. The late Legendary Alam Lohar (Punjab, Pakistan) and late Singer & Humorist Asa Singh Mastana (Punjab, India) are credited with popularizing this poetry from early sufi spiritual writings and then subsequently later on it was transformed by other singers as a female girl just like prefixes like Preeto.
Much of early Jugni writing is spiritual in nature and relates to one's understanding of the world and one's relationship with God. Many poet philosophers have used the Jugni device, which is in the public domain, to make social, political or philosophical, often mildly subversive, commentary. Jugni is cross religious and depending on the writer, invokes the name of God (often using the word "Saeen", the vernacular word for Lord), Ali or the Gurus. A kernel of truth is an essential and integral part of every Jugni composition.
The narrative style relies on Jugni landing up unexpectedly in diverse places and, wide-eyed, learning something new. Jugni makes her comments in three or four well wrought verses which may or may not rhyme but can always be sung in a rudimentary Punjabi folk style. The object could be a city, a state, a market place, a school, a religious place or a saloon, Jugni's non-malicious commentary catches the essence of the place and produces in the listener a chuckle and sometimes a lump in the throat. Alam Lohar is the writer or introducer of this term from reading Baba Bulleh Shahs writing, in a spiritual sufi theme.
The Indian artist to make a mark was Asa Singh Mastana. More recently[when?], Kuldeep Manak, born Latif Mohammad, has made notable Jugni contributions. Apart from that every other pop or folk singer from Harbhajan Mann, Arif Lohar, Gurdass Mann, Gurmeet Bawa to Rabbi Shergill has had his Jugni moment. Bollywood movie Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye has at least three songs that use the word Jugni. The song was sung by Des Raj Lachkani (basically a dadi singer), Lachkani is a village near Patiala, India.
In Pakistan, Jugni was popularized by the late folk music singer Alam Lohar. He received a gold disc LP for his Jugni in 1965. After that Saleem Javed and Arif Lohar, Alam Lohar's son, among others, have kept the tradition alive. Arif has brought in a more contemporary touch by incorporating modern vibes and rock influence in his versions of Jugni with Mukhtar Sahota (notably in his album "21st century Jugni"). In popular Pakistani culture Alamgir's Jugni is often the most-commonly recognized, which, in the mid-80's, encouraged young college students, most notably Saad Zahur, an architecture student at Lahore's NCA, who popularized the song with their own renditions. Arif Lohar has currently sang it for Coke Studio in Pakistan along with Mesha Shafi, a popular Pakistani youth, a version that will help this iconic song to further live on and on. This version of Jugni has crossed three million views and is most popular Punjabi video on YouTube.
[edit] Jugni, Back To Roots, Canadian Punjabi Film
Jugni,Back to Roots is a Canadian Punjabi film, directed by Navalpreet Rangi. The film brought Hollwood Stars back on the silver screen. The film also stars Om Puri, Hana Lee, Vikram Rangi, Noor Ahemad, James Cook,Julia Thomas,
[edit] Story
The movie revolves around Nihal Singh who fall in love with the girl, Jugni
[edit] Music
Music has been composed by Sukh D and Stefan & RDB
This came out in June 2010.[1] Lately, it is Rabbi Shergil of the “Bhulla Ki jaana main kaun” fame who again sang a beautiful Jugni and its Rabbi’s Jugni which shows the revolutionary and political color of Jugni, he sang that with reference to Kashmir.
Jugni according to the Punjabi folk music is "Fair and beautyful lady" who is very impatient and wants to travel places.
The other story is that two folk singers " Bishna" and " Manda" used to follow the British torch " Jubilee". They could not say its name properly, so they called it "Jugni" . They used to follow it everywhere around India and sang to awaken the masses against British rule in India,ultimately they were hanged by the British.
[edit] References
Canadian Punjabi Film Jugni Back To Roots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NPfsFap5vA
Who is Jugni? By Indu Vashist: http://kafila.org/2011/03/05/who-is-jugni/ Who Jugni is not - by Madan Gopal Singh: http://kafila.org/2011/03/13/madan-gopal-singh-on-the-jugni-debate/ Who Killed Jugni? By Shiraz Hassan: http://kafila.org/2011/05/07/who-killed-jugni-shiraz-hassan/
