65 year old Jhumur singer, Kiriti Mahato, belongs to a family of musicians. His father, the late Ganesh Mahato was also a Jhumur singer and his brother, Niranjan composes Jhumur songs. Thus, surrounded by music, both at home and in his environs, Kiriti’s  passion for Jhumur began at a very early age.

 

He feels particularly fortunate that a major part of his childhood and youth was spent listening to the traditional Jhumur songs sung by his neighbour Lalu Mahato. Lalu would graze his cattle from dawn till dusk and when he returned home, he would settle down and sing to his heart`s delight. Little did he realize that his music held complete sway over the young lad across the fence. Kiriti could barely concentrate on his studies, so immersed did he become in Lalu`s rendition of centuries old Jhingaphulia, Domkoch, Bhaduria and other tunes from the jhumur genre. The lyrics were simple and poetic and sung straight from the heart. 

So enamoured was Kiriti of his neighbour`s music that he began to scribble down the lyrics on his school notebooks - wherever he found a blank space. There were thousands of such songs and these one or two-verse songs, became the source material for a book that Kiriti published many years later. Lalu Mahato was the inspiration behind Kiriti`s chosen path of collecting Jhumur songs and he has been doing this for forty years now. He has also published many books on the subject. Kiriti’s deep knowledge and love of Jhumur led him to later collaborate with well-known Jhumur composer Sunil Mahato. 

 

Kiriti laments that the beauty of Jhumur is not celebrated enough - this he feels, would be best attained by teaching Jhumur to school children. This would help them love and respect this beautiful tradition. Meanwhile, he continues his search, travelling to numerous villages dotted across the Rarh region, to add to his vast collection.  Kiriti also teaches Jhumur at the Sidho- Kanho-Birsha University, Purulia.