New Era Badaga Songs, ‘Hatti Koosu’

I have always been saying that what we know about Badaga is much less than what we DO NOT know about Badaga, both people and language. That is true of not only the past but the present too.

I have come across this catchy Badaga song, ‘HOLAYYA’  on the youtube, which the singer cum producer PRANESH RAGUNATH describes as a new era Badaga song. This is part of the album “HATTI KOOSU”.

Hatti Koosu – means a village boy and the song Holayya gives a subtle but necessary social message to a Badaga girl, ‘why you should marry a Badaga boy’.

The title ‘Holayya’ is misunderstood by some. Holayya simply means an outsider and was freely used by Badagas in earlier days. Though now, a politically correct word like ‘naadu jena’ is used more often.

For a Badaga, there are only two types of people. Either a Badaga [native] or a Holayya [outsider – that included everybody from a brahim to a dalit]. The word is definitely not meant to be racist. It just identifies a Badaga from others.

Listen to this modern, or rather New Era Badaga song here.