The temple singers of Jammu, easily identifiable by their typical headgear, sing stories from Shiv puran. On the day of Shivratri their troupes can be found singing in he courtyards of Ranbireshwar Temple of Jammu. They always take coins in the cavity of their bells.
The temple singers: I still remember the songs sung by these singers. Incedently one of these songs was used by Kailash Kher and his group and it became a super-hit. I am attaching a clip of that song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKXYZIrLNmU
The lyrics of this song brought childhood memories of me visiting Shiv Mandir at Jammu.
Thanks for this posting
Yes, Bam Lahri is a refrain from one of their popular songs.
In this photograph the guy on the right was in no mood to get photographed. He first wanted to know: where I was from? What I was doing there? What I will do with the photo? I guess he wanted to settle the money matters first. Then a passer-by told him that the photo will go to bambai…that seemed to cheer him up and only then they began to sing. I wanted to record the song too…but ran out of battery.