Bhailo (Tihar traditional)

Bhailo is the Tihar festival song — the one a group of singers and a guitarist (or a madal player) take from house to house on the eve of Lakshmi Puja. The form is fixed; the lyrics improvise per household; the chord progression is the same everywhere.

About Tihar music

During the five days of Tihar (Diwali in the broader Indian-subcontinent tradition), groups go house to house singing seasonal songs. Bhailo is sung on the night of Lakshmi Puja (the third day, when houses are decorated with marigold and oil lamps). Deusi is sung the next night (the fourth day, the brother-sister Bhai Tika festival).

The role of the guitar in a bhailo procession is to keep the rhythm steady while the singers move from house to house. The chord changes are minimal because the singers' attention is on the lyrics and the house owner, not on you.

How to play it

Key of D, no capo, 110 BPM. Four chords: D, A, Bm, G. The Bm again — same as Galaicha and Lekali Surke. If you've worked through the public-domain folk catalogue in order, your barre chords should be coming together by now.

The strumming pattern is a 5-stroke D D U D U with the same energy as Lekali Surke — bright, bouncy, festival-paced.

Festival traditional. Public domain by definition.