This is a heartfelt song of farewell, typically sung when we part ways with our beloved, particularly as they embark on a long journey. Love from Bhutan.
Alo is a farewell song that belongs to the region of eastern Bhutan. This song is very popular among village folks, especially in eastern Bhutan. The Alo song is purely vocal and not in a dance oriented form. There are eight categories of song; I) Lama Choetoed ki lu (songs of prayer and worship of lamas); ii) Choe dang choed drel lu (religious songs); iii) Gyalpoi toed lu (songs of Praise for the king); IV) Gyalkhap ki toed lu (songs of praise for the Country); v) Ga lu (songs of happiness); vi) Dza lu (love songs); vii) Thrul lu (songs of sorrow); and viii) Tashi moen lu (songs of good wishes). The Alo song can be generally classified into Thrul lu (songs of sorrow). The Alo song is an oral folk song, is common to eastern Bhutan. The ones sung in Lhuntse are known as Kurtod pai Alo, the ones from Trashigang as Tshangla Alo, the ones from Trashiyangtse as Yangtsepai Alo, the ones from Trongsa as Mangde pai Alo and the one from Pemagatshel as Dungsam pai Alo. The Alo song contain element of Zhungdra in tune, but the subject of the song is more sublime and elevated. Although the lyric of the song is short, but has a long tune. As stated in Shey Zoed Yid Zhin Norbu, different songs are meant for different occasions and for different purposes. The context of the song sung is an important consideration. The text that given; 'Don't sing sad songs at celebrations; don't sing happy songs at mourning; don't sing war songs at marriage, don't sing love songs while an enemy is being subdued and don't sing songs at times of sickness and death'. Unlike other songs, they are sung during festivals, consecration of buildings, and also toward the conclusion of public celebration. Alo song is usually sung at the point of departure of a friend or a relative and beloved one. The people often sing while they are alone working in the field and with the cattle. Alo song is a long sentimental song sung at the point of a departure of a friend, beloved one and relative to a distant place. The song echo hopes and wishes that friends or relatives and beloved one might meet once without illness, like the sun that will be rise again in the morning in next day. The depth of the song’s meaning is built through repeated use of sun and shadow as metaphors and images. Alo is one of the most popular songs that uses sun and the shadow as a metaphor and describe the wishes of the singer to meet their relatives and beloved one after they departing. An interesting feature of this song is conveying message or emphasizing when the sun goes over the other side of mountain, the shadow returns to the mountain on this side. The singer used to build argument to convince that when the sun goes down over the mountain, argues let it be the sun, which returns, and not the shadow because singer did not want to live in the shadow place. The song underling the importance the one who cannot resist it while their beloved one, friends and relatives were departed. It is a sentimental song sung by people during times of sadness, the one who cannot resist it while their beloved one, friends and relatives were departed. Alo song is spread throughout the Bhutan that too exclusively by women, but the lyrics of the song can differ in different eastern district; the meaning of the song is almost similar. ཨའེ། ཨ་ལོ་ལ་མི་བཏང་ཟེར་ན། ། Ala! [I] Did not want to sing the Alo song. ཨའེ་ལས་དང་ལ་སྐྱོ་མོའི་ལ་མ་བཞག ། [My] karma and sadness compel me to. ཨའེ་ཨ་ལོ་་བཏང་གེ་ཟེར་ན། ། ཨའེ་ཏོང་ཏོང་་ལྐོག་མས་ལ་མ་བཏུབ། ། And when I am trying to sing Alo, my throat is not working to sing. ཨའེ་ཁྲི་གདུགས་ལ་ཕར་རིར་སོང་ཚེ། ། Ala! When the sun goes over the other side of mountain ཨའེ་གྱིབ་མ་ལ་ཚུར་རིར་ལོག་དོ། The shadow returns to the mountain on this side. ཨའེ་ལོག་ན་ལ་ཁྲི་གདུགས་ལོག་ཤིག ། ཨའེ་གྱིབ་མ་ལོག་པ་ལ་མི་དགོ ། And the shadows return to the ridge on this side. Ala! Let it be the sun, which returns, and not the shadows.
Five Finger Policy The Chinese hard power juggernaut is moving in all directions and not even tiny neighbors are out of its ambit these days. In the latest instance of China’s hyper active diplomacy, Beijing is vigorously pursuing one finger of its so-called “five finger policy” - Bhutan. The other four fingers are Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh (both parts of India), Nepal and Sikkim; while the palm is Tibet. The Chinese objectives in Bhutan, a country with which it has been having a protracted border dispute, pose a major foreign policy and security challenge for India.
This is a heartfelt song of farewell, typically sung when we part ways with our beloved, particularly as they embark on a long journey. Love from Bhutan.
Alo is a farewell song that belongs to the region of eastern Bhutan. This song is very popular among village folks, especially in eastern Bhutan. The Alo song is purely vocal and not in a dance oriented form. There are eight categories of song; I) Lama Choetoed ki lu (songs of prayer and worship of lamas); ii) Choe dang choed drel lu (religious songs); iii) Gyalpoi toed lu (songs of Praise for the king); IV) Gyalkhap ki toed lu (songs of praise for the Country); v) Ga lu (songs of happiness); vi) Dza lu (love songs); vii) Thrul lu (songs of sorrow); and viii) Tashi moen lu (songs of good wishes). The Alo song can be generally classified into Thrul lu (songs of sorrow).
The Alo song is an oral folk song, is common to eastern Bhutan. The ones sung in Lhuntse are known as Kurtod pai Alo, the ones from Trashigang as Tshangla Alo, the ones from Trashiyangtse as Yangtsepai Alo, the ones from Trongsa as Mangde pai Alo and the one from Pemagatshel as Dungsam pai Alo. The Alo song contain element of Zhungdra in tune, but the subject of the song is more sublime and elevated. Although the lyric of the song is short, but has a long tune.
As stated in Shey Zoed Yid Zhin Norbu, different songs are meant for different occasions and for different purposes. The context of the song sung is an important consideration. The text that given; 'Don't sing sad songs at celebrations; don't sing happy songs at mourning; don't sing war songs at marriage, don't sing love songs while an enemy is being subdued and don't sing songs at times of sickness and death'. Unlike other songs, they are sung during festivals, consecration of buildings, and also toward the conclusion of public celebration. Alo song is usually sung at the point of departure of a friend or a relative and beloved one. The people often sing while they are alone working in the field and with the cattle.
Alo song is a long sentimental song sung at the point of a departure of a friend, beloved one and relative to a distant place. The song echo hopes and wishes that friends or relatives and beloved one might meet once without illness, like the sun that will be rise again in the morning in next day. The depth of the song’s meaning is built through repeated use of sun and shadow as metaphors and images. Alo is one of the most popular songs that uses sun and the shadow as a metaphor and describe the wishes of the singer to meet their relatives and beloved one after they departing.
An interesting feature of this song is conveying message or emphasizing when the sun goes over the other side of mountain, the shadow returns to the mountain on this side. The singer used to build argument to convince that when the sun goes down over the mountain, argues let it be the sun, which returns, and not the shadow because singer did not want to live in the shadow place. The song underling the importance the one who cannot resist it while their beloved one, friends and relatives were departed. It is a sentimental song sung by people during times of sadness, the one who cannot resist it while their beloved one, friends and relatives were departed. Alo song is spread throughout the Bhutan that too exclusively by women, but the lyrics of the song can differ in different eastern district; the meaning of the song is almost similar.
ཨའེ། ཨ་ལོ་ལ་མི་བཏང་ཟེར་ན། །
Ala! [I] Did not want to sing the Alo song.
ཨའེ་ལས་དང་ལ་སྐྱོ་མོའི་ལ་མ་བཞག །
[My] karma and sadness compel me to.
ཨའེ་ཨ་ལོ་་བཏང་གེ་ཟེར་ན། །
ཨའེ་ཏོང་ཏོང་་ལྐོག་མས་ལ་མ་བཏུབ། །
And when I am trying to sing Alo, my throat is not working to sing.
ཨའེ་ཁྲི་གདུགས་ལ་ཕར་རིར་སོང་ཚེ། །
Ala! When the sun goes over the other side of mountain
ཨའེ་གྱིབ་མ་ལ་ཚུར་རིར་ལོག་དོ།
The shadow returns to the mountain on this side.
ཨའེ་ལོག་ན་ལ་ཁྲི་གདུགས་ལོག་ཤིག །
ཨའེ་གྱིབ་མ་ལོག་པ་ལ་མི་དགོ །
And the shadows return to the ridge on this side.
Ala! Let it be the sun, which returns, and not the shadows.
Thanks for explaining this tradition.
Beautiful, great song
Good night, good to hear Oh!
lovely one....
Awesome
Felt very nice though I noticed some slight deviation from the original.....
Phub of
Dorji
Five Finger Policy
The Chinese hard power juggernaut is moving in all directions and not even tiny neighbors are out of its ambit these days. In the latest instance of China’s hyper active diplomacy, Beijing is vigorously pursuing one finger of its so-called “five finger policy” - Bhutan. The other four fingers are Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh (both parts of India), Nepal and Sikkim; while the palm is Tibet. The Chinese objectives in Bhutan, a country with which it has been having a protracted border dispute, pose a major foreign policy and security challenge for India.