According to Santal elders, the tunes of each genre of Santal songs were established by their ancestors. While lyrics vary from traditional to contemporary, the tune within a genre remains unchanged. It is the very specific tune and the beat struck by the drums that identify a genre. Each song genre is specific to a particular festival or activity – that is, a particular time of the year. Traditional Santals consider it inauspicious to sing such songs at the wrong time of the year. It is only a few genres like Lagre and Dong which can be sung at any time of the year.
Herhet songs would be sung by both men and women in the days of yore, during the various stages of the rice (and in earlier times, millet) cultivation process. Herhet songs are never accompanied by musical instruments, quite naturally, since these are sung while working in the field. The songs would accompany ploughing, sowing, transplanting, de-weeding and every other stage spanning the months of Jyoshti (May-June) till Bhadro (August-September). Herhet singing stops after this.
From the following month, Ashwin (September-October), the Santals sing Dasae for the festival of the same name, that coincides with Durga Puja of the Bengalis. Next comes Kartik (October-November), also known as Sohrai in Santali. This is the month when harvesting begins and harvesting is always accompanied by Sohrai songs. Sohrai songs goes on till January. After harvesting is done, the new crops are brought into the homes with a Janthar puja, where the first fruits of the crop are offered to the deities. This ritual, which takes place in the month of Agrahayon (November-December) is accompanied by Lagre songs. Thus Herhet goes into a long hibernation from mid September to mid May.
Herhet songs are sometimes likened to a Panchali, an oral folk narrative style of Bengal – sung in a repetitive tune. Like a Panchali on a folk goddess, say Manosha, where her entire life story is narrated through song, the narration of a Herhet could go on and on, describing the various facets of cultivation, but the tune remains fixed. However, young men and women working together in the field, have also been known to express their feelings through song, using Herhet as their vehicle. Thus, Herhet songs were cultivation songs as well as songs about people’s feelings.
The songs were traditionally sung from the beginning of the agricultural cycle till the pre harvesting stage. But in today’s world, with the spread of education in the community and mechanization replacing expensive labour for many families, the cultivation songs are no longer sung in the fields. Even where members of the community continue to till, sow and cultivate their land manually, the songs of Herhet have faded away. Adding to the calamity is that several young Santal singers are performing Herhet online, or in the cities, but have strayed from the correct melody. Considering that only a dwindling group of elders remember the actual tune, authenticity is being impacted.