What is a landai what does the name landai mean and why?
What is a landai what does the name landai mean and why?
The word ‘landai’ means “short, poisonous snake” in Pashto, which is a language spoken on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The word also refers to a form of folk poetry composed of two lines and 22 syllables that is often spoken or sung.
What are landai usually written about?
A landai is a two-line poem that usually centers on a subject that is dangerous or uncomfortable for people to talk about, whether political or personal.
What is the meaning of landay?
Noun. landay (plural landays) A traditional Afghan poetic form consisting of a single couplet, with nine syllables in the first line and thirteen in the second.
How do you write a Landay?
Here are the basic rules of the landay:
- Poem comprised of self-contained couplets–as few as one couplet will do.
- 9 syllables in the first line; 13 syllables in the second line.
- Landays tend to reveal harsh truths using wit.
- Themes include love, grief, homeland, war, and separation.
Who sings the second Landay in Afghanistan?
The second landay was sung by Chadana, the mother of a Taliban fighter who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Zormat, in the southeastern province of Paktia, in 2011. Chadana had three sons: two became Taliban fighters and the third a policeman.
What is the culture of Landay?
Landays (or landai) often criticize traditions and gender roles. Afghan culture values literature very highly, particularly classical Persian literature and Pashto literature and poetry . Landays were likely brought into Afghanistan by Indo-Aryans around 1700 CE. The short songs became popular among farmers and nomads.
What is the significance of the Mullah in the second Landay?
In Pashtun society, the village mullah is all-powerful and his word can doom any villager. The metaphor in the second landay is that separation is also all-powerful and unjust. who sent U.S. cruise missiles to burn my homeland.
Are Landays antiphonal?
T he call and response nature of landays has morphed into teasing and sparring love poems between men and women; a kind of stichomythia that rivals that of ancient Greece. Although it’s possible that a woman might sing one part and a man another, they’re not really antiphonal.