“Ramayan Chaupai” – Alan Lomax Field recording 1962 Caribbean Voyage

From  third volume in Rounder’s  Alan Lomax field recording series focuses on a batch of 1962 recordings showcasing creolized East Indian music in the west indies. A chaupai is a quatrain verse of Indian poetry, especially medieval Hindi poetry, that uses a meter of four syllables. Here, I would imagine the lyric derives from Tulsidas and the Ramayana .