Lolly or Leelo is Balochi folk song, called lullaby or cradle-song or hushabies, also spelled cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music, usually played or sung to children or adults. The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowledge or tradition. In addition, lullabies are often used for the developing of communication skills, indication of emotional intent, maintenance of infants’ undivided attention, modulation of infants’ arousal, and regulation of behavior.”
Baloch mothers have taken the responsibility of teaching their children moral principle and values. Through lullabies (lolly), she teaches his son(s) and daughter(s) about the culture and tribal values of life. She incorporates her wishes and prayers about the bright future of her child. She wants her kid play active role in the society and his/her name be in top list of the brave youths. Two lullabies (Hushabies) of mother for her boy and girl child is hereby indicated from the Book “ Popular Poetry of Baloches” M. Longworth Dames published by Balochi Academy, Quetta in 1988.
- Hushaby to my little boy;
Sweet sleep to my son.
I will kill chicken and take of skin,
I must have a chicken’s skin.
I will make little skin bag of its legs and
Send it to my mother-in-law,
A bed of gasht-grass
I will spread in the shade of cliff.
A skin-bag full of yellow ghee,
And flesh of fat-tailed sheep,
Shall be the food of my son.
Hushaby baby;
May grow to be an old man.
- Nazi has pitched her little tent near the boundaries of Gumbaz,
And the feathery tamarisk of Syahaf , Her grandfather’s grazing ground.
She calls to her father and her uncle, and her brother’s companions,
Fair to view, and her uncle’s tiger-like sons,
And her aunt’s well-trained children’s come all of you,
Into my tent, for the clouds have gathered overhead,
And perhaps your fine weapons and your quiver and arrows will be damp.
The shameless slave girls have gone away,
The cows have suckled their calves in the jungle,
And Gujar has driven away the herds of camels.
Lullaby, I sing to my little girl.
