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Synopsis They Sing Life is an anthology of the oral poetry of selected primitive tribes of Eastern India. That region has a concentration of tribal communities with a rich mosaic of ethnic culture. Te translator-editor calls this poetry song-poems, whose two other dimensions are dance numbers and ritual performances. They have been arranged primarily around life-cycle rituals and the seasonal agricultural practices. The translations achieve such clear simplicity and directness that they make immediate connection with one’s life. They combine the sensibility of a major poet and the insight of an anthropologist. Some critics have compared them to C.M. Bowra’s Primitive Song. It is hoped they will prove invaluable to students of literature, anthropologists and all those who care for the survival of human values in a rapidly changing age of technology and the cyber world.