Thursday, December 22, 2011

Dhol - India

The dhol is a drum that dates back to the 15th century. It was probably introduced to the Indian subcontinent via the Persian drum type dohol (duhul). The evidence for this is found in Ain-i-Akbari, which describes the use of duhul in the orchestra of the Mughal emperor Akbar. The Indo-Aryan word "dhol" appears in print around 1800 in the treatise Sangitasara.

Playing:

Someone who plays the Dhol is known as
Dholi (Punjabi: ਢੋਲੀ). The Dhol is played using two wooden sticks, usually made out of bamboo and cane wood.

The stick used to play the bass[disambiguation needed ] side of the instrument, known as the dagga, is a bit thicker (roughly about 10 mm in diameter) and is bent in a quarter-circular arc on the end that strikes the instrument. The other stick, known as tihli, is much thinner and flexible and used to play the higher note end of the instrument.

The Dhol is slung over the neck of the player with a strap usually made up of ropes or woven cloth. The surface of the wooden barrel is in some cases decorated with engraved or painted patterns.

Rhythms:
In the pre-Partition era, dozens of rhythms were played on the Punjabi dhol, which corresponded to specific functions. However, with the decline or disappearance of some cultural practices, recent generations of dhol-players have become unfamiliar with many of these. At the same time, the growth of folkloric staged bhangra dance in Indian Punjab inspired the creation of many new rhythms particular to that dance.


Some of the most common Punjabi dhol rhythms are bhangra (originating with the old, community bhangra dance), dhamaal (associated with many cultural functions, including worship at Sufi shrines), and kaharva, a dance and song rhythm. The staged "bhangra" dance, originating in the 1950s, gave special prominence to kaharva, for the performance of actions called luddi. In the 1970s, many more actions were added to staged bhangra to go with the kaharva rhythm, which started to become one of the most prominent rhythms associated with the dance. At the same time, this type of rhythm would be played on the dholki drum to accompany Punjabi songs. So when, in the 1990s, Punjabi pop songs began to evoke bhangra dance, they used the kaharva rhythm. It is known now by various names. Some dhol-players call it kaharva, its technical name, while other players in Punjab call it luddi to refer to the dance of that name. With the style of dhol-playing that developed in the U.K., the name chaal was adopted—probably in reference to the "chaal" movements it accompanies in modern bhangra—however, that term is not used elsewhere.

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