Dhadd
Dhadd ( Panjabi ਢੱਡ ḍhaḍ ) also ḍhāḍ or dhadh , is a small two-headed hourglass drum that is played in the northwest Indian state of Punjab by the musicians and singers called Dhadi ( Dhadhi ) together with the string sarangi to accompany epic chants. Dhadi is also the name of the secular Punjab folk music style and the religious song recitation cultivated by Sikhs . Dhadi jatharefers to the ensemble consisting of three musicians, to which the religious music of the Sikhs is supplemented by a speaker who provides the historical background of the songs. The most frequently told secular stories are about mythical lovers separated by fate and their eternal search for reunion. The core of the religious themes is the search for the divine, which is described as a loss-making battle of human heroes.
Design
The body of the dhadd consists of a hollowed-out block of wood that has been turned into an hourglass shape and sanded smooth. The two membranes, which are roughly the same size, consist of untanned animal hide, which are pulled over circular rings, folded over and glued in place. The membrane rings are slightly larger than the final diameter of the body. They are placed on the body openings and braced against each other in a V-shape with a thick circumferential cord. The flexible lacing is wrapped in the middle with a transverse cord and tightened according to the desired pitch. A tighter constriction gives a higher tone.
The musician holds the drum with his left hand around the waist of the body approximately horizontally forwards at the height of the upper body and hits the upper eardrum with the fingers of his right hand. He has tucked his left thumb under the lacing, and with the rest of his fingers he grips the drum above the cords. In order to produce a higher pitched tone or a howling pitch of varying pitch while playing, he squeezes the flexible lacing slightly with his hand. This method works with such a small hourglass drum. In the somewhat larger hurka , which is played in Garhwal and other regions in the state of Uttarakhand on the southern edge of the Himalayas, the musician hangs the hourglass drum around his left shoulder with a strap that is attached to the central string. When he extends his arm with the drum, he pulls the lacing and thus increases the tone. The third method is practiced by the South Indian idakka player who holds his instrument tucked under the crook of his left arm and makes a pitch range of up to two octaves playable by squeezing the cord. The dhadd largely corresponds in size and shape to the somewhat smaller damaru hourglass drum , the latter being a rattle drum. Two stones attached to strings hit the eardrums when the damaru is turned quickly and create a clicking sound. These rattle stones are missing from dhadd . The dhadd's eardrum is played with rapid strokes of the individual fingers vertically or slidingly at a flat angle.
Origin and Distribution
Hourglass drums have a tradition in India that goes back far into pre-Christian times and are mostly religiously valued. At Buddhist places of worship ( stupas ) stone reliefs with images of hourglass drums can be found from the 2nd century BC. Received. The drums described in ancient Indian literature as attributes in the hands of gods ( devas ) were called panava or alingya in Sanskrit . The best known is the little damaru , with which God Shiva in the form of Nataraja performs the cosmic dance ( tandava ).
Larger hourglass drums, called hudukka and huruk , have been depicted in Mogul paintings in music and dance scenes since the 16th century; next to the double boiler drum naqqara and the frame drum daira . Several of today's hourglass drums such as the south Indian temple drums udukkai and idakka are descendants of the medieval drum with related names. The budbudiki used by street musicians has no tension cords , which (measured on a specimen from the end of the 19th century) is only eight centimeters long. The tudi is used in Karnataka for song accompaniment in a similar way to the dhadd . In Garhwal, in addition to the hurka, there is the similarly large daunr , whose membranes are also tied with cords, but whose pitch is not changed during the game.
In northern India, the word context dhadd includes several differently shaped tubular drums . The drum most commonly used in Punjab for festive events and family celebrations is the barrel-shaped dholak . The name refers to a large number of double-headed drums throughout northern India that are usually played with the hands. Slightly larger tubular drums beaten with sticks are commonly referred to as dhol , dhole or dhak . The spectrum ranges from the oversized barrel dhak in West Bengal and Assam , which is indispensable at Hindu festivals such as Durga Puja , to small dholaks that young women improvise with at weddings or the begging musicians use on the street. In southern Rajasthan, a completely different hourglass drum is called dhak , which plays a role as a divine symbol in the villages of the Mina caste in rituals of possession. Neighboring ethnic groups in the Vindhya Mountains also use such a dhak . Other regional name variations for hourglass drums in central India are dhakka and dhanka . The regional variant of the string sarangi played in Punjab is also called dhad sarangi .
History of the Dhadi Musicians
In Punjab, dhadis, i.e. the musicians and singers who play dhadd and sarangi , are very important in folk music because their ballads express everyday life as well as the stories and customs of the region. While the prehistory of the dhadis goes back a little longer, they have appeared in literature since the 15th century. In Adi Granth , the sacred scripture of the Sikhs, the word dhadi occurs several times . Guru Nanak (1469–1539), the founder of Sikhism, composed religious songs ( nirgun bhajan ). He, Amar Das (1479–1574) and other subsequent gurus called themselves dhadi and saw themselves as a singer who sang songs to the glory of God.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, many Muslim professional singers ( rabābī ) who accompanied each other on the plucked rabāb contributed to the spread of Sikh music. The rabāb was the forerunner of the sursingar introduced in the 19th century and differed from the Afghan rubāb . At the end of the 16th century, when professional singers went on strike because of higher wage demands, amateur singers ( raggī ) sometimes took their place. The religious ballad singers ( dhadi ) formed the third and particularly popular group of Sikh musicians.
According to the 1930 Kahan Singh Nabha on Panjabi wrote Mahan Kosh , the extensive Standard Dictionary of Sikh literature, Dhadi is a prize singer who songs about heroic warriors to accompany the dhadd sings. Bards - Bhatts (learned Brahmins ) or Dhadis - were employed at the courts of the Rajput rulers, who sang the heroic deeds of their ancestors with their epic verses ( var ). The Sikhs adopted this popular style of singing for their religious songs. The fifth guru Arjan Dev (1563-1606) put the verses ( gurbani ) written by his predecessors together in the Adi Granth . For nine of these verses he selected melodies from well-known heroic songs for the first time, the content of which, however, has nothing to do with the religious texts.
The Dhadi tradition known today began with his successor, the sixth Guru Har Gobind (1595–1644). To fuel the fighting spirit of his army, he had dhadis recite heroic songs at his court. The names of some of the then famous dhadis have been handed down. Only after the last Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) with the death of the military leader Banda Singh Bahadur in 1716 the Sikh community split and lost its importance in several costly battles against the Mughal Empire , did support for the Dhadis decline.
In earlier times Arab traders reached northwest India with camel caravans via Iran and Afghanistan. The songs they sang in the evenings merged with regional folk music in the style called dhapa and sung in Punjabi. The dhapa songs are about the tragic love story between the rich and beautiful Hir from the Jat ethnic group and the wandering Ranjha, who is employed as a cowherd at her father's court and who blows the flute ( bansuri , regional wanjhli ). The Hir Ranjha love story was recited in the verse form qissa (plural qisse ), which emerged in the early 17th century and was the most popular form of Punjabi folk literature until the early 20th century. After the earliest known story on Punjabi in the form of qisse by the poet Damodar, which was written between 1600 and 1615, there were other poets who spread their versions in the villages until they were soon picked up by singers with dhadd and sarangi . Under Maharaja Ranjit Singh (r. 1801–1839) the singing tradition with dhadd and sarangi began to flourish in a politically stable and economically secure time . Poets and singers were highly regarded in the royal houses. Dhadi groups reached the villages equally.
To distinguish them from secular stories, the religious invocations of the Sikhs were called guru ka dhadi . The religious singing tradition is still alive today. The other entertaining singers of the folk tales ( gaun ) who appeared in suitable places ( Punjabi : akhara ) near villages were given the nickname gamantri . From the middle of the 19th century, the folk singers at the royal houses of Patiala , Faridkot , Nabha and other princely states contributed to the reputation of the rulers ( maharajas ) and received gifts and regular remuneration in return. Sarangi masters employed at the courts included many dhadis among their students. With the dissolution of the princely states in the 1950s, their patronage for the dhadis also ended.
Style of play
Folk song tradition
The secular songs of the Dhadi genre are divided into:
- Heroes' songs in which the deeds of historical and legendary warriors are celebrated. One of them is Dulla Bhatti (actually Rai Abdullah Khan Bhatti), a hero of the Rajputs who led an uprising against the Mughal emperor Akbar I in the 16th century . The two youngsters Jaimal Rathore and Patta (Fateh Singh Sisodiya) did the same in 1567 and 1568. Other warlike heroes in popular legends are Dahud Badshah and Sucha Soorma.
- Love stories that include Hir and Ranjha, the couples Sohni and Mahiwal as well as Kaka and Partapi. The latter lived near Ludhiana in the 1880s .
- Songs that include regional adaptations of episodes from the great Indian epics Mahabharata , Ramayana and from the Puranas .
- Moral and educational stories from everyday life.
The Dhadi genre was widespread throughout Punjab in the 19th century, but its center was in the southeastern Punjab region of Malwa , where most of the dhadis belonged to the Mirasi and Mir families. Many well-known Dhadis are part of a teaching tradition ( Gharana ), in which a selected musical style and a preferred meter are passed on from teacher to student. Dhadis later choose their repertoire from the tradition of several teachers. In the past, training often took place in the vicinity of a Hindu or Sikh temple ( Gurdwara ), where religious content was also taught. An essential characteristic of the dhadis has always been their religious neutrality. Muslim dhadis sing episodes from Hindu mythology as well as from the history of the Sikhs.
The verses are set in the three main meters baint, sadd and kali , with kali becoming so popular that the term is also generally used as a representative of the Dhadd Sarangi ballads. The reason for the popularity of kali lies in its roots in the folk song kavishari from Malwa, which is performed vowel. The combination of kavishari with drum and strings resulted in the shape of the kali . The lines of verse end with a cadence ( mukhra ), which forms the transition to the refrain ( tora ). These terms for formal elements also describe parts of the classic raga .
In earlier times, when there was no loudspeaker amplification, the Dhadi performances took place under a few trees by a pond on the edge of a village, a place ( akhara ) that was also used for religious celebrations ( melas ) according to the annual calendar. During performances, the audience sat around a circular area in which the musicians gradually moved alternately to one side and then to the other, where they each recited two verses. The musicians, dressed in white robes and high turbans, used to have eyes blackened with kohl , wore long beards and thus stood out impressively from the rural population. Her step sequences and poses were part of her presentation style.
Occasions for the performances of the dhadis were either religious festivals for a local saint or the performances were organized for another reason by the village community ( panchayat ) or a wealthy, art-loving private person. In order to present a narrative ( gaun ) in the traditional style and in full length, the musicians occasionally performed on several consecutive days. The entire love story of Hir and Ranjha, for example, lasts three days, with short versions only the exciting episodes were picked out. At such concerts, the general audience slipped bills to the musicians at will. However, the musicians received most of the attention from the patrons, according to whose taste they consequently selected the gauns and whom they often turned to during their performances.
Patronage, which ended with the dissolution of the princely states in the 1950s, was the main cause of the decline of the Dhadi tradition. It was not replaced by any financial support from the state. In the 1960s, with the general trend towards westernization of culture, the previous performance practice of the dhadis slowly began to disappear. Today only a predominantly older audience gathers at the traditional performance venues on the edge of the village, where a few Dhadi groups present their stories in the same way as they did 100 years ago. What remains are some temples in rural areas that provide financial support for Dhadi groups and offer them the opportunity to perform at festive events. Well-known groups are offered regular appearances in Gurdwaras.
Two of the most famous dhadis active today are Des Raj Lachkani and Sharif Idu Lalaudha. The sarangi player Des Raj, who was born near Patiala, performed at major religious festivals and cultural events ( melas ) and won several competitions with his var and kali ballads performed in the traditional style . His Hir Ranjha stories, sung in Malwa, are still popular.
Sharif Idu used to make a living temporarily by pulling a handcart through a small town near Chandigarh . He first became known to a larger audience through an appearance at the wedding of the bhangra singer Manohar Deepak. In 1986 he was signed to the state-run North Zone Cultural Center in Patiala . In the following years he performed as a singer and sarangi player on concert stages in many federal states.
In addition to the ballad form dhadi, there are other sung versions in Punjab, some of which are only associated with a single ritual or with a seasonal event, have a magical meaning and are performed by women. Other forms of verse in folk tradition such as boli, mahia and dhola do not belong to a particular occasion. The boli , which consists of single-line verses called tappa (not related to the classical music style tappa ), can be used to accompany the jhumar or giddha dance styles . Mahia is a regional term for tappa , while dhola is differentiated by other melodies.
Religious tradition
The religious Dhadi tradition is under the patronage of the Sikh administrative center in Akal Takht in Amritsar. This form of ballad singing ( parsang ) serves as a medium of dissemination to tell the tragic story of the Sikhs, associated with suffering and violence, which is understood as an act of collective self-insurance of the current generation and is intended to strengthen their political awareness. The events can take on the character of speeches of battle. A Sikh Dhadi group consists of four members. Two players / singers with dadh and one with sarangi are complemented by a speaker who recites historical stories ( itihasak prasanga ) about the Sikh gurus and their martyrdom , thus providing the background for the music. In this capacity, Dhadi performances also played a role during the nationalist uprisings of the Sikhs in the 1980s, when women first entered the stage of Dhadi music, which was previously reserved for men. In harmony with the singing of the men and the drums, the plaintive and soft tone of the sarangi embodies the female voice, especially since the stringed lute is known as an accompanying instrument of a classic female singing style, as it was cultivated in noble houses until the beginning of the 20th century. Immediately before the first attack by the Indian army on the Golden Temple , women sang heroic songs nearby and used their voices to fuel the Sikhs' readiness to fight. A decade later, Sikh singers cited the reason why they sang heroic songs to want to join this fighting tradition. Due to the political situation, the word dhadi acquired a correspondingly inflammatory overtone and thus underwent a change in meaning from its original spiritual reference.
Dhadi, like Kirtan, is a devotional form of song and is used in the hymns of Adi Granth as a term for the mystical communication with the divine. In this sense the word dhadi already appears in Guru Nanak. Kirtan (more precisely sabad-kirtan or shabad-kirtan ) is the usual form of song in which the religious verses of the Sikhs are performed accompanied by tabla and harmonium , with larger ensembles extended by the stringed instruments sarangi, Taus or tanpura . There is also the recited creed ardas . The ardas commemorates the sacrifices made by the Sikh community in history, but without, in contrast to the Dhadi style, naming the heroes who fell in the fight against injustice.
Similar to the attitude of the believers towards samāʿ in Sufism, there are strict rules and purification regulations for the correct execution of kirtan. In contrast to the Muslim devotional music samāʿ , string instruments (such as the sarinda ) have always been used in the kirtan of the Sikhs for the drums . In this musical framework of the practice of religion, which seeks a way to the liberation of humanity in meditation directed inward, the Dhadi embodies the divine bard elevated into the mystical.
There is also a social aspect related to the inclusion of the term dhadi in religious hymns. Sikhism sees every human being as equal in his relationship with God. The dhadis, which are now regarded as members of one of the lowest castes, very likely belonged to the 16th and 17th centuries. Century to a lower social class dependent on their rich clients. Presumably they were socially below the other groups of musicians during the Mughal period: the atai (high-ranking musicians at the court), gunijan (had knowledge of music theory), darbārī or huzuri . The first community that Guru Nanak had gathered around him already consisted of many low-caste groups and was egalitarian in nature. The inclusion of the Dhadis, who probably formed the oldest musical community and who mostly had Muslim names, can therefore be viewed as a criticism of the ruling class system.
A Sikh musician interviewed expressed the view that the Dhadi genre ( dhadi kala ) is a golden container, i.e. a pure musical form that can be filled with religious or secular content.
literature
- Michael Nijhawan: From Divine Bliss to Ardent Passion: Exploring Sikh Religious Aesthetics through the Ḍhāḍī Genre. In: History of Religions , Volume 42, No. 4, May 2003, pp. 359-385
- Joyce Pettigrew: Songs of the Sikh Resistance Movement . In: Asian Music , Volume 23, No. 1. Fall 1991 - Winter 1992, pp. 85-118
- Hardial Thuhi: The Folk Dhadi Genre . In: Journal of Punjab Studies , Volume 18, No. 1-2, 2011, pp. 131-168
Web links
- David Courtney: Dhad. chandrakantha.com
- Dhadi Master & Sarangi Master VIDEO2. Youtube video ( Dhadd and sarangi instrumental)
- Dhadi Daya Singh Dilbar 1994. FULL parsang. Youtube Video ( Parsang is a ballad from the history of the Sikhs)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walter Kaufmann : Old India. Music history in pictures. Volume 2. Ancient Music . Delivery 8. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1981, p. 33
- ↑ Budbudiki . The Metropolitan Museum of Art (illustration)
- ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments . National Book Trust, New Delhi 1977, p. 40
- ^ David Roche: The "Dḩāk", Devi Amba's Hourglass Drum in Tribal Southern Rajasthan, India. In: Asian Music , Volume 32, No. 1, Tribal Music of India, Fall 2000 - Winter 2001, pp. 59-99
- ↑ Joyce Middlebrook: Punjab . In: Alison Arnold (Ed.): Garland Encyclopedia of World Music . Volume 5: South Asia. The Indian Subcontinent. Routledge, New York / London 2000, p. 655, ISBN 978-0-8240-4946-1
- ^ Farina Mir: The Social Space of Language. Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab. University of California Press, Berkeley 2010, pp. 4, 7, ISBN 978-0-520-26269-0
- ↑ Hardial Thuhi, pp. 131-135, 154
- ↑ Hardial Thuhi, pp. 135-138, 140, 149
- ↑ Hardial Thuhi, pp. 147f
- ^ Regula Burckhart Qureshi: The Indian Sarangi: Sound of Affect, Site of Contest. In: Yearbook for Traditional Music, Volume 29, 1997, pp. 1–38, here p. 12
- ^ North Zone Cultural Center . Patiala
- ↑ Hardial Thuhi, pp. 155-159
- ↑ Gibb Schreffler: Western Punjabi Song Forms: Māhīā and Ḍholā . ( Memento from January 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Journal of Punjab Studies. University of California, Santa Barbara. Volume 18, No. 1–2, 2011, pp. 76, 83
- ↑ 11/11 Aorha Chand & Anand Sahib. Dhadi Major Singh Khalsa. Baba Budha Ji. Youtube video (Sikh lecture)
- ↑ Michael Nijhawan, p. 361
- ^ Joyce Pettigrew, p. 86
- ↑ Michael Nijhawan, pp. 366, 370, 372, 379, 385