Dhan dhan dhan dhan!
August 27, 2010 10:44 PM   Subscribe

The dhol has traditionally been played by men at Punjabi weddings and sufi shrines. Rani Taj, the first professional British-Kashmiri female dholi, trained by the Dhol Blasters and Azaad dhol, plays the dhol at public events.
posted by bardophile (15 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Hello dholi!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:00 PM on August 27, 2010


The "Amazing Trick In Lahore Wedding" was something you don't see every day.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:02 PM on August 27, 2010


flapjax at midnight: actually not all that uncommon if you've gone to enough weddings in Lahore. :)
posted by bardophile at 11:05 PM on August 27, 2010


Bend It Like Bonham.
posted by nickyskye at 11:05 PM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]


She should be moving these rythms, most of the women I know are better dancers than the men, but it is fun to open all of these links at the same time and mix the beats.
posted by coolxcool=rad at 11:10 PM on August 27, 2010


Oh wow, Pappu Sain video is amazing!
posted by stbalbach at 11:48 PM on August 27, 2010


Hal_c_on: Are you sure you're not confusing the dhol and the dholak? The dholak is usually played by someone seated on the ground. At most South Asian weddings I've attended, the person playing the dholak would be a woman/girl. Usually surrounded by a group of women who are singing and clapping along. The dhol is usually played as in the videos shown, slung around someone's neck, with the drummer holding two beaters.
posted by bardophile at 2:20 AM on August 28, 2010


Once this thread winds down and we're near the end of comments, it'll be in the dholdrums.

OK, I know, that was really stupid. I'll try and redeem myself with this picture of a dholak, the drum mentioned in bardophile's comment above.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:37 AM on August 28, 2010


That rude boy clip was on Sepia Mutiny a while back. So good.
posted by chunking express at 4:17 AM on August 28, 2010


Hal_c_on: huh. go figure. I shall have to do some research also, because I had never even *heard* of a woman playing the dhol professionally until today. Perhaps it has to do with what part of the subcontinent one is talking about? I take it you've seen women playing this style of dhol before? Very cool.
posted by bardophile at 4:45 AM on August 28, 2010




bardophile- depends on what you mean by "professionally." There was a this huge Punjabi ensemble I saw at the closing gala at the, if memory serves, 2005 Calgary International Film Festival (closing gala was Deepa Metha's Water), and there were definitely, absolutely women in that group, playing dholi. Canada has massive Punjabi communities and if you poke around the cities where most live (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and the Toronto area) I'm sure you'll find plenty of examples.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:59 AM on August 28, 2010


Oh, here it is on Sepia Mutiny, including a train wreck of a discussion.

It wouldn't be Sepia Mutiny if the discussions weren't train wrecks.

(still smarting by having my IP banned forever from a comment I made three years ago in a discussion also started by their blogger Anna, who I reflexively can't stand, partly because she writes 2.5 to 3.5x more in every blog post than she needs to . . . and thankfully, IP addresses change)
posted by CommonSense at 11:05 AM on August 28, 2010


Canada has massive Punjabi communities and if you poke around the cities where most live

I was thinking this might be the key. My experience with the dhol and dhol players is pretty exclusively from within Punjab itself. It makes sense, when I think about it, that expat and/or immigrant communities and their ensembles would be where one would more likely see women in non-traditional roles.
posted by bardophile at 11:16 AM on August 28, 2010


its not very manly anymore to be all musical while in the West

I think there may also an element of classism involved. Professional musicians are really not very high on the socioeconomic totem pole in Pakistan (not so sure how true this is in India, but I suspect that it is true of the social totem pole, if not the economic one). Immigrating often (usually?) involves an improvement in socioeconomic status. I wonder what role that plays in the need/desire to leave musicality behind.
posted by bardophile at 9:43 PM on August 28, 2010


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