Twirl and sway to folk music at Ghoomar Fest

BENGALURU: Watch the Manganiyars from Rajasthan take the stage with white dhotis and colourful turbans, and the ghoomar dancers with their heavily embroidered ghagra twirling and swaying to the traditional folk music by manganiyars. The Deen Mohammad troupe from Barmer, situated close to the border of Pakistan, will be presenting the folk performances at the Ghoomar Festival in the city.

The group consists of two dancers and seven musicians. They predominantly perform ghoomar. Ghoomar is a traditional folk dance of Rajasthan performed by women in colourful ghagras, choli and dupatta. Derived from the Hindi word ‘ghoomna’, ghoomar dancers swirl together in a graceful tempo matching the tunes of the singers. “We still perform to celebrate different occasions at the Rajput’s house such as birthdays or weddings. We sing and the Rajput ladies, about eight of them, gather and dance,” says the 26-year-old.

They also perform Bhawai and Kalbeliya. Kalbeliya dancers represent the creative adaptation of the Kalbeliya community of snake charmers to changing socioeconomic conditions. Devu Khan, one of the dancer’s, explains, “The dancers are from the community of sapera who were into the occupation of snake charming. They used to wander from village to village, performing with snakes, they catch from the forests. As the government later banned the snake catchers, the women were trained to do ‘naagin’ dance.”   

Bhawai is another folk dance form that consists of veiled women dancers balancing up to seven or nine brass pitchers on their heads. He adds, “This form developed from the balancing skills of women who used to walk distances  in the desert looking for water and carry about seven to eight pots of water on head.”
 The group has performed at various venues in India and abroad. From Germany to Russia, Austria to Jaffna, the troupe has performed at popular music events such as Oslo Music Festival and SPIC Macay concert at Norway. They performed at several festivals here in the city too. Devu says, “We have performed at international festivals here in Bengaluru. We enjoy and feel happy to play for the crowd here
as they understand the tradition and music.”

The group will be using traditional instruments for their performances. He says, “We will be using 500-year-old instruments such as Kamaycha. It’s like sarangi. When there was no harmonium, the troupe used to play with these instruments.” The tradition of playing folk music and performing runs in the family. Devu says, “This has been going on for generations, since the time of the kings. My grandfather used to perform. We grow up learning the music and dance from each other in the family.”

On asking if the songs such Nimbooda and Ghoomar have helped popularise these thousand-year-old traditions, he says, “What you see on screen in these films are not the right. They have changed the steps and the rhythm of the music and they have just added the word Ghoomar. The Nimbooda song was also created by Manganiyar group. We increased the tempo of the song to appeal to the present generation and the film makers of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam used the song and showcased it completely wrong. Had they at least got it sung by the group, it would have been better.”

classics
at fest
Kesariya Balam, a signature sufi song
Damadam Mast kalandar, Rajasthani folk
Nibuda nibuda
Bhawai dance
Traditional instruments for performances
Kamayacha (bow and string
 instruments)
Morchang (harp)
Khartal (percussion)
Alghoza (double flute)
Ghoomar Festival by Deen Mohammad Group
Where: Gate No 55, Goenka Chambers, 19th Main Road, 15th Cross, 2nd Phase, JP Nagar
When: Till April 1, 12.30 to 3.30 pm