Deen Mohammad troupe: Folk, from the heart

After watching Padmaavat’s highly-popular version of the ‘Ghoomar’ song, one can’t help but wonder if a traditional ghoomar performance is just as choreographed.

The song has become so ubiquitous to the folk form, for a while at least, that it is hard not to draw comparisons.

According to Manganiyar musician Deen Mohammad, of the Deen Mohammad Troupe, therein lies the problem.

“Bollywood filmmakers often use tracks that our people composed, without our permission. They then use their electronic instruments and change the pace of the song. We do not want our culture to be misused,” he says.

“Take the song ‘Nimbuda Nimbuda’ from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s famous films Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, that song was composed by one of our ancestors, Manganiyar Bade Gazi Khan. They made the song faster. If all our music ends up in films, who will listen to us?” he asks, adding that his colleague Jalal Khan entered a Bollywood reality show for the same purpose, to draw the attention back to the source.

The Deen Mohammad troupe was in the city at the Kesariya restaurant (Suvarna Mahal) to perform folk classics such as ‘Kesariya Balam’ and ‘Nimbuda Nimbuda’ accompanied by ghoomar dancers.

The troupe, comprising 11 members, includes four women dancers who also performed Bhawai movements comprising balancing acts in their shimmering, colourful ghaghras.

The Deen Mohammad troupe has toured around the world including Germany, Russia, Austria, Sri Lanka and Norway, often in association with SPIC Macay. The musicians are typically accompanied by their traditional instruments, including the kamayacha (bow and string instruments), morchang (harp), khartal (percussion), and alghoza (double flute).

“Our community has been performing for generations. We are Manganiyars, one of the two main musical communities based out of Barmer and Jaisalmer. The other community is the Langa community, who are typically patronised by Muslim royal families. While the Manganaiyars are traditionally patronised by Hindu royal families. Rajput families usually invite the Manganiyars at all family events whether it is happy or sad,” says Deen who plays the Kamayacha, a 17-stringed bowed instrument made of mango wood and goatskin with strings made of steel and goat innards.

“Ours is an oral tradition that has spanned generations. Our children don’t usually go to formal educational institutions.”

He now runs STARC (Society for Traditional Art and Rural Culture) in Barmer to keep the tradition alive by educating future generations. “We submitted a proposal for ₹10 lakhs towards the government, for the institute, but they gave us only ₹ 50,000,” he explains.

“There is so much to our folk tradition, we recite the names of the ancestors of the family we are performing for, there is the study of musical instruments and there is also poetry.”