The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : It’s dholak time in Adilabad

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Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

It’s dholak time in Adilabad

S. Harpal Singh

UP artisan family sells the instrument during festival months

Price ranges between Rs. 100 and Rs. 2,500 each depending on the size
Both Hindus and Muslims are fond of buying these dholaks

-Photo: G. SANJEEV REDDY

Customer-friendly: The Dhapalchis with their percussion instruments on the roadside in Adilabad town.

ADILABAD: That traditional and folk music is still in vogue in the present day social set up despite the onslaught of ‘hip’ culture is evident from the continuing popularity enjoyed by the Sheikh Dhapalchi artisans who specialise in making dholaks (indigenous drums). The Dhapalchi family from Haldwani in Nainital district of Uttaranchal has done good business selling these instruments at shandies in Adilabad for the last decade or so.

Muzammil Ali Dhapalchi and five others of his family have been frequenting the shandies encouraged by its trade prospects.

The three-month period from August to October, wherein many a festival occurs is their marketing season, when close to 15 dholaks are sold on an average, in each shandy.

Price range

“This is good business considering we manage to earn something more than a livelihood in the face of diminishing popularity of traditional and folk music. The cost of our dholaks range between Rs. 100 for the smallest size to Rs. 2,500 for a bigger and regular type of drum,” reveals Muzammil Ali.

“It is not just the Hindus who are our customers, but even the Muslims purchase our instruments here in Adilabad. The ‘naal wala’ or the turnbuckle type tuning percussion that has a handle on it is used by Muslims while singing qawwalis while the regular ones with rope lacing are mostly used by Hindus during different occasions,” he adds.

Assembling dholak

The Dhapalchi family purchases different parts of the dholak and assembles them as per requirement at the place where they camp.

While the drum barrels are purchased from Auraiyya, the percussion membrane or skin is got from Amroha, both in Uttar Pradesh. Incidentally, Amroha is famous manufacturing centre for traditional musical instruments like tabla, harmonium, mridang, pakhawaj, etc.

The ‘masala’, a mixture of tar, clay and sand is made by the artisans themselves.

This ‘masala’ is applied on the membrane of the instrument in the inner surface to keep it well- toned.

This is supposed to keep the resonance intact even if it is used for long durations.

Usage

The dholak has been used for singing bhajans and keertans, qawwalis, geets and even film music in the folk form.

In Adilabad, mainly the large pious Marathi-speaking population uses the dholak.

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