The Players
Dhakis perform mostly in pandals of barowari pujas, starting from Viswakarma Puja till Kali Puja, but are most prominent during Durga Puja. For the latter festival Kolkata has over 2,000 pandals, with numerous more in the districts. Even a small pandal without the beat of dhaks is unimaginable. Every makeshift tent has a dhak.
The Statesman writes “Durga Puja does not assume the festive aura without the maddening beats of the dhak, the large drum that men hang around their necks and play with two thin sticks to infuse the frenzied rhythm into listeners. Those enchanting beats are enough to conjure up the sights and smells of Durga Puja.”
The nuances of playing the instrument are handed down from generation to generation, but the old rhythms are undergoing changes. The rhythm is no longer as slow as in earlier generations. Nowadays, dhakis opt for faster tunes. Before, different beats were used for specific aspects of Durga Puja, as for example chokhhu daan (eye presentation), patha bali (goat sacrifice), bisarjan (immersion ceremony), sandhya arati (evening offerings), sandhipuja (worshiping at the conjunction of two phases), and so on.
Dhakis who cannot learn within the family typically take training under a guru in order to become a good dhaki, as is the case for most musical instruments. Some take six months to become mature players, while others do not even learn after three or four years. Many young dhakis nowadays are moving towards modern rhythms. Bikram Ghosh, a renowned tabla player and a patron of dhakis in Bengal, opines, “some dhakis do go the commercial way out of necessity. But most know the basic rhythms that have been taught to them by their ancestors.”
The occasions when the dhak was played are changing. Apart from pujas or religious festivities, dhakis are also called to play in markets before Durga Puja when people crowd in large numbers. Sometimes, they are called for store inaugurations.
Read more about this topic: Dhaki
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