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| Dhol | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dhol |
| Background | percussion |
| Classification | Membranophone |
| Hornbostel Sachs | 211.26 |
| Range | Variable |
| Related | Nagada, Mridangam, Tabla, Pakhawaj, Tasha |
Dhol The dhol is a double-headed, cylindrical membranophone used in a variety of South Asian, Central Asian, and diaspora musical traditions. It appears across festivals, ceremonies, martial contexts, and popular music, linking communities associated with Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, and regions around the Caucasus. Performers, ensembles, and institutions from Bollywood to Bhangra orchestras employ the instrument alongside tabla, harmonium, and other percussion.
The instrument has antecedents in ancient South Asian and Central Asian percussion traditions documented in accounts of the Mughal Empire, Maurya Empire, and medieval chronicles of Delhi Sultanate. Mughal military and courtly sources record membranophones used in procession and warfare alongside Akbar's chroniclers, while travelers like Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo described drums in Punjab and Sindh. During the early modern period, Mughal-era iconography and illustrations in Akbarnama and regional manuscripts show cylindrical drums used in royal durbars and Sufi gatherings linked to the spread of Sufi orders like the Chishti Order. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the instrument became central to Sikh martial music documented during the era of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire, and later to colonial ethnographies by scholars in British India who contrasted rural and urban performance contexts. Nationalist movements in India and Pakistan elevated folk percussion in public processions; festivals such as Baisakhi and political rallies of the Indian National Congress and All-India Muslim League featured drumming traditions. Post-independence, migration and diasporic networks tied to cities like London, Toronto, Vancouver, and New York City spread the instrument into world music and club cultures.
Construction follows regional woodworking and hide-treating practices found near centers like Ludhiana, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Traditional bodies are carved from hardwoods used by artisans in Punjab and Rajasthan; shell forms include solid-wood cylinders, coopered staves, and metal frames seen in Caucasian drums associated with Azerbaijan and Armenia. Heads are goat, buffalo, or calf skin tensioned with leather straps or metal turnbuckles comparable to lacing systems used for Mridangam and Pakhawaj. Notable regional variants include the Punjabi barrel-shaped drum popularized in Bhangra ensembles; the Gujarati drum used in Dandiya and Garba; the Assamese "khulia" class drums in Bihu; the Bengali "setar" class drums in Durga Puja processions; the Marathi "tasha" used in Ganesh Chaturthi processions; and Central Asian counterparts in Kashmir and Kurdistan. Makers and guilds in cities like Amritsar Crafts Board and traditional families maintain techniques comparable to luthiers associated with Sitar construction and tabla makers in Kolkata.
Performance technique integrates stick, hand, and mixed strikes documented among practitioners from schools affiliated with artists like Gurdas Maan, Malkit Singh, Jazzy B, and folk exponents of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's ensembles. Players use one thicker, curved stick and one thinner baton or hand-slap patterns similar to techniques in Tabla and Conga traditions. Rhythmic vocabularies borrow talas such as those in Hindustani classical music and folk cycles used in Bhangra and Garba; common rhythmic patterns include chaal, bhangra, and more complex syncopations found in Qawwali and Sufi drumming. Ensembles pair the instrument with melodic support from Harmonium, Alghoza, Tumbi, Dilruba, and brass bands emulating traditions like the Punjab Regiment military bands. Techniques for dampening and pitch modulation use lacing adjustment and paste tuning methods analogous to those in Tabla bayan tuning practices.
In Punjab, the instrument is emblematic of harvest celebrations such as Baisakhi and wedding rituals associated with communities around Amritsar and Ludhiana; its role in Sikh martial traditions links to gurdwara musical practices alongside ragis and kirtan in the tradition of Guru Nanak and subsequent Sikh Gurus. In Gujarat and Rajasthan, the drum accompanies folk dances tied to festivals like Navaratri and marriage processions related to royal patronage from kingdoms such as Marwar and Mewar. Bengali and Assamese processions during Durga Puja and Rongali Bihu amplify regional identities around cities like Kolkata and Guwahati. In diaspora communities in London, Birmingham, Toronto, Surrey (British Columbia), and New York City, the instrument functions in cultural preservation, political protest, and popular fusion contexts, intersecting with labels like Punjabi MC and venues such as Notting Hill Carnival and Caribana.
Repertoire spans folk pieces, wedding tunes, devotional kirtan and qawwali accompaniments, military marches, film scores in Bollywood and Lollywood, and contemporary pop and electronic fusion. Traditional rhythmic forms include bhangra chaal and garba cycles; devotional repertoires accompany paaths and kirtans taught in institutions like Akal Takht and community centers in Patiala and Amritsar. The instrument features in recordings by artists associated with labels like T-Series, Saregama, and independent producers tied to scenes in Punjabi pop and UK bhangra. Marching applications persist in regimental traditions of units such as the Punjab Regiment and ceremonial bands at state events in Islamabad and New Delhi.
Fusion and electronic production have integrated the instrument into worldbeat, hip hop, EDM, and film scoring, with collaborations involving producers like Diplo, acts such as Rudimental, and artists like Jay-Z through sampling and live performance. Cross-cultural projects pair the drum with Western orchestras (e.g., Royal Albert Hall concerts), jazz ensembles with musicians linked to John Coltrane and Duke Ellington lineages, and electronic acts at festivals like Glastonbury and Coachella. Instrument makers in Sheffield, Berlin, Los Angeles, and Montreal adapt materials and hardware for amplification and durability for touring. Academic study appears in ethnomusicology programs at SOAS, University of Toronto, University of California, Berkeley, and Jawaharlal Nehru University, while museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Smithsonian Institution include historical examples in world music collections.
Category:Percussion instruments Category:South Asian musical instruments