Musical instruments of Tamasha

Tamasha is a live song and dance theatrical performance. Naturally, it includes a lot of music in it. Several musical instruments contribute to a single performance of Tamasha. To name a few, there are instruments like ‘dholki’, ‘tuntuni’, ‘manjeera cymbals’, ‘daf’, ‘halgi’, ‘kad', ‘lejim’, ‘harmonium’ and ‘ghunghroos’ which makes a Tamasha performance lively and distinctive.

A Dholki is an instrument that is related to various classical and folk performing arts of India and is not just specific to Tamasha. It is a percussion musical instrument, a kind of a drum. The music that comes out by playing a drum, i.e, Dholki or a Dholak is considered auspicious in India. This is evident if we see the use of ‘Dhaks’ during the festivities of Durga Puja in West Bengal, ‘Dhol’ in Navaratri celebrations of Gujrat and in wedding rituals of northern India.

Dholki, a percussion instrument used in Tamasha

A Tuntuni is a single string instrument that has a distinctive sound that brings out the vibrancy of Maharashtrian folk songs, whereas a Manjeera consists of two small cymbals which when hit together creates a clanking sound. A Daf is another percussion musical instrument that is used in a Tamasha performance. It is has a wooden frame with metal rings attached to it and the membrane is made up of goat skin. A Halgi is a smaller Daf.

A Kad is a triangle made of metal and Lejim is another instrument that causes the jinging sound that is specific to Tamasha’s music.

A Harmonium is one of the most popular keyboard instruments of the country. It has pump attached at the back of the keyboard that blows air through the vessels to create music. Harmonium is again, related to a large number of classical and folk forms of Indian traditional music.

Lastly, the Ghunghroos are the anklets that the dance performers wear during the performance. Although it’s part of the performer’s costume is crucial to the progression of the music in Tamasha. It is very important for jingling of the ghunghroos to be in sync with the beats of the dholki. 

Tamasha: How it’s done?

The emergence of Tamasha was in 18^th-19^th century. It bridged the gaps between all the traditional folk forms of the Maharashtra region and the dignified song and dance drama routines performed by skilled actors. The one who manages the Tamasha performing party is known as ‘Phadkari’. The performance begins with the ‘Gans’ which are songs specifically sung for the devotion of deity, mostly the Hindu God Ganesha.

Performers of Tamasha in middle of the play. Picture Courtesy: http://www.natarang.org/

After the songs are sung, the dancers appear in front of the audience. They don’t face the audience immediately and have their backs turned towards them. They usually have their heads covered up with a saree. With the rhythmic beats of the ‘dholkiwala’, the dancers dramatically turn and face the crowd and begin their dance routine. This takes us to the next level of the performance where there is usually a narration of the life of the Hindu God Krishna. In the mean time, the main dancer appears in front of the crowd and enthralls them with a song which is like ‘Lavani’. Lavani is also a popular traditional song and dance art form of Maharastra. It is usually performed on the beats of ‘Dholki’ a percussion instrument.

The main dancer serves as the ‘Sutradhar’ to the play. The play takes a proper shape just afterwards this act. The dance performances are mostly taken up from other traditional dance forms of India. The dancers wear ‘ghungroo’, a kind of anklet that ‘Kathak’ dancers wear while dancing also. Though the two dance forms are not really the same. Tamasha dancers have distinct dance steps and hip movements; those differ from the classical dance form of Kathak. Although the co-ordination among the dancers, the footfalls with the rhythm of the music are quite similar in both the cases.

Tamasha plays are written by skilled composers as in ‘Jatra’ in West Bengal, ‘Nautanki’ in Uttar Pradesh and ‘Bhavai’ in Gujrat and Rajasthan. But unlike a men-only cast in Jatra; Nautanki; and Bhavai, Tamasha has both male and female performers.