Quote from: Jabar Jung on January 10, 2012, 06:38:05 AM

Two of my cousins did Bhangra, one was on GGN Khalsa college Ludhiana and also represented his zone under the club name Rangla Punjab from Ludhiana and one was on Khalsa college Chandigarh who also represented his zone under the name Loke Punjabi Kala Manch, (they also represented India's folk dances on India's 50th independence day celebration in 7 African countries and Canada, with Bhangra, Jhoomer, Jindua, etc), but thats besides the point. Today's Youth Festivals in India, there is competition amongst the Bhangra teams. When I used to go to my cousins' shows, they did more exhibition acts than compete. Their performance lasted anywhere from 12-15 minutes. They started with Bhangra and ended with girl partners doing Jindua, Dhola, Vannjara, etc. I didn't do any research on the topic so i can't cite any sources, however I am sharing what I learned growing up.
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Dhola is very similar where partners come up and the girl singing Dhola ve dhola haye dhola...doing Gidha type expressions..

Ah, yes. These are stage routines they made up. Bhag Singh made up Vanjara, and maybe the others, too ca1980s-90s-- or at least people in his circle did. Chandigarh thing mostly. I think it's so you can have guys and girls both dancing...they call it "mixed dance." They've just taken the songs and put actions to them, with a little pantomime-like thing that happens, corresponding to the lyrics. Garib Dass (was Bhag Singh's dholi) used to prepare these things a lot -- got a lot of mileage out of them when you'd go to a co-ed school and you needed to get all the students participating in some "culture show." But they're not legit dances. There's no "dhola dance," rather "Dhola ve Dhola" is a dance composition that Bhag Singh or the Lok Manch people composed. They were a troupe of theatre artists. Bhag Singh also made a "ballet" of Hir-Ranja. I suppose they were getting bored of bhangra all the time, and, like I said, wanted to include girls...also something they could train kids to do that isn't as intense as bhangra.

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The reason I said Dhola by Pappi Gill does not sound like Punjabi music is because the drum pattern. I haven't heard a Punjabi song with that type of pattern, yes instruments may sound similar, but not the composition.

I see, thanks. It's a rhythm style more popular in West Punjab...which is also where the "dhola" song form comes from, hence why they may have used it. The song style and beat go together...western Punjabi, "Multani" sort of thing. Dance-wise, compare it to sammi or luddi.

O ok, good to learn!

Here is my cousin's video doing the Vannjara and Mirza Sahiba skit...

The one in Pink Vardi
Vannjara:

RANGLI SHAAM 2011 WANJARA.mp4

Mirza Sahiba:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7O_hh-cqtU

Jabar, do you have any idea who the person was "in charge" of directing that? Des Raj (Garib Dass's son) has been in Canada for over the past year+, and I wonder if maybe he was involved, since it is a specific "school" of people that tend to make those. Yes, these two are Bhag Singh compositions. Like I said (sorry to repeat, I'm just thinking about it more myself!), they must have gotten bored with bhangra all the time. Keep in mind that bhangra in India is like one routine that just keeps getting honed by individual artists, and developed (though by late 80s most development had happened), but it's not like you try to make all these exciting changes in routine from performance to performance. You just drill the routine, usually the same one every time, and then bang it out whenever someone says they need bhangra to end their event. I imagine these artists would have been frustrated by not being able to do something with a little more "breathing room," poetry, and sensitivity. The dholis of Chandigarh are mostly Bazigars, and they have a drama background. Their cultural "vibe" is to be a bit more "sensitive" (not sure if that means anything, but contrast it with stereotypical "Jatt" vibe). This may be reading slightly too far into it, but they also have more of a gender balance and comfortable with the female side of things in the mix. The men's dance from their homeland is jhummar, more graceful with "feminine" motions, singing love songs (i.e not "putt Jattan de" songs). I almost feel like bhangra (as it had evolved on stage) was kind of a college football team thing with garlands instead of Gatorade...if not verging on Bro territory...and some personalities in Punjabi society (to state the obvious?) just aren't into it. It's kind of too bad it has dominated so much of the "market share"...which is one reason why jhummar, sammi, men's giddha were revived, but that's another story.


Garib Dass seemed keen on this "Vanjara" thing, and I understood it to be because the vanjara/"Gypsy" figure was attractive to him -- his people being somewhat related to Banjaras and that lifestyle. One time he prepared a performance of it with like 100-200 performers on a huge field (square). They performed it simultaneously in all 4 directions!


We did "Dhola ve Dhola" w/ Garib Dass in California in 2003. He worked the sequence in as part of a mixed dance. It's just done to a kahirva dhol rhythm, little steps, and pantomimes of the lyrics as pairs of male-female interact. Nothing to write home about, kind of a filler for dancers who are not very fit!