Merely the sound of a Dhol is enough to set the feet tapping. Dhol has now travelled from Punjab to the whole world. In India, any celebration is incomplete without Dhol.
Almost all the Dhol players are males making it a totally a men’s affair in India. It may be attributed to the bulky size and weight of the instrument, and it has to be hung from shoulders beside the high level of energy involved in playing the Dhol.
But a 20-year-old girl is breaking the barriers and is perhaps the country’s first female Dhol player. It may look surprising with a young girl having a heavy Dhol across her shoulders and playing it while people enjoy and dance to the beats.
Source: Supplied by Danyal Syed
Jahan Geet Singh, from Chandigarh, is the female Dhol player, and now people refer her as Dhol Girl. Geet developed a fascination for Dhol and at the young age of 12. She started practising the art and picked up the skill soon. Now she is a well-known performer with over 300 shows in India and abroad.
“I asked my parents about Dhol. Then I searched for a teacher and realised that there are only males who play Dhol. But this did not dishearten me, and I learnt to play the instrument. The sheer size and high level of energy of Dhol attract me,” Geet told SBS.
Source: Supplied by Danyal Syed
It took nearly eight years to get her efforts recognised as now she is a celebrity. People enjoy her performance while her adept fingers play the Dhol.
“Now girls are excelling in every field from wrestling to space. It never occurred to me that it is a stigma. My Ustaad used to tell me,’ play it like a boy’. Now I enjoy playing Dhol and performing with the instrument,” she added.
