‘Dhadhi jatha’ on a song

Bharat Khanna

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 22

Singing the ballads about Sikh gurus and heroes of the Sikh community, a ‘dhadi jatha’ comprising baptized women along with a male sarangi player, is making waves in this region.

The group performs in gurdwaras, religious programmes and even at political functions.

Surinder Kaur Kulehri from Mansa has struggled against all odds to emerge centre stage in this backward district.

Playing the sarangi and an hourglass percussion instrument (dhadd) to sing ballads became a passion for Surinder but she was first discouraged by her parents and then her in-laws from doing so. While she has performed at many places the big moment came on the eve of Baisakhi at Takht Damdama Sahib this year.

“Since 2002, our jatha had performed at various places in Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur and Faridkot. Ours is the only jatha where a woman sings the ‘vaars.’ There a numerous jathas comprising women in Doaba, but none in the cotton belt,” she said.

However, the tradition in this area could be traced to ‘Nabhaewali beebian’ who were famous women balladeers. Dhadhis like Darshan Singh Daler, Ranjit Singh Mander, and Balvir Singh Ball are our idols,” she added.

“Now my son Mandeep Singh plays the sarangi while his wife Paramjit Kaur sings vaars. My nephew Balkaran Singh also plays the sarangi and is a part of our team. My husband and sons are farmers too. In the past couple of years we have performed in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and even Kolkata,” she added.