Dear Editor,
Since this is “Holi Week”, the following discussion might interest the Guyanese readership of your newspaper.
There is a growing misperception that the singing and performance of Chautal during Holi is extinct, or near extinction. One commentator to my social media websites, saddened by this perception, said, “No more chowtal singing since Rang Barse (popular Bollywood Holi song) took over!!”
I will attempt here to correct this misperception.
No, Rang Barse have not replaced Chautal. I would like to quote Mr Ravi Dev’s March 5, 2023 article in the Guyana newspapers: “The centerpiece of the pre-Phagwa programme was the performance of a Chautal group…Chautal is a folk musical genre associated with Phagwa. It originated from the Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Western Bihar part of North India called the “Bhojpuri” belt, from where most of the indentured servants originated. However, Chautal has almost disappeared in India, but, very intriguingly, has survived and indeed flourished in Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname and Fiji, and their diasporas in North America and Netherlands. But both in the instrumentation – from the single dholak (barrel drum) and Jhaals (cymbals) and Dhantal (steel rod and U-shaped clapper) – Fijians and Surinamese now use several dholaks and sometimes the large booming Tadja drum, while Guyanese are introducing Tassa Drums.”
Chautal is also very much alive and well in the Hindu mandirs in NYC. I have visited many mandirs in NY, where, weeks before Holi, the Kirgan groups will begin practising their Chautal, eventually culminating with performances during the burning of Holika and during the dedicated Havan & Puja ceremonies. The level of Chautal expertise ranges from the amateurish (which we still love!) to professionals performing with GREAT gusto!
Also, beyond the mandir, at Phagwah Motorcades, Chautal singing usually takes centre stage.
Secondly, Filmi ollywood Holi songs have always been – since the 1940s and 50s – an integral part of the observation of Holi/Phagwa in the diaspora (including in Guyana); and even in India, even before the famous song from Mother India, “Holi Aayi Re Kanhai” by Shamshad Begum took pride of place in Phagwa singing decades ago.
Rang Barse is just the latest song that has dominated Holi song performances. As aforementioned, of course Chautal singing preceded all of this from almost the inception of Indian indentureship (1838). So, Bollywood Holi songs were never in competition with Chautal performances, but were in conjunction with Holi observances.
These two completely different genres together made for sparkling musical extravaganza at our mandirs; it’s not one or the other, but a mixture and almost fusion of two SUPER, musically distinct genres.
With the explosion of the
Internet and social media and computerised musical technology, the solo song genre has been given extraordinary visibility, giving the illusion that solo singing dominates and predominates. By definition, Chautal needs two groups of singers; in other words, more than one artist or participant. So, in social media, with the logistics burden that Chautal brings, the solo artist would tend to dominate there.
Sincerely,
Dev Persaud
