Jat Music and Dances
The Jat influence on music, especially in Punjab has been so great that, nowadays, it is difficult to distinguish Jat folk music from Punjabi. For example, many of the Punjabi folk songs are stories of the Punjabi version of Romeo and Juliet: Mirza-Saiba, Hir-Ranjha and so on. Mirza and Saiba [3] both were Jats belonging to the muslim faith (in fact, Mirza was a Kharral Jat [3a]). That is why in Punjabi songs Mirza is always referred to as "Mirza Jat". Similarly, Hir and Ranjha both were Muslim Jats. In Punjabi songs Hir is always referred to as "Jati (female Jat) Hir". In fact, the story of the Hir-Ranja, today is not only confined to Punjab, but is also in contemporary Hindi (national language of India) Films.
Another point to note is that there are almost 2 million Punjabis and their descendants, living in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Out of this total population, a large majority are second, third, or fourth generations. Many of these young western Punjabis have formed groups, singing Punjabi folk songs with mixed Discotheque and Bhangra (folk dance of Punjab) tunes. In Punjabi, this music is simply referred to as Bhangra music. An interesting point to note is from the various songs of these groups, is that they often use the words "Jat" and "Jati", even though some of these youngsters may have never visited Punjab.
Today, the Bhangra group dance is known as the national dance of the Punjab in various parts of the world. It is a dance performed by male adults wearing the national costume of the Punjab. One part of this costume is the colourful sleeveless jackets, almost identical to the ones worn by the Central Asians and east European folk dancers, like the Ukrainians. These jackets alone indicate the Scythian origin of the Bhangra Dance. In Punjab, the Bhangra dance is generally associated with the Jats. They perform this dance after or just before harvesting their summer crops, especially at festivals such as "Vasakhi". Some liquor is usually consumed prior to performing the Bhangra dance.
As per Professor Rolle [2], a sixth century poem concerning Scythian saying,
"----with our shouts and noisy uproar, Get ourselves as drunk as Scythians, Let's get moderately tipsy, and our best songs sing with fervour" is still applicable to the modern Jats thousands of years later.
Another author, Talbot-Rice [4], quoting Hippocrates (an ancient Greek Doctor):
"---they (Scythians) would make the most of the passing hour, drinking wine, pledging brotherhood from a single vessel or loving cup, and indulging in singing and dancing to the accompaniment of drums and stringed instruments resembling lutes" also says, more or less the same thing. Bhangra dance is always performed with the beating rhythms of huge drums called "Dhols", which are sometimes accompanied with stringed instruments. It is unthinkable to hear Bhangra dance short songs not containing the word "Jat" during each Bhangra dance performance.
The sister dance of the Bhangra performed by a group of Punjabi adult females, is called "Gidha". Generally, these female dancers, also wear sleeveless colourful jackets on top of their dress. Sometimes, these dancers wear long skirts (lehnga) instead of baggy trousers. Usually, during each performance of the "Gidha" dance, the short songs called "Bolian", contain the word "Jati" (female Jat). This, obviously, indicates that this dance must have Jat roots.
The two most common traditional Punjabi folk singing groups are "Toombi (Lute)-Laggoje (two pieces of flute resembling instrument) and Dhad (hand held small drum)-Sarangi (Punjabi Violin). In most cases, the members of these groups are the Jats and they sing upbeat (martial) based songs. Many of their songs usually relate to "Hir-Ranjha", "Mirza-Saiba", and the Jat heroes such as Jagga Jat and Jat Jeona Maur.
Two examples of the "Dhad-Sarangi" super star singers (roughly around 1945-1965) who sang songs relating to Hir-Ranjha, and Mirza-Saiba were Amar Singh "Shonki" of village Bhajalan, District Hoshiarpur, Punjab and Didar Singh of the District Jullundhur, Punjab. It appears from the circumstantial evidence that both "Toombi-Laggoje" and "Dhad-Sarangi" are of Jat origin.
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2006/1/4
