ਢੋਲਕੀ

What does dholki mean in Punjabi? Dholki (ਢੋਲਕੀ) is the Punjabi word for a small two-headed hand drum, smaller than the big dhol and played with the hands. Rekhta records it as a feminine noun meaning simply a small drum, and in Punjab it is above all the drum of women's singing.

What does dholki mean in Punjabi?

Rekhta gives dholki as a feminine noun of Hindi origin, written ڈھولکی in Shahmukhi, with two linked senses: a small drum, and the person who plays a small drum. The name itself tells the relationship: it is the small form of the dhol family. A survey of Punjabi folk instruments says the same in performance terms, calling the dholki a smaller, feminine version of the dhol, played by women in marriages and religious gatherings, and rarely decorated with the tassels that dress up a dhol.

How is the dholki different from the dhol?

Size, hands and setting. The dhol is a large outdoor drum played with sticks and slung from the shoulder. The dholki sits on the lap, or on the floor, and both heads are struck with the hands, so one player gives a sharp note and a low note together. Wikipedia's account of the closely related dholak describes two heads of different sizes, the smaller for sharp notes and the bigger for low pitch, on a shell of sheesham or mango wood, and treats the dholki as a narrower variant that uses tabla style black paste on its treble skin and is also called the naal. In Punjab style playing, an iron thumb ring can add a distinctive rim sound.

Where do you hear the dholki?

You hear it wherever Punjabi singing gathers indoors. It keeps time for giddha and for the wedding songs women sing in the nights before a marriage, and the singing night itself is often called a dholki after the drum at its centre. The wider dholak family is used in qawwali, kirtan and bhangra, and children sing and dance to it at pre-wedding festivities. Quieter than the dhol, the dholki does not announce a celebration to the village: it holds the circle of singers together from inside it.