ਬੁਘਚੂ

What does bugchu mean in Punjabi? A bugchu (ਬੁਘਚੂ), also spelled bughchu, bugdu or bughdu, is a traditional folk instrument native to Punjab, made of wood or a dried gourd in an hourglass shape like a damru. Plucking its single string makes a rasping, rhythmic sound that sounds like its own name, bugchoo.

What does bugchu mean in Punjabi?

Bugchu is the name of one of Punjab's simplest folk instruments, and also of the sound it makes. It is used in folk music and in folk dances such as bhangra and Malwai Giddha, where it adds rhythm rather than melody. Accounts list it among the folk instruments of Punjab alongside the dhol, chimta, algoza and tumbi, the small instruments a village troupe carries from one performance to the next. Because it is light and made from materials close at hand, it belongs to the courtyard and the fairground more than to the concert stage.

How is the bugchu made and played?

The SikhiWiki account describes the bugdhu as a stringed instrument made of dried gourd, called ghia: a piece of skin is mounted on one side of the hollowed gourd while the other side is kept open, and a gut string, the tand, is crossed through the centre of the skin, with a small piece of wood tied to the end of the string that passes through the body of the gourd. The player holds the instrument in the crook of the arm and holds the string in the palm of that same hand, then plucks the taut string with the fingers of the other hand or with a striker. Stretching or loosening the string while playing keeps a drum-like rhythm, and the pitch follows the tension: tighter raises it, looser lowers it.

Where do you hear the bugchu?

You hear the bugchu where Punjabi folk dance is being performed, above all in bhangra and in Malwai Giddha, the Malwa men's folk dance performed with folk instruments and sung boliyan. In that company its job is to thicken the beat: the dhol carries the dance, and the bugchu's rasping pulse sits inside the rhythm, sharp enough to be heard across an open ground. It is a good example of how Punjabi folk music builds big sound from small, home-made instruments.