Krishna Celebrating Spring Festival of Holi, c1770-1780. Painting from Kangra, Punjab Hills, at Victoria and Albert Museum. Artist Unknown.
| Photo Credit: CM Dixon/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Holi is the festival of abandon, of barriers broken, of celebration without restraint. Probably why, of all the Indian festivals, Holi is inextricably linked with song and dance.
Horis or Holi, a distinct genre, grew in popularity about 250 to 300 years ago from the earlier Dhrupad tradition, called Dhamars, which were sung in a 14-beat cycle. In fact, the dhamar taal is more known than the vocal genre.
These dhamars were traditionally sung around the time of Holi. With the growing popularity of khayal in the last 300 years, dhamars morphed into songs sung in a lighter style, in the same season. Making a distinction due to the lyrics, some songs were called ‘chaitis’, as they were sung in the month of Chaitra, and some were called ‘horis’ as the lyrics pertained only to Holi.
A recent baithak devoted to songs of Holi organised by well-known musicians Shubhendra Rao and Saskia de Haas, showcased Horis, in the folk tradition of Rajasthan, and from Benaras. Horis are associated with Uttar Pradesh with the maximum number of songs emerging from the region. The tradition of celebrating Holi through dance and martial arts also exists in Punjab, in the tradition called Holla Mahalla, celebrated in Anandpur Sahib, over a period of three days.
In Himachal Pradesh, the Kangra area is replete with beautiful songs relating to colour, play, and separation from loved ones. Anita Pandey, a music lover from Kangra, shared a popular song of Kangra, preserved in the collection of scholar-musician Janmejay Guleria ‘Phagun maheene, holi je aayi, mein kiss sang khelungi holi’.
“The Holi songs of the Kangra region are slower in tempo, with simpler note structures and an innate grace.
Benaras is, of course, the main repository of Horis, and a source of inspiration for many Holi film songs. “Who can forget the film version of Shobha Gurtu’s immortal ‘Rang sari gulabi’? .
Sunanda Sharma, originally from Kangra, but today the face of the Benaras gharana, known for her thumris, sang a rare khayal ‘Karo na mose mann maani’ in raag Puriya Kalyan. The lyrics spoke of the sentiment of abandonment associated with the festival. Another iconic composition was ‘Rang na daaro shamji’ in raag Sohni, made popular by Pt. Kumar Gandharva. Such compositions are rare since mMost performers prefer to sing songs of Holi in the thumri style, with lighter embellishments, where the focus is on the emotional content rather than rigid adherence to the raag and structure of the composition.
As Sunanda shared, horis are of different types; flirty and suggestive, where the play is just by the eyes, not actual playing of Holi. Some are plaintive and pleading, some complaining… Sunanda sang a beautiful song in raag Des ‘Rasiya tore kaaran brij mein bhayi badnaam’.
There are Horis of despair at being parted from the loved one; the latter is sung in raags that trigger pathos. Sunanda’s ‘viraha’ hori was in raag Sohini, ‘Holi mein khelungi unso, kaho ko sham sundar so.’
Though Krishna is the usual subject of horis, some are sung for Shiva too — one popular rendition by Pt. Channulal Mishra talks about Holi being played in the cremation ground by Shiva and his followers, covered in ashes; ‘Khelen masanne mein holi digambar’.
The Manganiyars of Rajasthan sang two beautiful songs of Holi, showing how the same theme of sharing love through colours can be depicted differently across folk traditions. The Benaras horis are sung by women while in Rajasthani by men and children.
The baithak reiterated how art deepens the hues of Holi.
Published – March 13, 2025 07:58 pm IST
