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Dhalo
This song-cum-dance
is also an all women affair like the 'foogddi'. The
language of the song is Konkani with a slight admixture of Marathi. Dhalo are
played (khellttat) rather than danced (nachtat). They are played out on the
moonlit winter nights in the courtyard of the house. They are slower in tempo,
songs prevailing predominantly over the movements. The front yard of the house,
where normally the newly harvested corn (paddy) is processed, is dug and paved
carefully and later plastered with cow dung almost to a cement like finish.
After the rice grains are winnowed, dried and stored, this paved place serves as
a venue for all the socio-cultural activities of the village. There is a
specific spot close to the door step called a Mandd or station. Here every
activity is initiated with a puja and a lamp lit. This spot is considered sacred
and represents the spirit of the occasion. The courtyard is later covered with a
canopy of woven coconut-tree leaves, supported by a framework of betel-nut-tree
poles. This covering over the Mandd is called Mattov in konkani.
Participants start gathering in the courtyard by 9 PM on the moonlit night of
the Pausha month, according to the Hindu calendar. As many as 24 women take part
in each session of this dance-cum-song affair. They split up into two parallel
rows of 12 each, facing each other and form a close-knit unit by linking
themselves with arm-around the back arrangement, singing in unison. They sway,
bend, move forward and backwards, singing songs of religious and social
importance,
unhappy and sad things of old, which are locally composed from memory and
revised extempore with addition or change of words and lines here and there to
suit the occasion.
The liveliest fun of a Dhalo session, occurs on the concluding
day. The week which can be called women's lib week concludes with a
sense of freedom. Therein women put on, all sorts of dresses of a fancy
variety including those of various male roles, those of animals and birds
and act out their respective parts and fantasies meticulously and with
great dramatic gusto.
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Ovi Songs
The
Ovi songs relating to ceremonies of a profane nature like weddings
etc
are very much current in Goa among the Hindus, while they have almost
disappeared among the Christians with few exceptions. They are sung by women
while applying the coconut-pulp milk to the bride and groom, while preparing
condiments for dinners etc. The most popular are those that concern with the spirit
of fertility in the biblical terms of increase and multiply.
When the missionaries first began their work of spreading
of Christianity in Goa, they made use of the existing Konkani metres, the main one used by them
being the Ovi. People would gather around a fire or a cross and
reverently sing Ovis composed by the missionaries in Konkani using biblical
themes and other religious symbols.
Dantear Ovio meaning those ovis which are sung while
grinding wheat and rice for various food preparations on the hand-mill
(dantem in konkani) at wedding time, are sung in Goa. As the women grind,
they crush their worries and sorrows in a symbolical gesture. The best
of these ovis are found in the villages of Savoi-Verem, Boma and Zambaulin.
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