Performance

The dance performance in traditional Bihu music. 

                            The most important musicians are the drummers (dhulia), who play a twin-faced drum with one stick and a palm. There are more than one dhulia in a performance; each plays different rhythms at different sections of the performance. These rhythmic compositions, called seus, are traditionally formal.

                               Before entering the dancing area, the drummers play a short and brisk rhythm. The seu is changed, and the drummers usually enter the dance area in line. The mohor xingor pepa is played (usually at the beginning) by a single player, who lays out an initial plaintive motif which sets the mood for the dance. The male dancers then enter the area in formation and perform.

Other instruments which accompany this dance are:

• taal, a type of cymbal
• gogona, a reed-and-bamboo instrument
• toka, a bamboo clapper and
• xutuli, a clay whistle.

                           The songs (bihu geet) accompanying the dance have been handed down for generations. Subjects of the lyrics include welcoming the Assamese new year, describing the life of a farmer, history and satire. Although males and females perform Bihu dance, the female Bihu dance has more variations (including freehand, twisting, with a rhythmic pepa, with a kahi (disk) and with jaapi—Assamese headgear). The performance may be long, but is enlivened by rapid changes in rhythm, mood, movements, pace and improvisation. Dancers and musicians are given opportunities to showcase their talents.