BHAGAT

Bhagat is an original and pure art form of Sindhi music and dance. This is one art form which can be truly called as Sindhi folk and meant for the masses. The mere announcement of a bhagat performance brought people from near and far off place. This song-n-dance extravaganza called for expertise in both forms namely singing and dancing. One without the other was no good. Mikes and sophisticated sound systems being not-existent in those days, it is rumoured that the bhagats of yesteryears could give many a Michael Jackson of Elton John a run for their money for not only was their singing soulful but it was loud and clear enough for a person sitting a quarter of a kilometre away from the singer.

The performances were usually held in the nights and lasted till the wee hours of the morning. Requiring a minimum of two or more performers from a band of six, this folk form was highly interactive and weaved in out from pure folk and devotional songs to narratives to stories thus giving wholesome entertainment rather infotainment to the crowds. Two-three of them are usually good singers with one being the lead singer and the other two known as peechhads or boliaraas (back-up singers). The lead singer or bhagat wore a chher, jamo, pagdi and kundal with a bright tilak on the forehead and sung in a style little bit similar to those of qawals. The crowd used to sit on two sides much akin to a fashion show with a ramp running into the audience. The bhagats used to sing and move back and forth in the crowd in the centre aisle. The back up singers usually stood in the back and faced the bhagat who would start of on a line with the back up singers interjecting with a simile or the latter half of a couplet.