Tangail drum makers busy as Durga Puja draws closer

Drum, known as dhol, makers of Babnapara in Nagarpur upazila have been passing busy time as the Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of Hindu community, only a week away.

Dhol is one of the main musical instruments of the Durga Puja festival as the evenings during the puja buzz with the sounds of dhol all around the puja mandops.

The drum making work is going on without any break and the drum makers, locally known as Badyakor, are not even getting much time for their meal or sleep.

Traditional musical instruments of Bengal, like dhol, table, khol, made by local Badyakors are sold at different musical outlets in the capital and many other areas across the country.

Some 20 to 25 Badyakor families from the Hindu community at Babnapara village are engaged in making musical instruments like dhol, table, khol to keep their 150-year ancestral profession alive.

However, due to the outbreak of coronavirus and lockdown dhol makers of Babnapara had no works for nearly one and a half years as all the cultural activities, wedding ceremonies and other festivals across the country were restricted.

On the other hand, local dhulis, drum players, are passing their days in hardship as they do not get call for any such programmes and they don't know any other alternative works.

After the lockdown is withdrawn, the work of drum making started again at Babnapara and recently the work orders have increased due to the upcoming puja festival.

Atol Chandra Das, 40, a dhol maker from Babnapara, said his father and grandfather was engaged with this profession and after their deaths, he joined this profession.

"Because of the corona virus situation, we didn't had any work for the last one and a half years. So local instrument makers had to pass their days amid hunger or borrowing money from others," he said.

"Currently 12 artisans are working in my factory to meet the orders I got ahead if the puja festival," Atol added.  

Artisans said different materials like mango and raintree woods, bamboo, dye and hide of cattle, buffalo, goat and sheep are used as ingredients to make dhol, khol and tabla. 

Depending on sizes, a dhol is sold at Tk 6,000 to Tk 10,000, a khol for Tk 2,500 to Tk 3,000 and a pair of tabla for Tk 4,000 to Tk 5,000, they said, adding that musical instruments traders from different parts of the country, including the capital, came to the area and bought those.

Moreover, when they receive any order, such instruments are sent to different districts through courier service.