The Dhol Diva
Rani Taj is popularising the dhol across the world.
Eighteen-year-old Shahanara Begum Taj still remembers the pleasant summer evening in July,last year,when at a wedding she heard Rihanna’s hit single,Rudeboy,playing in the neighbourhood of her house in Stoke in the UK. Something about the music nudged her to pick the dhol. Dressed in a salwar kameez,she strapped the instrument around her neck and started beating it rigorously. That was the day Rani Taj,the dhol player,was born.
The world sat up and took notice when one of Taj’s friends shot a video of her performance and uploaded it on YouTube. Attracting over two million hits,this went viral on Facebook and soon everyone was talking about the Kashmiri-origin 16-year-old,who is arguably one of the youngest female dhol players in the world.
Friends had always appreciated her skills on the dhol,but for Taj the sudden acclaim was a surprise. “The sound of the dhol connects me to my ancestors,” says the musician,who started playing the viola at the age of six. “Then one day,my mum took me to see a Baisakhi mela,where I saw a group of drum players. They were dressed in colourful clothes and had massive dhols,which they were pounding,” recalls Taj,adding,“At that instance,I knew that this was something I had to learn. My mother was a bit apprehensive,as I was already learning one instrument. So we struck a deal. If she bought me a dhol,I promised to go to all lessons to learn both the instruments.”
Taj kept her promise and began training with Dhol Blasters and Azaad Dhol (two famous dhol groups based in the UK). What began as a casual remixing of songs,such as Pass Out by Tini Tempa and Amplifier by Imran Khan,turned her into a professional dhol player,who now performs across the world,from Hong Kong to Norway,at weddings,fairs,concerts and events that garner funds for social relief. If in 2010 she performed at a concert where the proceedings were used for relief in Pakistan after the floods,in 2011 she assisted those hit by tsunami in Japan. Recently,she returned home after her first US tour,where she played at the prestigious Club 9.30 in Washington D.C. “That was a dream come true,” says she.
Ask her how it feels to be part of a male-dominated industry and Taj responds,“For me,it was the most natural thing to play. Only after I started performing in public did it become an issue for other people that I was a girl or belonged to the Jat-Choudhary caste.”
With several assignments coming her way now,the UK-based musician wants to be selective. She also wants to initiate others to play the dhol by opening music centres across the world. An opportunity to perform in India is welcome. “I have a massive fan base in New Delhi and Punjab. These are lands I have not yet had the pleasure of seeing,but I will,without doubt,very soon,” says she. Her connection and love for India is evident — the official Rani Taj logo has a crown adorned with a feather of a peacock,the national bird of India.
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