Kavishri
Unaccompanied verse sung at speed by two or three voices, the Malwa cousin of the dhadi ballad.
Kavishri is a style of singing that grew up in the Malwa region south of the Sutlej. A group of two or three singers, the kavishars, sing long poems without any instruments, in fast, intricate metres, taking turns and joining in chorus. The skill lies in the breath, the clarity of the words and the speed of the delivery.
Its subjects are the same as the dhadis': the Gurus, the martyrs, the Sikh heroes of the eighteenth century, and also the old qisse. Babu Rajab Ali, a Muslim poet of Sahoke village in Moga who moved to Pakistan at Partition, is remembered as the greatest kavishri composer, and his verses are still sung in the villages he left.
Kavishri groups perform at gurdwaras, at Hola Mohalla and at village fairs, and the form has survived into the age of the loudspeaker because nothing else sounds quite like it.
More music forms
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