Bidesia

Understand

Where Bidesia comes from

Bidesia is the principal folk-dance-theatre tradition of the Bhojpuri-speaking belt of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, with its content drawn from the long-standing Bhojpuri song-and-poetry tradition. The 'Bidesia' (literally 'one who is in another country') is the central male character — typically a young man who has left home to earn a living, who returns to find his beloved waiting. The form is one of the most prolific of the Bhojpuri folk-theatre, with related forms including Bidesi Gammat (dance-form), Bidesi Geet (the song tradition) and Bidesi Nacha (the dance-drama of the eastern UP). The form was popularised in the 20th century by Wandhe Mallah and other Bhojpuri performers, and is currently practised across the Tirhut and Bhojpur regions of Bihar and in Eastern UP, with festivals and cultural fairs often centring on this form.

How it's practiced

Bidesia is performed as a sung narrative with dance interludes — the dancer-actor enacts the role of the Bidesia migrant, who sings of distant cities, of long journeys, of the longing to return home and of reunion with the beloved. The dance is graceful and romantic, often performed as a single-male (the Bidesia) and a single-female (his lover) or in a small group. Music is the Bhojpuri folk-band accompaniment — the dholak, the mandal, the dhol and the shehnai (with the small cymbals) — with the lead performer singing Bhojpuri couplets. Costume is the colourful rural dress of the region, with the men in dhoti-kurta and the women in the brightly coloured Bhojpuri sari with the heavy jewellery of the village tradition. Performances are held at weddings, at village gatherings and at cultural festivals.