Kajri

Understand

Where Kajri comes from

Kajri is a women's song-and-dance tradition of eastern Uttar Pradesh (the Mirzapur, Banaras and Bundelkhand-Vindhya region), performed at the onset of the monsoon (the Saawan month) and accompanied by vigorous rhythmic clapping. The form belongs to the semiclassical Hindustani vocal lineage of Thumri and Dadra — both set to courtesan traditions of the 18th-19th century nawabi Lucknow. Kajri's distinctive character is the intense longing (viraha) for the absent lover set to the rainy-season imagery. The dance was traditionally performed by women of the Bundelkhand and Banaras villages at the sawan (monsoon) festival. Today Kajri is performed in cultural programmes of UP, by women in Thumri-classical festivals of Lucknow and Banaras, and at the rains retreats of classical Kathak dancers.

How it's practiced

Kajri is performed by groups of women dancing in a circle (or with a pair of lead dancers) to the sung Kajri song. The dance is gentle and graceful, with the women swaying and stepping in time to the song's yearning melody and the heavy claps of the palms. The accompanying music is the classical Hindustani instruments — the sarangi, the tabla, the dholak and sometimes the flute. The dance is performed at the onset of the monsoon at the village festivals, where women sing and dance for the arrival of the rains. Costume is the traditional Bundelkhand and Mirzapur-region dress — the colourful sari with the worn silver jewellery of the village women, with jasmine in the hair. Performances are intimate and rhythmic, with the dance building through the songs over the evening.