Bandisa Thumri

The word Bandisa Thumri denotes a poetic melodic rhythmic composition. Bandisa thumri suggests two important features, firstly it is a closely composed piece of music, and secondly, that the pre-composed element dominates its rendition. It developed independently of the choreographic context. It has acquired a substantial improvisatory component, which makes it indistinguishable from a chota khayala. When gramophone records arrived in India during the early twentieth century the bola-banao thumri had outshone the Bandisa thumri and had also begun to influence its performance. Even the earliest 78-RPM recordings of the genre, therefore, bear no resemblance to the original. The description here relies substantially on secondary sources.

In spite of being dominated by the pre-composed element, Bandisa Thumans do not constantly display a high level of originality in their melodic-rhythmic structure. However their poetry has a superior literary value than on bola-banao thumans. One famous Lucknow composer, Lallan Piya, is known to have set at least fourteen different lyrics to the same melody in raaga Kafi.

Composition of Bandisa Thumari
The Bandisa Thumari is generally composed in madhya-laya tinatala. However, compositions in rupaka, jhapatala and ekatala have also been in practice. The composition is generally in two parts, sthayi and antara. The sthayi, usually of two poetic-melodic lines, is occasionally of three lines. In the shorter talas, such as rupaka and jhapatala, the sthayi can be longer. The antara is generally at least as long as the sthayi, in most cases two or three poetic-melodic lines. There are also Bandisa Thumaris with several antaras, all performed to identical melodic contours.

In the austere format of rendition, the vocalist merely renders each part of the composition several times in sequence and repeatedly, without any improvisations whatsoever, but occasionally at a progressively higher tempo in each successive iteration. In such a rendition, each line may undergo some melodic variations without damaging the integrity of the poetic form, and without straying too far from the melodic contours of the pre-composed form.

The vocalist follows up the performance of the complete pre-composed form with melodic-rhythmic improvisations upon it in a manner that would challenge the dancer`s skills. This form of bola-banta or layakan has derived from the dhrupad genre. Contemporary kathak maestros, like Birju Maharaj, have performed Bandisa Thumaris using bola-banta as well as bola-banao improvisations.