First some definitions.
Malwa- is the region of Punjab East of the river Sutlej.(region between Sutlej and Beas is called Do-aaba, and West of Beas is Majha. So Lahore, Amritsar, Gurdaspur are Majha while Ludhiana, Patiala etc are Malwa belt of Punjab)
Malwayee - (mall-wuyee) some thing belonging to Malwa
Everyone knows what is Bhangra and what is Gidha, right? Bhangra is the male dance of Punjab and is believed to have originated from Multan area. There are various techniques in Bhangra but modern bhangra really is a mixture of all the techniques of Bhangra as well as Gidha combined.
Gidha is the dance of females of Punjab.
What is Malwuyee Gidha then?
Malwuyee Gidha is not a female dance as the name gidha might infer but it is a male dance. It originated in Malwa and more specifically Moga, Faridkot area where young and old villagers after a day of hard work in the fields would get together in one corner outside the village in open space and will sing boliyaN and dance in a pretty much free style while making rythm from dholl as well the farming tools that they have with them like kayee(shovel), ramba(small digging tool), their gandhasay, kohaaRiyaN etc…It was more popular amongst old males than younger ones. Old guys with white flowing beards would sing and dance to the self made tunes. All the guys would get together in a circle and one will get in the center and sing some long boli mostly depicting their hard days work, failed romance or some other day to day subject. After every line of his boli the guys in the circle will say something encouraging like “shaava” “balle” etc and when he repeats the last line of the boli which will be the climax of the boli many others will step inside the circle and dance and sing and shout while moving their working tools mentioned above in rythm. With their white flowing beards and dancing in cirlces being one with their souls, they all most present the scene of sufis dancing on the qawaalis at the mazaars of dead sufi saints.
Those days of working hard all day and then enjoying the evenings are gone. Younger generation is more tuned to TV and wine while the old ones with white beards somehow have forgotten how to enjoy life and are instead busy trying to please the unseen, the unfelt gods and some jannat/sawarag aspirations.
But still in the Malwa area you can find some old guys singing and dancing the Malwuyee Gidha. I remember one such team of Malwuyee Gidha dancers, about 15 guys in their 50s and 60s who becmae very popular in the 80s and early 90s and used to do their gidha on various stages in melas/festivals in Indian Punjab.
They beat hands down any Daler Mehndi shehndi…they are real and authentic…they not only move your bodies to dance but they move your souls…it is hard not to get up and start dancing at the climax of their bolis.
I will post some Mallwuyee gidha bolis later on.