Chowtal

Trital, ektal and chowtal are not characteristic of the traditional tribal and folk-music of India.

The style of rendering the sur and the rhythmic composition of the tal (typical being 'chowtal' and 'brahmatal'), its resonance and 'gayaki', etc. are very close to the chanting of the Vedic sutras by a group of specially trained Vedic pandits.

Figure 8 shows the multi polygonal representation of chowtal.

...chanting Holi kellay ragubeera together, singing chowtal after chowtal, going higher and faster and louder as the dholak drum, played by one of them, twacked and clapped, bursting out in resounding pleasure, pacing the thumping dancing rhythm and the sharp ringing bursts of jaal, the men singing and singing and singing to a strong rising sudden joyous end.

The chowtals of both singers (Sucharita Gupta and Santosh Srivastava) derived from an anthology by Banaras-based folklorist Hariram Dwivedi.

In the Caribbean and the secondary diaspora in New York and elsewhere, groups of young and old enthusiasts gather every spring to sing chowtal. In India's Bhojpuri-region, the chowtal groups I encountered tend to sing from hand-written notebooks of original lyrics by local poets.