Dadra

Dadra tala has six matras (beats) in two equal vibhags (sections) of three. Beat one is sam, the first beat of the cycle, marked with a clap; beat four is khali, the "empty" section, marked with a wave of the hand. One common theka, the drum-syllable pattern that defines a tala on the tabla, runs dha dhin na | dha tin na, though the syllables vary between teachers. Drummers play it at medium or fast tempo. Some musicians call the faster form khemta, and others keep the name dadra.

The other usual cycle for dadras is kaherva, which has eight beats. As in thumri, a dadra includes a laggi: after a verse the tabla or dholak player breaks into quicker, varied patterns, at times moving from dadra tala into kaherva before coming back. Rasoolan Bai's fast dadra with dholak shows this switch. Beyond the song form, dadra tala runs through regional folk music, from Rajasthani maand to Bengali baul and the kajri of Uttar Pradesh.

Ragas (melodic frameworks, each with its own notes and phrases) common in dadra include Khamaj, Kafi, Pilu and Bhairavi, and Gara also appears on record. Khamaj carries many dadras, and singers of different traditions have recorded it: Latafat Hussain Khan of the Agra gharana, the dhrupad singer Vidur Mallick and Kumar Gandharva. Begum Akhtar recorded Kafi dadras, the Banaras singer Mahadev Prasad Mishra a Pilu dadra, and Siddheshwari Devi dadras in Gara and Bhairavi. Zila Kafi, a light variant close to the textbook raga, carries dadras too; the sitarist Nikhil Banerjee played it in dadra tala on the sitar.

As in thumri, a singer may step outside the raga for a moment to serve the words. The step should stay brief and should never wander at random between ragas. The University of Delhi's course on semi-classical forms pairs thumri, dadra and tappa with the same four ragas and with the talas dadra, kaherva, addha and deepchandi.

The sthayi, the opening line of the song, works as a home base. The singer makes short excursions from it and lands back on it, and the tala cycle stays intact through every departure. Thumri leaves a singer freer to elaborate before coming back. With fewer beats to fill, Aneesh Pradhan argues, dadra keeps its melodic lines short and brings voice and drum into conversation more often.

Singers also use the words as rhythm. Siddheshwari Devi shaped her melodic ideas in the eastern style and used the words of the text to syncopate, placing accents against the beat. According to the writer and broadcaster Jameela Siddiqi, dadra texts often open in Braj Bhasha, an older literary form of Hindi, and may continue with Urdu couplets.