When this group of girls gets together, there’s not a moments’ silence, especially when they bring out their formidable number of musical instruments, 32 at last count. They are the Sanjha Dillan Dian, a 12-member all-women orchestra from HMV Jalandhar, a college in Punjab which will perform in Delhi on Tuesday. They swear by folk music, the older the better, but their main strength lies in playing a range of traditionally Punjabi instruments, among them forgotten ones like the been and the damru.

“Both are generally played by the neighbourhood sapera, but in another age and time, they were an integral part of Punjab’s folk music ensemble,” says Kulwinderdeep Kaur, head of the music department of the college. The group’s kit also contains the toombi, an ektara-like string instrument that was a favourite of Mirabai, the tumki, a small leather-bound brass vessel played with sticks, the vanjali, a type of flute, twin flutes or the algoza, sangi, a smaller form of sarangi, and conch shells.

“The orchestra was set up six years ago to keep the music from traditional instruments alive. It is a matter of regret that several indigenous Indian instruments are now no more than pictures and descriptions in music books,” says Kaur. While the nagara and the dhapli are still common at folk music performances, the art of playing the bugchu, the algoza and the daria— a type of drum, is restricted to music experts only.

“One of the reasons could be that it is very difficult to master the daria,” says Anupama Soan, a 23-year-old student of the Mass Communications department, who has been a part of the orchestra for close to four years. “Despite my academic pressures, I put in four to five hours of practice a day several times a week,” she says. Like her, Simran Kaur, 23, who is studying MA in music juggles several instruments at a time; a sarangi makes way for the toombi, which is replaced by the khanjari and the dhapli. Kiran Pabbi, a BA (IInd year) student handles an array of kitchen utensils like the chimta, brass glasses and garvi.

Kaur adds that the orchestra performs only at cultural events of academic significance and has rarely ventured beyond Punjab. “No shaadi and sangeet functions for us,” she says, as the group packs its bags for the Delhi trip.