Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

MUSIC

CLASSIFICATION

Tata vaadyas,

Chordophones or

stringed instruments like the veena, violin,

sitar, sarod, surbahaar, sarangi, tambura &

gotu vaadyam.

Sushira vaadyas,

aerophones or wind

instruments like flute, baansuree, clarionet,

saxophone, naagaswaram, shehnai, harmo-

nium, mukhaveena.

Avanaddha

vaadyas,

membrano-

phones or generally percussion instruments

such as mridangam, dholak, thablaa, pakha-

waaj, morching, main kanjira and others.

Ghana vaadyas,

idiophones and auto-

phones like jaalraa, thaalam (cymbals),

j alatharang, ghatam and a few others.

SHRUTI

Tamboora

: (Tamboori, Thaanpooraa)

The Shruthi — providing instrument re-

splendent with its reenkaara or jhenkaara

vibrations usually tuned to middle Pa, higher

Sa, higher Sa and Lower Sa is the most

important basis for any concert.

The tambura is played as a background

drone with vocal and instrumental music.

The body of the tambura is similar to that of

the veena without any fret in the stem which

has only four strings. Often two tamburas are

used in the north. The tambura determines the

key of the singer. In the south, it is tuned to

Madhyama shruthi to present ragas like

Naadanaamakriya,

Jhunjhoothi,

Navaroj,

Saindhavee, Punnaagavaraali, Kuranji, Thar-

anginee, Subhaashinee and often for Sindhu

bhairavi, Yamunaakalyanee, Jonpuree and

Manirangu.

The

tamboora

used in South India is smaller

in size than the one used in the north. The

bridge of the instrument is wide and is made

of ivory, horn, camel bone or hard wood. It

has a special curvature. A very important part

of the tamboora is the thread of cotton, wool

or silk inserted between the bridge and the

strings. This thread, known as the jeevam or

juari, when placed in the correct position and

drawn correctly, imparts an extraordinary

richness to the tone of the tamboora.

Electronic Tamboora

: An adjustable

electronic gadget with four coarse fine con-

trols and tempo and tone controls (ac and

battery operated)

Shruti Box

: A diminutive harmonium

wtih only a few selected, needed keys for

aadhaara shruti or key-pitch (substitute for

Thamboora).

INSTRUMENTS

Air Bellowed

Harmonium

: The aid to music

teachers and learners — the box with many

keys is staging a come back. It cannot pro-

duce nuances. The Indian harmonium is a

reed keyboard instrument which was brought

to India from the West by traders and mission-

aries. It has been the subject of much contro-

versy and was at one time banned from the

music concerts of All India Radio. While

Karnatak musicians still eschew it, it has be-

come popular as an accompaniment in Hin-

dustani music where the sustained notes which

the harmonium produces are frequent. Those

opposed to the harmonium argue that with its

fixed keyboard it cannot produce the fine

nuances which are characteristic of Indian

music.

Bowed type of Instruments

Instruments of strings that are played usu-

ally with a bow are known as

'vitata vadya'.

The instruments Chikara, Sarinda, Sarangi,

Esaraja, Dilruba, Tausa, Chandra-saranga and

also Violin and Viola come under this group.

Sarinda and Chikara of modern Uttar

Pradesh, Dada of Punjab and Chara tara of

Rajasthan are played with a bow. They are

owned by wandering minstrels or by aborigi-

nals or rural people of India.

Dilaruba

: Similar to Esaraja in its struc-

ture. It is also hollow from inside and parched

with hide. The bridges are made of horn, bone

or ivory, which is placed on the hide on a

leather strap over which all the six main strings

are arranged while the 22 side strings pass

underneath the frets and they are fastened to

wooden pegs on the right side of the instru-

ment just like Esaraja. The danda or the stem

of the instrument serves the purpose of the

finger board and contains 19 elliptical metal

frets of brass, steel or silver tied to the danda

by means of a silken cord.

Taus

: belongs to category of Esaraja and

Dilaruba. The shape of this instrument is just

like a peacock that is why it is known as Taus.

Its long tail serves the purpose of the finger-

board of the instrument, on which nineteen

metal frets, eliptical in shape are tied with

cotton or silken cord. The lower position is

covered with hide. It is also played seated with

a bow..

Manora Bahara

: It is the largest size of

the modem Esaraja. It is almost four feet long.

This rare type is available only in Bengal. Its

use is restricted to concerts.

It is played seated on a low stool and the

instrument is rested on the floor in front of the

performer.

SOLIDS

Gilabada : Commonly

used by tribes of Andhra

Pradesh'. It is a dried fruit

and a few of them are tied

together

and

shaken

rhythm.

Kolu or Danda :

Stick instruments, the best

known examples are from

Gujarat and South India. Two

sticks are held in each hand and

struck together to produce

sound.

Seemu : Found in north-eastern

provinces is a large gong with a

small boss (convex bulge) at

the centre. The plate is held in

hand hanging by a thread pass-

ing through a pair of holes, and

beaten with a stick

Chimta

: It is a

jingle

with

small

platelets seen in various

parts of north India. It isan

iron fork, a metre

long, on the arms of which are fixed loosely sets

of small discs or brass. The instrument is shaken

or beaten against the palm rhythmically to the

accompaniment of bhajans, folk songs etc.

Cymbals : These are con-

vex plates. The names are

many. Jalra, Jhallari, Kar-

tal, tali, talam, elattalam,

kushittalam are smaller

types while larger ones are jhanj, Jhallari, bharat-

talam, bortal etc. Used by Harikatha artistes, de-

votional congregations etc.

Morsing

(Morching): The comparatively

rare metallic twang-producing instrument

is a fine accompaniment played by keeping

it stuck between the teeth;- (Also called

Jewish harp).

Cymbal

of ridget

variety also called jatra,

it is of about 5 cm

diameter.

These

are

made of bronze or brass.