Eternal India Encyclopedia

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Eternal India
encyclopedia
MUSIC
Mukhveena : Reedy diminutive
naagaswaram - like wind instrument. The
mukhveena family comprises mukhveena,
nagaswaram and shehnai The mukhveena is
a smaller variety of nagaswaram which has an
important place in Karnatak classical music.
All the instruments of the mukhveena
family have two small flat pieces of reed held
together. The tube is generally of wood but
may be of metal also. The tube has seven
holes for playing the melody.
Clarionet : Another gift from the West,
has become a sister to nagaswaram, but is not
as common as it was before. Saxophone is
taking over as a new find.
Nagaswaram : Loud-volumed long wind
instrument.
Popular musical instrument of the South.
A double-reeded instrument with a coni-
cal bore that flares out towards the bottom end.
Made of hardwood. About 1V2 or 2 feet in
length. The instrument consists of twelve holes,
the upper seven holes are used to produce dif-
ferent notes on different pitch. The remaining
five holes are closed with wax according to
choice of the performer to regulate the pitch.
The reeds : These are two small flat
pieces of reed held together leaving a small
gap between them. The pair is fixed to the tube
of the instrument either directly or by means
of a metallic staple.
The Tube : This is the main body of the
instrument and acts as a resonator. It is more or
less conical in shape, narrow near the blowing
end and opening out gradually. Usually there
is a 'bell' of metal at the farther end. The tube
is generally of wood, but may be of metal also.
WIND INSTRUMENTS
Nagaswarams of silver, gold and even
soapstone are known.
The tube bears holes used for playing the
melody by closing or opening them. The
mukhaveenas do not have keys, unlike the
Western oboes; for such mechanical arrange-
ment cannot produce the finer srutis and ga-
makas, so essential to Indian music.
Eminent Nagaswaram players:
Thiruveezhimalai Subramania Pillai, T.N.
Rajaratnam Pillai, Karaikurchi Arunachalam
(L), Namagiripetai Krishnan (L), Sheikh
Chinna Moulana (L), P.S. Veeruswamy
Pillai, T.S. Natrajasundaram Pillai (L.)
SHEHNAI
The shehnai which came to India from
West Asia and was called surnai in Persian,
later changed to shehnai.
Bismillah Khan
Eminent Shehnai players:
* Bismillah Khan, * Ali Hussain Khan
* Anant Lai * Siddharm Jadhav, * Sundri.
FLUTE
The flute has been known in India from
very ancient times. Comparable to the veena
of the Goddess Saraswati and the damaru of
Shiva, it has held a mystic fascination for
India. Lord Krishfia is seeing playing on the
flute.
There are two distinct varieties. One is
blown across a side hole near a closed end - the
proper flute - the other is an open tube blown
across centrally. The transverse flute, which
is held horizontally across the face of the
player is the most common kind. Flutes in the
South are shorter than those in the North.
Direct Flute : Wind instruments in which
the wind is blown through a mouth hole in the.
wall of the instrument eg. sankha, conch,
murali, venu, bansuri, bansi, pungi, algoza
etc.
Transverse Flute : Instruments that are
blown through vibrating reeds of palm leaf
and mouth pieces eg. - shehnai, nagaswaram,
clarionet, bagpipe of the West etc.
Vertical Flute : Instruments, in which the
column of air is set to vibrate by blowing
obliquely the pipe as it is found in the ancient
instruments of the Greeks and Chinese eg.
"Syrnix" and "Pan Pipes".
Eminent in Flute : Sharabha Shastri,
Palladam Sanjeeva .Rao, Thirupambaram
Swaminatha Pillai, Pannalal Ghosh, H. Rarna-
chandra Shastri, T. R. Mahalingam, Devendra
Murdeshwar(L), Hari Prasad Chaurasia(L),
N. Ramani (L), Guruvayur S. Srikrishnan (L),
Sikkil Sisters (Neela & Kunjumani) (L), T.'
Viswanathan (L) and K.S. Gopalakrishnan
(L).
Sankha: It is the manifestation of sound
in nature and considered to be pious. It pro-
duces a deep and voluminous sound.
Rausana - Chauki : A band of four per-
sons playing on wind, drum and percussion
types of musical instruments prevalent in India
till first quarter of present century. Consisted
of two bamboo flutes of a special type known
as Uns, a special type of drum called as
Champa and a kind of bell named Jhunajhuna..
Nauvata: A band of wind, drum and per-
cussion types of musical instruments played
together at a time by a group of seven perform-
ers besides the conductor and the helper. This
party of nine players is called as 'nauvata'. It
was exclusively organised for the entertain-
ment of kings and noblemen of the medieval
age in India.
Algoza : An ordinary flute having finger
holes ranging from 6 to 8. Played by blowing
straight through the mouth hole. Used in folk
dances of Punjab.