Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

MUSIC

PERCUSSION

Joshi, Vishnu Govind Jog, N. Rajam.

SARANGI

The

sarangi

is the most important of In-

dian bowed instruments. The concert model is

made of one block of wood and is about 60

..centimetres in height. It is very much in

demand in Hindustani classical music con-

certs in the north both as an accompaniment in

singing and occasionally in solo recitals but is

totally shunned by Karnatak musicians.

Sarangi is available in three sizes, one

and a half, two, and two and a half,

magzi.

The

term

'magzi'

is used by Sarangi players all

over India. This is perhaps on the basis of the

number of strings. Budaun (a small town in

Uttar Pradesh) makes the best Sarangis in the

country. It is a home industry of that place.

It is played with a bow, made of a hard

round stick of wood to which hair of tail of

horse is fixed at both ends and a small wooden

triangular but curved bridge is placed at one

end to keep the hair tight. The bow is held in

the right hand and moved from one end to the

other vertically on the main guts to produce

sound.

The first, second, and also the third from

the extreme left guts of a Sarangi are tuned to

Madhya-Madhyama or Punchama (F or G),

Madhya Sadja (C), and Mandra Punchama (G

of the lower register) respectively. All the

side strings are tuned to a Achala-Thata, i.e.

the scale having all the twelve notes both flat

and sharp (Suddha and Vikrta) in their con-

secutive order of an octave or according to the

notes of the Raga intended to be sung or

played. The tone of this instrument is not only

rich in respect of tone and volume, but also

sweet, melodious and delicate. All the fluc-

tuations, inflections and also variations of the

human voice can be produced on the Sarangi

exquisitely.

Esaraja: Most popular string instrument

of bowed type prevalent throughout Bengal.

The lower part is like a sarangi and the upper

part similar to that of a sitar.

It is available in 3 sizes, such as 6" x 4", 7"

x 5" and 8" x 6". The Danda or stem of the

instrument, which serves the purpose of the

fingerboard is half round at the back and flat

at the top side. The length and width of the

danda is 2'/

feet and 2'/

inches to 3 feet and

3 */

inches respectively. It has four main

strings

of steel and brass. The sympathetic side strings

either of steel or of brass are numbered eleven

to eighteen only. These strings are adjusted on

a separate wooden frame fixed to the stem of

the instrument with screws on both the ends.

Eminent Sarangi players

: Shakoor Khan,

Ram Narain (L), Gopal Misra, Sabri Khan (L),

Hanuman Prasad Mishra (L), Abdul Lateef

Khan (L), Sultan Khan (L).

The

pakhawaj

is, like the mridangam, a

two-headed drum with a body of wood. As in

the mridangam a black mixture called the

syahi is applied to the right face while the left

face is pasted with dough. Unlike the mri-

dangam the pakhawaj has cylindrical wooden

blocks under braces which can be moved up

and down the barrel for tuning. Finer tuning

is done by striking the plaits which hold the

two faces to the body with a metallic hammer.

The pakhawaj was once the king of drums in

Hindustani music and was used as an accom-

paniment in kathak dance, devotioonal sons

and dhrupad, to which its tonal qualities were

well suited. But with khyal singing and sitar

coming into vogue, the tabla with its softer

sound has become more popular.

The mridangam (South Indian) and tabla

(North Indian) are percussion instruments.

The mridangam has a barrel - shaped hollow

wooden body bulging in the middle and taper-

ing at the ends. The two ends are covered with

parchment. At the centre of the right head

there is a black circular patch made with a

paste of manganese dust, boiled rice and tam-

arind juice.

This vocative instrument to maintain thala,

gathi, lay a and the varied aesthetic syncopa-

tions to enliven a concert, is of superb charm

and said to be invented and played by Shiva's

sacred bull Nandikeshwara. It is a permanent

accompaniment for any and every concert.

The tabla is practically a mridangam divided

into two drums. The two heads are on each of

the two drums which are placed erect on the

ground. The drum which is played with the

fingers of the right hand is called tabla and the

other is called bayan.

"In Indian music, like in many other

cultures of Asia, percussion plays a role which

is very different from Western music. In

Western music percussion is used sparingly to

heighten a dramatic climax or bring the right

colour or accentuation to a musical situation.

As a matter of fact in a great deal of chamber

music and small orchestral combinations

percussion is hardly ever used. But in India

percussion is the life and soul of a performance.

It keeps time for the soloist, it underlines the

melody, it makes the phrasing clearer. In

short it sets the melody in its correct

perspective

and provides a framework for it.... The

accompanist on the percussion has also to be

a fine musician who understands all the

traditions of our music, all of its science and

most of its art. The tabla or mridanga player in

a recital is thus not just an accompanist who

trails behind but an equal participant, a highly

trained musician who is a soloist in his own

right" (Narain Menon).

Eminent Mridangam players:

Madras Venu Naicker, Kurthalam Siva

Vadivelu Pillai, Kurthalam Kupuswami Pil-

lai,

Umayalpuram

Kothandarama

Iyer,

Tanjavur Ramdas Rao, Palani Subramania

Pillai, Narayanaswami Appa, Alazhanam-

biar Pillai, Tanjore Vaidyanatha Iyer, Tan-

jore Ramdas Rao, T.S. Palgat Mani Iyer, C.S.

Muruga Bhoopathy, T.K. Murthy, Palghat

Raghu, T.M.

Puttaswamiah, M.L.

Veerabhadriah,

Umayalapuram

Sivar-

aman, Vellore Ramabhadran, Karaikkudi

Mani, T.V. Gopalkrishnan, C.S. Murugab-

hoopatny, Kolanka Venkata Raju

TABLA

The invention of tabla is credited to Amir

Khusrau but it is possible that the instrument

itself is Indian and the word

'tabla'

is from the

word

'tabal',

or Persian drum. Sculptures of

pairs of tabla appear in India as early as the 6-

7th C. A.D.

'Tabla'

is actually a pair of drums. While

the pair is together called tabla, strictly speak-

ing the right drum is the tabla, while the left

drum is called the

'dagga'

'bayan'.

While

the tabla has a wooden body with a covering

of leather on the top, the

dagga

bayan

made of metal or burnt clay. Both the drums

are kept erect on the ground and played with

the fingers. While the paste on the drum face

of the tabla is in the centre, in the bayan it is

not centrally placed. Unlike

mridanga,

tabla

has a lighter and sweeter sound. It is, there-

fore, well suited for accompanying

kheyal,

thumri

etc and softer instruments like

sitar,

sarod

etc.