Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

MUSIC

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.

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". : 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. Eminent in Flute

Mukhveena : 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. Reedy

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 1V 2 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.

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.