Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

MUSIC

Tamboori :

The tamboori is a

common

instrument

with

wandering

medi-

cants in the south. This

stringed

instrument

is

about a meter in length.

: Indigenous to Kashmir.

Santoor

There are four metallic

Some consider it to be a descendant

strings

and these

are

of Vedic vara veena. It has a large

Sarinda, found along the northern hilly tracks and with some of the tribes in Bihar. It has two sections - the lower section is a small pear shaped one with a hide covering. The upper part is bigger and it is completely open. Over this run four strings of twisted cotton, gut or metal.

plucked with the fingers

number of strings and is struck with

to provide the drone.

Sarangi : A bowed instrument. The con- cert model is made of one block of wood. The lower portion is covered with parch- ment and acts as main sound box. There is a giant variety known as mandar bahar, used in Hindustani music.

sticks. The musician sits with the

The

tamboori

evolved

Santoor in front of him and strikes

into the concert tam-

the strings with a pair of flat wooden

boora.

pieces.

STRINGEDINSTRUMENTS

(Eka nad'a),

Ektara

Tuila :

is a single stringed in-

A

zither

strument. The reso-

(in-struments

nator is a flat dried

where there is a

pumpkin

and

the

finger board

with

danda or the hollow

strings, fretted

rod holding the string

or fretless, and.

is inserted into it. The

most important

Kinnari, one of the ancient plucked zithers. It has now vanished from classical music. It can be seen with certain tribes like the Chenchus and the Raj Gonds of Andhra.

metal string passes

the

resonator

over the body which

being fixed be-

is twisted round a

low

it)

of

peg at the distal end.

Orissa..

It is plucked with a

Vichitra Veena: A fretless zither played by Hindustani musicians. The fingerboard is a broad long one of about a metre and quarter in length with two large pumpkins screwed to its nether side. It has a wide bridge on one end of the dandi the other end having the ledge and four pegs bearing the main playing strings

zither is a The body of the bamboo stick along which is stretched a gut.

to and fro movement

of the forefinger.

found in Tamil

Villadi Vadyam

Nadu & Kerala is a bow shaped in-

strument. The vadyam is a bow,

Kingri : A violin kind of instrument. This is associated with the Pradhans and Gonds. The instrument has a squarish resonator box and is covered with goat skin. The fingerboard is a long bamboo inserted into it and has 3 pegs. Three tufts of horse hair form the string.

nearly 2 to 3 m long. The villu is kept

Buang : About a metre long it consists of bamboo tubes, a reso nator and a rope. Generally two or more buangs are played in a group dance.

on an inverted earthen pot which

serves as a sound amplifier. It is an

accompaniment to certain kinds of

ballets known as villu patu.

Tuntune:

Found in

Yazh :

south-central and The singer holds the Tuntune in hand and plucks the string with his forefinger, to give the base note and a kind of rhythm. western India.

Yazh, belongs

to the harp variety.

Premtal : It has a bottle gourd resonator, there is a leather bot- tom through which a gut string of about 60 cm passes out through the vessel. The player plucks the string with a wooden plectrum in the other hand. Used by snake charmers and ballad singers.

Sapta-Tantri Veena : Harp with 7 strings of ancient times. It was plucked with the fingers.