Musical Instruments of India
Khol
Khol is the most used percussion in the north eastern region of India, often linked to the Vaishnava cult of Bengal and Assam, is often called Mridang because the body is made of terracotta (Mrit means clay). The introduction of this instrument is linked to the Sri Chaitanya Mhaprabhu Mystic Holy and Poet, an initiator in the fifteenth century of the Bengali devotional movement, for this reason we refer to this instrument with the honorary title "Sri": Lord. This percussion takes on an assimetric barrel shape and seems to reflect exactly the characteristics of the gopuchha, described by Bharat in the Natya Shastra.
The body
The right end mounts a skin with a diameter that varies from 7.5 cm to 12.5 cm produces a higher tonal sound and with a metal stamp, while on the left circumference you have a skin with a diameter that It varies from 13.5 cm to 17.5 cm with a decidedly more serious sound, so much so as to obtain an eighth relationship between the two membranes.
The body, colorful of red or orange, is modeled using only the clay on the banks of the gange the sacred river par excellence.
The skin
Here too the double leather technique is used, with the external one cut in ring and the internal one that acts as a percussive surface and the two membranes are put in tension with each other with a leather or cotton straps that is passed on TrentDue, From one membrane to another.
The Sihay is kneaded with mud, rice flour and a mineral powder for the right membrane, while mud and rice flour is used, colored red for the sihay of the left membrane.
This instrument cannot be intoned to voluntarily voluntarist, both for the fragility of the body, which would be able to bear hammers, and due to the absence of wooden blocks under the braces, which also would tend to transfer the terracotta. An inhumidated cloth is sometimes used to lower the tone of the skin.
The small village of Navdeep in the West Bengal is considered the construction center par excellence, and all types and sizes are cotrocked.
It is often used as a peripatetic instrument, widespread for the Raindra Sangeet, compositions based on the bys of the Nobel Prize Rinndra Nath Tagore and for all Benagalese mystical-population music.
The mnemonic of this instrument is also partly described in the Sangitaratnakara of Sarnagadeva, to date we find two percussive styles, one who uses the palms of the hands with the tight fingers and the other called Chukti-Vadya that uses index and medium for Mebrana right and hand closed in a cup for the left membrane.
We can find a vast repertoire of rhythmic cycles connected to the various schools of Kirtan, from the 108 of the Guaranthi Gharana, 54 of the Manharshani Gharana, 26 of Roneti Gharana and 9 of Mandarini Gharana.
The main instruments of Indian Classical Music
The Sitar is the icon of Indian Classical music. The structure and tonal quality of this instrument is the result of several years of hard work and dedication of both the musicians and the master luthiers.
Goṭu Vādyama is a modified and developed form of Ektantri Veena, appeared on the scene of the Carnatic music system about hundred fifty years ago, it can be considered the Vichitra Veena of South India.
The name Rudra Vina, often written Rudra Veena, first appears in Nārada's Saṃgīta Makaranda between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and is supposed to be a derivation of the Kinnarī Vīṇā.
The Taus, the Dilruba and the Esraj are North Indian bowed instruments, all three with hybrid characteristics of the Sitar, such as long necks, fingerboard and metal strings, and of the Sāraṅgī such as the crafted soundboard Leather.
The Saraswati Veena, is very different from the Vīṇā of northern India. In fact, the arrangement of the main strings and cikari, the posture and the sound production techniques remain the same.
The Vichitra Vina, often written Vichitra Veena, saw its splendor towards the beginning of the twentieth century but many indications lead us to think that it is a developed and modified version of a very ancient instrument.
The Surabahar, often written Surbahar, was created, according to tradition, by Gholām Mohammad Khān, disciple of Piyār Khān and Omrāo Khān. Much larger than the Sitār, it is used, both in the Dhrupad and in the Khayal.
The Tampura is a fundamental instrument of Indian classical music, present in both the northern and southern systems. The function of this chordophone is to provide a sound in the background, that acts as a drone for improvisation.
In Arabic the term rebab indicates a bowed instrument; in fact the two half-moon inlets that characterize the shape of the Rabab's sound box suggest that it was only later converted into a direct pluck instrument.
The Svaramandala is a chordophone used by singers for accompaniment. Kallinatha in his commentary on Śārṅgadeva's Saṅgīta Ratnākara coincides the matakokilavīṇā of Bharata Muni's time with the Svaramaṇḍala,
The Sanṭoor is a dulcimer that has only recently entered Indian classical music scene. It is considered one of the most important developments of the twentieth century in Indian Classical music.
The transverse flute used in Indian classical music, is capable of reproducing all the delicate movements, ornamentations and nuances of the human voice. This instrument finds references in many sacred texts.
Among the main contributions of Indian instrumental technology, both in terms of production quantity and timbre quality, bifacial convex diaphragms occupy a place of primary importance in Indian Classical Music.
In the folk and tribal music of different regions of India, various types of stringed instruments are found with a very varied tradition. In the Rajasthani tradition there are more than ten types of Sāraṅgī.
This name derives from two sanskrit terms "pakshe vadya", or from the Persian "pakh awaz" which means soft sounding. The pakahwaj became the main percussion in the north, while the mridangam assumed centrality in the south.
The term Sarod, of Persian origin, means "song" or "melody". All hypotheses regarding the origin of the Sarod, are based on many assumptions and inferences. The general opinion is that it is a developed version of the Rabab,
One of the oldest and most widespread percussion instruments are the timpani, with a conical-shaped body, the skin of which is often struck with beaters modeled in an arched shape or simply straight, with a knobbed head.
The terms Shahana, Shahanay or Shennay identify the zurna, a wooden aerophone typical of Persian musical culture. In Iran we can still find various styles of this instrument which vary both in size and in the quality of wood used.
Tabla are the percussion instruments that best represent Indian musical culture. This instrument, used mainly in the Hindustani style, accompanies singing, instrumental music and dance.
The khol is the most used percussion in the north-eastern region of India, often linked to the Vaishnava cult of Bengal and Assam, it is also often called mridang since the body is made of terracotta (mrit means clay).
Probably in the past the pakhavaj and the mridangam presented much fewer differences and are in fact to be associated with a single archetype, but they developed over the centuries within two different styles,
Frame drums are very popular in India and the simplicity of manufacturing these instruments has facilitated their diffusion. They are in fact a thin strip of iron or wood bent into a circular shape with the two ends joined on which a membrane is applied.
The sound production techniques and the structure are identical to the shennay, the differences are mostly related to the dimensions and some small details. The double reed is fixed on a metal support which fits onto the wooden body.
The violin, which in India is also called Behalā, as we know, is one of the first Western instruments to have been introduced, more than a century and a half ago, into Indian music by Baluswamy Dikshitar (1786-1858), a great music scholar caranatica.
The Suraśṛṁgāra, often written Sursingar in many respects similar to the Surabahar, is a reinterpretation of the Rabab created in Benares under the supervision of Zafar Khān.
The moorchang, is a typical example of a universal instrument. In Italy it is a popular instrument called the wind chime or marranzano and although it takes on different forms, it is used all over the world.
The tavil belongs to the folk music tradition of South India, and is often played with a wind ensemble called periya melam. This percussion has a barrel shape with a single-layered stem, obtained from a single cylindrical block of wood.
Frame drums are very popular in India and the simplicity of manufacturing these instruments has facilitated their diffusion. They are in fact a thin strip of iron or wood bent into a circular shape.
The term bhanda vadya is used to indicate all terracotta percussion instruments with a spherical body, practically real vases of various shapes and sizes.
The term "Mohan veena" can denote one of two distinct plucked string instruments utilized in Indian classical music, particularly in Hindustani classical music, which is traditionally associated with the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent.
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