MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Attending the rich diversity of musical occasions and repertoire is the profusion of musical instruments in Western Rajasthan, an instrumentarium that is con nected in a significant manner to social, cultural and musical phenomena here as elsewhere in the world.

Our catalogue of instruments will, at the most general level, follow the major ethnomusicological categories of idiophones, membranophones, chordo phones and aerophones.

Idiophones

Idiophones are instruments in which the body of the instrument is the main res onating medium and which function largely as rhythmic instruments.

Khartal

Castanet-like instruments made of four flat strips of wood, not connected to each other in any way. Played with a set in each hand, one piece is held under the thumb and the other rests on the four fingers.

It is essentially an instrument of the Manganiar of the Jaisalmer and Barmer region, now played by the Langa and Manganiar communities, very often by children but in some instances by artists of great skill and dexterity.

Matka

Literally, earthen pot. A clay water pot played as a percussion instrument. The Manganiar play it by blowing into it. Samples are also found among the Surnaiya Langa in Bijrar village, Chohtan tehsil, Barmer district.

Mata

A pair of clay pots (always the bhilona pots in which butter is churned) is used, though each one is played by a different person in the same rhythm. The mouth of the pot is covered by a parchment of goatskin, secured by bamboo slivers and leather thongs. The two pots are tuned to be higher and lower, using water or heat to make this adjustment. Thus there is the concept of the male-female or nar-nada which is common in pairs of drums.

The mata are referred to as Pabuji ke Mate or Pabuji ke Nisan and are played by the Bhil Nayak who perform the Pabu epic. They are found in the districts of Jodhpur and Bikaner.

Morchhang

An iron jews' harp, played by the Manganiar and Langa in accompaniment and sometimes as a solo instrument.

Jaltal

Literally, 'water rhythm. A ceramic lid is played in a brass plate partially filled with water. The lid is used by striking the inside bottom while another person sometimes plays by beating two thin sticks against the brass plate as illustrated in Plate 52.

Membranophones (Drums)

The most ubiquitous in number and variety of instruments in Rajasthan, drums of virtually every sort imaginable are found here and are performed across many of the social divides of caste, sub-caste, gender and age.

Dhol

A large barrel drum. Dhols are made using wood or iron sheets riveted togeth er. Goatskin is normally used for the drum heads, and cow or buffalo hide for the larger drums. The skin is bound to an iron frame and cotton rope as used to bind the drum heads. One side has a lower male pitch For this, a parte made of iron filings, mustard oil, ash and other substances is used. A curved stick is often used for striking this end and the full palm and fingers for strik ing the higher pitched "female" side.

The dhol has many sizes and varieties. It is played by various communities including the Dholi, Mirasi, Meghwal and Sargara. It is used on all happy or auspicious occasions and has also been used traditionally for communication to summon people in emergencies, such as during floods, fires, robberies. Dhol rhythms have certain terms like chirmi, gajra, sati, ghoomar and kanak.

Dholak

A barrel drum found all over Rajasthan and indeed throughout rural north India. In Western Rajasthan, it is played by men and women of the Manganiar and Dholi communities. The lower pitched 'male side has a paste applied to it of iron filings, mustard oil, ash, etc., while the other higher-pitched "female" side is kept free of paste. It is played on both sides using the palm and fingers.

The types of wood used for making dholaks in Rajasthan are mango, beej,  sheesham (Dalbergia Sissoo), teak and neem. Goatskin and strips of leather are also used. The dholak is used as an accompaniment to singing and dancing and is not restricted to being played by any particular community.

Bowed Chordophones (Stringed Instruments)

This important class of instruments is used to provide the melodic line or rhythmic accompaniment to a vocal melodic line. On account of the higher threshold of skill required to perform on stringed instruments in an acceptable manner, these instruments are almost always the exclusive preserve of professional musicians.

Sarangi

The most important and varied of the bowed fiddles, the sarangi is found in many different forms in Western Rajasthan with a wide variety of names and shapes. It is mainly played by the Sarangiya Langa and some Manganiar And it is, of course, the same general name used for the sarangi of the classical Hindustani tradition.

Sindhi Sarangi

There are three varieties of Sindhi sarangi: Jandheri, Nathuri and Abadri.

The Sindhi sarangi has a vault-chested, slightly arched belly, carved out of a single block of wood with an integrated fingerboard and peg box. It has four main playing strings, two of steel and two of gut, and two sets of sympathetic strings. Eight pass directly under the main strings and are known as jharu. The other set of 17 sympathetic strings called jheel are inserted into the fingerboard and tied to the pegs. The bowing of the Sindhi sarangi emphasizes the rhythm of the song. This instrument is mainly played by the Langa and can be found in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalor and part of Bikaner districts.

Kamatcha

An instrument unique to Western Rajasthan and the culturally related area of the Sindh in Pakistan. The term is also not found elsewhere but note should be made of its similarity to the otherwise quite different bowed spike fiddle of northern Iran and other areas, the kemanche. Given Jaisalmer's adjacency to Sindh and proximity to Baluchistan, it is possible that the term originated in Iran

The kamaicha is a bowed unfretted lute with a large round body covered with goatskin. The body is carved from a single piece of wood, typically mango and sometimes sheesham. The bow is made of black sheesham with horsehair and is somewhat heavier than the sarangi bow.

The strings are stopped with the cuticle of the fingernail, as in the sarangi The instrument has a number of sympathetic' strings which are also bowed in addition to the three main gut strings. The instrument is unique to the Manganiar, no other group performs on it. Since some Manganiar also perform on the sarangi, one would expect there to have been some borrowing of structural concepts, probably the idea of sympathetic strings, which otherwise are unusual. There are 14 sympathetic strings. 12 of steel and two, on the bottom of the course, made of brass.

Ravanhatha

An instrument found in variants throughout north India, it is described as a long- necked bowed fretless lute with two or three playing strings. Half a coconut shell is used for the resonator and there is one string of horsehair and one or two of steel. Sympathetic strings range from three to 13. In Western Rajasthan it is played by the Bhils. It is also used by Nayak Bhopa to accompany the per formance of Pabuji ri Par, the ritual epic of Pabu, performed with an illustrated scroll. Many now play for tourists and keep an extra instrument to sell.

The bow of the ravanhatha is heavily curved and has bells tied to it for rhythmic bowing Gujri or Nareli

Similar to the ravanhatha, but much less commonly found. it is played with an arched bow by the Bhil Bhopas of Pabu.

Aerophones (Wind Instruments)

Because of their sound, volume and portability, aerophones are usually designed for outdoor use, particularly the double reed (oboe) class of instruments. In Western Rajasthan, all professional performers utilize circular breathing tech niques, enabling them to produce constant sound without any gaps. Some of the aerophones come as matched pairs in which one instrument provides a drone while the other provides the melody.

Oboes

Murli (Pungi)

The murli is similar to the Jogi's pungi, but with a less rounded gourd. It is also played in a much more virtuosic manner by the Surnaiya Langa.

The Surnaiya Langa make the reeds of the murli from the slender branches of the kangor tree that grows in the desert. The murli is capable of providing a range of over two octaves and is played through the technique of circular breathing. The repertoire played on the murli is that of the songs sung by the Langa generally. The term murli is used for various aerophonic instruments in India. She adds that in Rajasthan, murli or murla refers to a double clarinet with a wind cap. It comprises a wooden blowing tube, a reservoir of wood or gourd and two pipes glued together whose upper ends are fitted with a single reed and inserted into the wind cap. One pipe is used as a drone and has three holes and the melody pipe The instrument is also referred to as the been has six holes.

Flutes

Narh

Now quite rare, this end-blown flute has a distribution that extends into Baluchistan and has been considered a shepherd's instrument. In Rajasthan it is performed while simultaneously making vocalizations.

the narh is made of kangor and is played only in Jaisalmer district. Generally about a meter-and-a-half in length, it has four holes and is considered a difficult instrument to play. There are very few narh players in existence in Rajasthan today. Karna Bheel was the legendary narh player whose name is always associated with this instrument.

N. A. Baloch's work in which melody counts importantly in Sindhi thematic music as it is heard in the end-blown flute, the narh. Thematic narh (sic) music, also called phook (blowing') consists of short melodic patterns which have a variety of referents, principally quotations from folk romances, specific emotions related to love, but also images from nature and others.

Algoja, Satara, Pawa

group of double end-blown flutes with the ends played fully in the mouth The algoja (or algoza) is the generic name for the set of double flutes also known as satara or pawa, the term is used widely in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in north and central India, to refer to various types of duct flutes as well. For the most part they are beak flutes similar to other paired duct flutes.

Algoja are sometimes distinguished from the satara or pawa in being smaller than either. Another distinguishing feature is that for the algoja both flutes are played simultaneously with the drone alternating between the pipes but in the satara, one flute is always used for the shruti (drone) and the other reserved for the melody

The satara is also known as the pawa but sometimes described as being somewhat smaller than the pawa although larger than the algoja. The upper ends are fitted with a block and terminate in a beak. Not all the holes on each pipe are used. The melody is played with the fingers of both hands on six holes of the melody pipe. The holes on the drone pipe are not stopped by the fingers. One or more hole is blocked with wax to tune the drone. The continuous sound is attained by circular breathing called naksasi.

The pawa, the largest of these three when distinguished from one another, is also of at least two kinds-one, in which both flutes are of the same site, and the other, known as the dodhiya pawa, where one flute is nominally double the size of the other.