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Monday, February 27, 2012

Popular wind instruments - Kombu and Pungi

 
 Kombu, a clarion is used in all religious and cultural events.

A Kombu


The blowing



                           PUNGI
The Pungi is a popular wind musical instrument of South India .It is also known as Been or Bin. The word Pungi means the tube. Pungi was originally developed in Indian folk music. It is also important for religious purposes. It is popularly known as snake charmers' instrument.
It is made of bottle gourd. This bottle gourd is dried and two holes are made on it. One hole is made at the top and the other one at the bottom.At the top of the gourd, a piece of reed or marsh plant with a ½ inch diameter and a length of 2 ½ inches are stuck into the top hole. This reed or marsh plant is called the Jivala, this resembles a flute.
The Jivala is seven inches long with seven holes along its shaft. The upper flap is cut to a node. The Jivala is fitted with bees wax to resemble a flute. Later, this is fitted tightly in the upper hole of the gourd,which is slightly bulb shaped.
It is possible to get a high and low tone from the Pungi by adjusting the control of the beeswax.
By closing the hole of the Jivala we get a low tone and by opening the holes of the Jivala we get a high tone.





2 comments:

  1. very nice and informative blog! Thanks for sharing this knowledge with everyone..

    Cheers to you guys..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Gourav. I hope such comments will encourage my students! I anticipate such comments from all viewers.
    Nandan

    ReplyDelete