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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.





BEAUTIFUL NADASWARAM

                              Nagaswaram being played in a sacred event in Kerala.

 

In this video a Taashaa is being played along with a Timri, a short Nagaswarm. See the vigor of the Taashaa players.

                           THE NADASWARAM
The Nadaswaram is one of most important wind instruments of South India.
It is also known as the Melam, the Nagaswaram and the Olaga. It plays an important role in the Carnatic music.Nadaswaram forms an integral part of temple music and it is also used in marriages.
Nadaswaram is reffered to as a Mangal Vadhya which means an auspicious instrument. It is believed that the Nadaswaram evolved from the snake charmer's Pungi. The music played on the Nadaswaram has great volume and power.
It is a double-reed instrument .It has a conical bore that flares out towards the bottom. It usually has twelve holes.In these, the upper seven holes are used for creating the tones. Wax is applied on the other holes for Brahma Swaram to adjust the pitch.
The reed is fixed on a metal staple and is mounted on the top. Its body is usually made of ebony wood with  a metallic bell called “Keezh Anaichu” at the end. It is covered with silver or gold.The spare reeds and an ivory needle are attached to the mouth piece of theNadaswaram.
There are two varieties of the Nadaswaram.
* The Bari is a big Nadaswaram
* The Timiri is a short one.
It is usually accompanied by a loud percussion instrument called Thavil.The other traditional accompanying instruments of Nadaswram include the Sur Petti and the Ottu.
The famousNadaswaram artists are Sheikh Chinna Maulana and  Thiruvizha Jayashankar.
A folk artiste plays two Nagaswarams at a time. The big one is drone and on the smaller one a tune is being played.