Music: form, tambura

[dmenon at pacific.net.sg]

Hi,

On the subject of the drone, in the Temple music of Kerala, the 'Kurru
Kuzhal' (something similar to the Shahnai {spelling?}) is used to give the
drone. This is especially noticable in the performance called 'Kuzhal Pattu'
esentially a musical dialog between the Kuzhal and 'Chenda'. The use of
Kurru Kuzhal for the drone is at least a few centuries old. This is a very
labourious task since the person producing the drone has to continously blow
without a break for the 20+ minutes that takes to complete the Kuzhal Pattu.
Needless to say there are only a few people alive who can still do it.

Regards...Das

At 12:51 PM 4/19/96 BST, you wrote:
>	1. Is there any book/articles available which discuss this form or four
>	elements in Indian music?  I havn't found any.
>
>If you are looking for general books, this may be useful
>
>	Author:         Nijenhuis, Emmie te.
>	Title:          Indian music : history and structure
>	Published:      Leiden : Brill, 1974.
> 
>
>	2. Is there any book/articles available that deals with the "drone"?
>	       I havn't found any.
>
>B.C.Deva's article "The Emergence of the Drone in India music"
>(Journal of the Music Academy, Madras, 1952) is about the only
>extensive one I have seen on this subject.  It is reprinted in
>his book "The Music of India: A Scientific Study".
>
>This book also carries a reprint of his other article titled
>"Tonal structure of the tambura" from the same journal (1956).
>	
>	3. Contain "classical indian literature" any reference to the tambura?
>
>The first article cited above says that the specific drone
>instrument, tambura, is not found in literary or pictorial
>sources till the end of Middle Ages (?). 
>
>Certainly, other instruments like the vINa, yAzh, flute, etc 
>were used as accompaniment to vocal music, and possibly served 
>as a sort of drone too.  And there were other folk instruments
>like the ek-tAr serving the same function.
>
>But, it is not till the 15th, 16th centuries that, due to various 
>dramatic changes, the tambura-style drone becomes indispensable.
>Some of these changes are - music making based on a fixed tonic
>rather than modally shifting the tonic, associating S permanently
>with the tonic thus rendering it invariant and analogously the
>fifth or P.
>
>-Srini.
>
>