Idakka

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Idakka player (left) at a Panchavadyam performance. Right the barrel drum madhalam

Idakka , Malayalam ഇടയ്ക്ക eḍakkā , also iḍakka, idakke, itekka, edaykka , is a double-skinned hourglass drum that is played mainly in religious music in Hindu temples and in processions in the southern Indian state of Kerala . It is larger than the hourglass-shaped drum damaru , but is not struck with rattle balls hanging from strings , but with a curved stick on one side. The membranes are unconnected over the two body openings, their tension and thus the pitch can be varied while making music so that melodies can be played. The idakka is the most revered instrument in Kerala music.

Design and style of play

Idakka

The slightly waisted body is made of red sandalwood ( Pterocarpus santalinus ), betel nut palm , gerber acacia ( Acacia catechu , Malayalam karingali ) or other solid woods. Its length is 21 to 26 centimeters and the outer diameter is about 11 centimeters with a wall thickness of one centimeter. The two membranes ( ullori ) consist of the gastric sac skin of a cow, which are dried and glued to a ring made of metal or the wood of the jackfruit tree (malayalam varikka plavu ) so that the skin completely surrounds the ring. The wooden ring ( valayangal ) is about two centimeters thick and twice the diameter of the body openings. A cotton cord is pulled through six holes evenly distributed on the rings, with which both eardrums are braced together in a V-shape. A multiple winding of cord runs in the middle of the drum around the outside of the bracing. At several points in the middle area more cords are tied, to which a strap (generally for musical instruments played while standing: thol-kaccha , "shoulder material") is attached, which the player hangs over his left shoulder. The lanyard symbolizes the snake ( Naga ) that Shiva has hanging around his neck.

Four long turned wooden sticks ( jeevakkolukal ) clamp at variable points between the V-lacing in order to evenly adjust the tension of the same. On the inside of the resonance membrane, two crossed snare strings made of leaf fibers from the palmyra palm are attached with copper nails , which add a metallic clattering sound. In the horizontal playing position, round, colorful tassels ( poduppukal ) hang on the drum as an ornament. 16 of these wool balls on each wooden stick, so a total of 64 traditionally belong to it and like all components of the idakka have an explainable symbolic meaning.

The entire unstable construction enables the player to change the membrane tension so much that a pitch range of over two octaves can be played. To do this, he grips between the bracing with his left hand and holds the body tight. By either pressing the drum against his hip or pressing down with his left hand to tighten the shoulder strap, the player increases the tension on the lacing and eardrums. With a stick ( idaykka kol ) made of wood or bone in his right hand, he hits the right eardrum ( kottuvattam ), the left resonance skin ( mootuvattam ) is not played on. The mallet is made from the wood of Caesalpinia sappan ( chappangam , a species related to the tamarind tree ) or from an animal horn. It has a similar shape but is shorter and thinner than the one used in Kerala for the cylinder drum chenda . The player can also slide the body not connected to the membranes off-center. The instrument can be easily dismantled and reassembled, but its playing is difficult to learn due to the enormous range and the sound properties that change with every fine movement. With certain concessions regarding the exact pitch, even ragas can be played.

The special religious veneration forbids placing the instrument on the floor; in temples or in private apartments it usually hangs decoratively on the wall.

Origin and Distribution

The idakka belongs to a group of hourglass drums in India, all of which have a mythological meaning and, like the damaru, are played by beggars and jugglers or in religious folk music. An hourglass drum up to 25 centimeters long is called hurukka , also huruka, hudukka, udukkai, deru , in Garhwal and Kumaon on the southern edge of the Himalayas hurka and daunr . Its body is also made of wood, it is struck with sticks or fingers.

To accompany folk dances in Karnataka and Kerala, the small, simple hourglass drum tudi (or thudi ) is played together with the wind instrument cheeni . In the villages of Kerala there was a custom of exposing a thief with the help of a tudi player. A tudi player gathered the entire village population on the square, beat his drum and insulted the thief so loudly that he gave himself a reaction. The idakka is said to have developed from this drum , which is particularly popular with the Adivasis in the Nilgiri Mountains .

A simpler kettle drum with variable skin tension is the burra from Andhra Pradesh . In her case, the membrane is stretched over a large iron ring, the lacing of which is pulled to the bottom of a brass pot and knotted there. Pambai is the name for a pair of cylindrical drums with a fixed, V-shaped tension on the string that is beaten with curved sticks and is played in Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu . These drums and others such as the kettle drum ghumat from Goa and the gummati from Karnataka each belong to a separate song tradition of professional musicians who belong to a particular population group. One such characteristic instrument is the ektara plucked drum of the Bauls in Bengal . Most common in folk music are kettle drum pairs of the nagara type . The double-headed cylinder drum chande (differs slightly from the Keralan chenda ) played in the Yakshagana dance theater in Karnataka has a fixed pitch, similar to the idakka, with a string tension attached to protruding rings.

In contrast to the numerous other drum types in Kerala, the idakka is considered a melody instrument. The idakka has a centuries-old tradition and can be seen on numerous temple sculptures in Karnataka. Their name is derived from the onomatopoeic Sanskrit word dakka , which, according to the laws of the Tamil language and Malayalam, is prefixed with the prefix E or I. Like damaru, Dakka is a name for Shiva's little hourglass drum. After the Creator God had played this instrument 14 times, he is said to have created the Mahesvara Sutras , the 14 verses from which the original sounds ( phonemes ) and the Sanskrit language emerged. The appreciation for this divine instrument ( devadyam ), from which all tones of the cosmos emerged in the myth and with which all tones can consequently be played, becomes understandable.

use

Today the idakka is mainly used in Hindu temple service ( puja ) in Kerala during processions and in front of the temple ( kovil ). She takes on an essential role in the ceremonial drum orchestra Panchavadyam ("Five Musical Instruments"), in which, in addition to the idakka, the hourglass drum timila with wooden body, the larger two-headed barrel drum madhalam (in Karnataka maddale ), also made of wood, and the small bronze pair of elathalam with the only one Wind instrument, the curved natural trumpet playing together. As a rule, large panchavadyam orchestras have one or two idakka players, slightly more madhalam players, and twice as many of the other instruments as there are madhalams . At temple festivals in Kerala, a Panchavadyam performance starting in the morning lasts eight hours, further hours in the evening and again at night. The timila is also considered a sacred instrument, it represents the cosmic drum of Shiva (whose drum in the right hand is otherwise called damaru ).

Ambalapuzha Gopakumar sings and plays idakka in the South Indian classical singing style Sopana Sangeetham . Right behind the barrel drum madhalam

The idakka is also used in the classical south Indian temple music Sopana Sangeetham . Sopanam stands for the place in front of the temple sanctuary (temple steps ), sangeetham means "music". The first part of the raga is a slowly sung alapana , which is rhythmically accompanied by an idakka and the cymbals elathalam . The following fast and complex rhythms with often odd bars belong to the desi talams . A large Sopana Sangeetham orchestra can consist of over 50 instruments, including the idakka, various variants of the cylinder drum chenda , the bronze gong chengila (bell without a clapper ), the cymbals elathalam and kuzhitalam , the hourglass drum timila , the small, horizontally played cylinder drum maram , the trumpet kombu , the double reed instrument kuzhal , Vishnu's snail horn shanku and the musical bow villadi vadyam ( ville for short ) belong. Sopana Sangeetham is performed by temple musicians who belong to the Maaran (Marar) or Poduval castes in northern Kerala.

The spectacular Kathakali mask dance from Kerala is accompanied by several drums. The idakka takes the place of the large standing cylinder drum chenda as soon as female figures act.

In Krishnanattam , another dance drama with mask dancers in honor of Krishna , the drums madhalam and idakka as well as cymbals and gongs belong to the accompanying orchestra of the bhakti chants. The tradition is kept alive in the Krishna temple of Guruvayur (about 30 kilometers north of Thrissur ). The eight-day temple festival takes place in February / March.

In the Mohiniyattam , one of the eight classical Indian dance forms , which is danced by women , stories are told of how Vishnu, as the female Avatar Mohini, fights the demons ( Asuras ). The elegant, flowing dance movements are appropriately accentuated by an idakka .

In the very old Sanskrit theater Kutiyattam of Kerala, which mythologically dates back to Buddhist times , male and female actors with heavy make-up appear. They tell stories of the gods that often date from the time of the Cholas and Pallavas . The performers are musically accompanied by a drum ensemble, which includes the large copper kettle hit with the hands, the mizhavu , the idakka , cymbals and the snail horn shanku .

Thayambaka is a temple festival with a large drum orchestra that usually starts playing at dusk. Thefocus is ona chenda drummer who for once does not play with two but only with one stick and the fingers of the other hand. He is accompanied by three to four other chenda players ( Veekku Chenda ) and three to four itakka players. The performance lasts 1.5 to 2 hours.

literature

Web links

Commons : Idakka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ GS Paul: Rhythm of the edakka. The Hindu, December 23, 2005
  2. ↑ Eḍakkā. In: Late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh (Ed.): The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India. Saṅgīt Mahābhāratī. Vol. 1 (A – G) Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2011, p. 308
  3. ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments. National Book Trust, New Delhi 1977, pp. 35, 41f
  4. ↑ Suganthy Krishnamachari: symphony Leading to unrehearsed . The Hindu, October 8, 2010
  5. ↑ Sopana Sangeetham. carnaticindia.com
  6. ^ David B. Reck: Musical Instruments: Southern Area. In: Alison Arnold (Ed.): Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent. Vol. 5. Garland, New York / London 2000, p. 361
  7. ↑ Krishnanattam. dvaipayana.net
  8. ↑ NK Singh (Ed.): The Ramayana in Kathakali Dance Drama. Global Vision Publishing House, New Delhi 2006, p. 12