Bartal
Bartal , Bartal, bortal, bhortāl, bhor-taal ( Assamese বৰতাল ), is a clash cymbals , which in the northeastern Indian state of Assam to the accompaniment of dances and religious chants in a Vishnuite used faith. The bear valley is the largest couple pool in India. It probably comes from the Tibetan ritual practice in which rol-mo are beaten.
origin
Pair of cymbals or hand cymbals belong to the counter-strike idiophones that appear in India in numerous variants as plates that are generally curved in the shape of a bowl or flat on the edge and only hunched in the middle. They indicate the basic beat ( valley ) in religious music, Indian folk music and in classical music . The word derived from Sanskrit tāla , "palm", "beat", "meter", also denotes cymbals or cymbals in northern India with which the beat is marked. Functionally, they belong to the group of tala vadya (“rhythm instruments”), according to the type of sound generation they belong to the ghana vadya (“solid instruments”) according to the ancient Indian classification .
A prefix like bar- is used to designate a certain type of cymbal. In South India, cymbals are called talam , a type of cymbal that is mainly played in the religious music of Kerala is elathalam . Small cymbals like the north Indian manjira with a diameter of five to ten centimeters are usually thick-walled and cast from brass or bronze , while larger cymbals like the bartal are thinly forged from raw forms. In the middle, the basins have a hole through which a cord is pulled to hold on to. Pair pools are held with both hands and hit against each other with the edges or rubbed against each other along the edges. The oldest basins in South Asia came to light during excavations of the Indus culture and are mentioned in Vedic texts as aghati .
According to Assamese sources, the bartal comes from Bhot desh , a Sanskrit word for what is now Tibet , and was brought by the Bhotiya, an ethnic group belonging to the Tibetans . The name bhota tala , from which bartal , is a reminder of the origin. In fact, pair pools such as the rol-mo are essential for Tibetan ritual music and the bar valley probably came to Assam from Tibet and Bhutan , where it is mentioned by the scholar and founder of Assamese Vishnuism, Sankaradeva (1499–1568).
Design and distribution
The diameter of bartal , as used by dancers, is about 36 centimeters, the hemispherical hump in the middle is about half as large. With diameters between 40 and 60 centimeters even larger are bartal , which beat musicians while sitting. Their weight is between 2.5 and 6.5 kilograms. Bartal are named as the largest Indian pair pools, which otherwise have a diameter between 15 and 35 centimeters. In other pair pools, the central hump can be much smaller with a comparable overall diameter. Similar pair pools in northern and eastern India are called jhanj ( jhanjh ), derived from the Arabic-Persian word zang . Linguistically related is jhanj with the Santhal, an Adivasi group in Bihar and jhan-jhan with the Oraon in Jharkhand . Also large pair pools are brahmatala in southern India, kasala in Odisha and talalu in Andhra Pradesh . Das bartal produces a deep tone that lasts for over 15 seconds for a very long time.
The clash cymbals differ technically and in shape of the hump gongs (general ghana ) that are found in northeast India in some variants, and often have a special cultural significance. Humpback gongs are struck with a wooden mallet , as is the bowl-shaped gong wrestling of the Garo and some slotted drums . Large pair pools and small, heavy cymbals are part of religious, i.e. Hindu or Tibetan Buddhist, ceremonies in Assam and the rest of Northeast India .
The individual parts of cymbals and pair cymbals have the Assamese names paat (flat edge), betu (hump) and bindha (hole in the middle of the hump). The Assamese percussion instruments used as tala-vadya are classified according to shape and sound quality. The patital is smaller than the bartal and has a significantly thinner edge. The diameter of the bihutal is even smaller than that of the patital , but the hump in the bihutal is somewhat larger. The main difference between these two pair pools, however, is their use on different occasions. Two small, thick-walled cymbals are also struck in Assam. The diameter of the cutital area is six centimeters. The relatively heavy mandira with a diameter of five centimeters has no edge, but a high hump. It corresponds roughly to the widespread jalra that is used to accompany religious songs ( bhajans ). In addition to these hunched pair cymbals and cymbals, the flat disk kah , which is used in religious songs and is struck in the middle with a soft mallet, as well as the bamboo or wooden rattle kartal , the fork-shaped bamboo rattle toka and the hand bell tilinga also occur in Assam .
Style of play
Bartals are mainly played in Hindu singing styles and dances. One of the worship of Vishnu serving Bhakti -Liedgattung is Thiyanam , with nam mostly means a religious song, while the Assamese songs with git (from Sanskrit Gita ) on behalf rather have a secular content. Thiyanam consists of several musical sections, the tempo ( laya ) of which increases gradually up to druta (tempo designation "fast") in the fourth section. The religious reciter ( pathak ) sings while his companions clap their hands and the pair of kettle drums play nagara . The bartal player sets the pace. This is followed by the Bartal nritya , a very popular dance style typical of Assam. The still young Bartal nritya was developed by the Assamese dancer Narahari Burha Bhakat from the Sattriya , the most famous Assamese dance style, which was included in the series of eight classical Indian dance styles .
Palnam and Nam Prasanga are more Vaishnavite songs and dances with bartal -Begleitung. The Gayan bayan is a devotional chant that is also part of the Vishnuitic Sattriya tradition. The singer called gayan is accompanied by instrumentalists called bayan . The Vishnuit tradition of Assam owes much to Anuradha Deva, who founded the Mayamara (Muamaria) sect in the early 17th century. In addition to several bartal , the double-cone drums khol (also mridanga ) are used, which are similar to the south Indian mridangam and the pung played in Manipur . Anuradha Deva is said to have composed over 200 songs ( git ) according to his believers . Most well-known songs consist of four to six verses and their musical structure is based on 36 ragas of classical Indian music.
At the center of the Nagara Nam singing style are one or two very large kettle drums nagara . Musicians with several large beards accompany the religious group singing. Ghosanaam is a stage dance in which a dancer presents stories from the epics Mahabharata , Ramayana and from the Puranas . Several beardals and a large nagara are beaten to accompany them .
The tradition of Assamese Vishnuism ( Ekasarana Dharma ) also includes the dance drama Ankiya Nat, developed by Sankaradeva in the 16th century . Drama was the last of the art forms with which Sankaradeva spread his religion in Assam in old age. The singers ( gayana ) accompany each other with bartal and the drummers ( vayana ) play khol . The bowling oboe kali (also kaliya ), a variant of the mohori or in southern India the mukhavina, is used as a melody instrument . At the appearance of Krishna a snail horn sounds ( sankh ). In 1974, twelve khol , six bartal and two kali played in the Ankiya Nat ensemble of the city of Nagaon . The performances take place in Namghar , the traditional meeting house of the religious community founded by Sankaradeva.
Some devotional songs are only sung by women who hope that Sankaradeva will cure them from illness, live long and prosper. These include the dihanaam sung in call-and-answer style , which are rhythmically accompanied by bartal or other pair cymbals, nagara, khol and clapping of hands.
literature
- Bartāl and Bortal . In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, pp. 237, 378
- Dilip Ranjan Barthakur: The Music and Musical Instruments of North Eastern India. Mittal Publications, New Delhi 2003
Web links
- Cymbals: Bhortal. Horniman Museum & Gardens
- 'Ghosha Kirtan' in Bordowa Than, Bordowa. Youtube video ( Kirtan Ghosha , collection of poems written by Sankaradeva. Ceremony of the Ekasarana Dharma tradition in Bordowa Than , the temple in Sankaradeva's birthplace Bordowa, with over 50 bartal , 30 patital and several kettle drums.)
Individual evidence
- ^ Norbert Beyer: India. VIII. Musical instruments . In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Part 4, Bärenreiter, Kassel 1996, Col. 744f
- ↑ a b Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, 2003, p. 105
- ↑ Bartāl . In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 2014, p. 237
- ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, 2003, p. 104
- ↑ Nagara Nam. Youtube video (devotional singing Nagara nam with several bartal and two kettle drums nagara )
- ↑ Taal. ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. anvesha.co.in
- ^ Alastair Dick, Pribislav Pitoëff: Tāl . In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 4, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 690
- ^ Roger Blench: Musical instruments of Northeast India. Classification, distribution, history and vernacular names. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Cambridge, December 2011, pp. 1–45, here pp. 18f
- ^ Ravi Mokashi Punekar, Shri Dijen Gogoi: Popular Folk Music Instruments . ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. D'source
- ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, 2003, pp. 104-107
- ↑ Thiya Nam of Assam . Youtube video (The singing is accompanied by several bartal and the kettle drum pair nagara .)
- ↑ Bihu, Bhortal dances to open Italian filmfest. nelive.in, July 7, 2015
- ↑ Anjana Gohain: Gayan Bayan of the Mayamara Satra . ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Golden Research Thoughts , Vol. 3, No. 11, May 2014
- ^ Sangeet Natak Akademi presents "Folk Dances of Assam" video screening. delhievents.com
- ^ Farley Richmond: The Vaiṣṇava Drama of Assam. In: Educational Theater Journal, Vol. 26, No. 2, May 1974, pp. 145–163, here p. 157
- ↑ Ankiya Nat. asiantheatre.wikispaces.com (Photos)
- ↑ The Musicological literature of Assam: Hiranmayee Das Gogoi. xurorenajori.info, April 17, 2013
- ↑ "Diha naam" by samannoy sanskriti sangha morigaon.flv. Youtube video (women singing Dihanam )
