Dhamsa

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Dhamsa . The santals call them tamak and play them at family celebrations. The double-headed conical tubular drum tumdak is cut lower right .

Dhamsa , ( Bengali and other regional languages ​​in East India ) dhāmsā, also dhumsa, is the largest kettle drum played in North Indian music . It has an iron body , belongs to the Indian nāgaras type and is usually played in village music at religious annual celebrations and to accompany folk dances. Nāgara is a national term in India for kettle drums of different sizes, used individually or in pairs; the dhamsa is a special type of drum that is struck individually with two sticks and often together with other drums .

Design and style of play

The body ( khol ) tapers roughly elliptically to the bottom, its shape results from the special construction, which consists of thin sheet iron strips. These spiral upwards in a circle and are connected to one another at the overlapping edges by narrow rows of rivets. A drum from the West Bengal district of Purulia has an upper diameter of 61 centimeters, a circular lower cover plate of 9 centimeters and a height of 52 centimeters. The membrane consists of an untanned ox skin, which is stretched with a tightly interwoven web of skin strips ( bandhi ) up to a ring on the ground. This thick ring ( bidi ) has a diameter of about 15 centimeters and also serves as protection for the lower floor panel. Under the upper edge, the bracing forms a diamond-shaped pattern that merges into an elongated network pattern in the middle area, in which the stripes cross over several times. The braid enables the drum to be placed on the floor in an inclined position. A small hole in the middle of the floor may have little effect on the sound, but the musicians are of the opinion that the instrument sounds better if they blow into this hole shortly before playing.

The two slightly curved mallets ( damsar khadi ) without a head are made of teak ( segun ) or palm wood ( kul ). A pair of mallets was measured 37 and 48 centimeters long and 2.5 centimeters thick. The player sits on the floor in front of the instrument, which is inclined at about 45 degrees, while other drums rest horizontally in a frame and are played while standing. With a strap attached to the edge on both sides, the dhamsa can also be hung around the neck and played while walking, with the eardrum tilted slightly forward. The drum is struck with a stick in each hand. In order to always produce a dark, full tone, the beats only hit the middle of the eardrum, never the edge. The movements are far reaching and can reach over the head.

Origin and Distribution

Nāgara is a generic term in India for kettle drums played individually or in pairs in folk music, which are said to have an origin from the Arab, widespread naqqāra . This pair of kettle drums came to the country with the military bands of the Muslim conquerors from the 8th century and later belonged to the palace orchestra of the sultans. The Arabic name for drums in general is tabl . Large Arabic kettle drums that were played individually were formerly called kūs, (Pl. Kūsāt ).

The Indian drums, however, have roots that go back much longer. Already in Vedic writings from the 1st millennium BC The name dundubhi , which in most cases meant a war drum , often appears . Presumably it was a wooden kettle drum, in addition there were several other drum types in pre-Christian times that are known from texts and illustrations and, depending on the context, were possibly called dundubhi .

The dhamsa served in earlier times because of their loud and far-sounding beats as a war drum in tribal clashes. Today it is an indispensable rhythm instrument in dance theaters and folk dances of the lower castes and several Adivasi groups in the eastern Indian states. The best known is the chhau dance theater, which is performed with colorfully costumed and masked dancers in the three different styles Seraikella chhau in Jharkhand , Purulia chhau in West Bengal and Mayurbhanj chhau in Orissa . In the Seraikella area, smaller kettle drums are called nāgara or nagra and only larger dhamsa . The barrel drums dhol , dholak or dholki and the double reed instruments shehnai or mohori serve as additional accompanying instruments . Sometimes up to six dhamsas play together in the particularly lively Purulia chhau . The dhol player leads the performance while standing and walks around the stage with his drum hanging around his neck, shouting in between, while the dhamsawala ( dhamsa player) sits on the floor.

The dhimsa dance (also dimsa ) is a tribal dance that is performed in the east of Andhra Pradesh (in the Araku Valley near Visakhapatnam ) and in other remote areas of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh , especially at the annual hunting festival in March / April and otherwise at weddings. Men and women of all ages dressed in bright red, yellow and green take part and dance to the accompaniment of dhamsa, dhol and other drums whose names are only known regionally.

Characteristic of the tribal dances of this region is rhythmic accompanying music, which often only consists of drums. A special feature of Orissa's ghumra dance is that the dancers play the drum of the same name themselves. In Mukutmanipur (Bankura district) in West Bengal, the Adivasi groups of the Santal , Munda and Bhumij play the dhamsa, the small clay barrel drum madal and the string instrument kendra at festive events to accompany their dances .

literature

  • Richard Emmert et al. a .: Description of Musical Instruments . In the S. u. a. (Ed.): Dance and Music in South Asian Drama. Chhau, Mahākāli pyākhan and Yakshagāna. Report of Asian Traditional Performing Arts 1981. Academia Music Ltd., Tokyo 1983, pp. 268-270

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Emmert, pp. 268-270
  2. Walter Kaufmann : Old India. Music history in pictures. Volume II. Ancient Music. Delivery 8. Ed. Werner Bachmann. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1981, p. 32
  3. Andrew Tsubaki, Farley P. Richmond: Chau. In: Farley P. Richmond, Darius L. Swann, Phillip B. Zarrilli (Eds.): Indian Theater. Traditions of Performance. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1990, p. 375
  4. Mukutmanipur - West Bengal. ( Memento of March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) India Travelite