Elathalam
Elathalam ( Malayalam ), also eḷathalam, ela-ttāḷam, ilathalam, iḷataḷam, is a small pair of brass cymbals (hand cymbals ) that are used in the southern Indian state of Kerala in ritual music in religious processions in temples and to accompany dance theaters. The elathalam also sets the beat ( tala ) in the traditional Indian music of Kerala ; in addition to numerous ceremonial percussion orchestras, it is part of the Panchavadyam (“five instruments”) orchestra formation .
origin
Pair basin or cymbals are counterblow idiophone that in ancient Indian Sanskrit -Literature summarized in the resulting plant around the time of Natyashastra as Ghana vadya ( "solid Instrument") classifies be. The relatively few illustrations of idiophones from ancient Indian times include cymbals and bells (bells or rattles ). Rattle rings that dancers wear on their ankles are particularly common, while other rattles are shown to be shaken with the hands while dancing. Sanskrit tala , Tamil talam , in Indian literature denotes the rhythmic structure of the music, the clapping of hands and at the same time metal cymbals or cymbals to indicate the beat. Basins have always been part of religious music and dance accompaniment. The oldest basins came to light during excavations of the Indus culture . In the drama Mrcchakatika , which may have originated between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD and was written by an otherwise unknown King Shudraka, the music played in the house of a wealthy courtesan is praised. The dancers were therefore accompanied by drums ( mridangam ) and cymbals ( kansya tala ), and the sweet sounds of flutes ( vamshi ) and harps ( vina ) could also be heard .
In the middle of the 1st millennium AD, parts of Southeast Asia were under the influence of Indian culture, which was spread along the shipping trade routes. The oldest musical instrument found in a shipwreck in Asian waters is a single basin. The ship that sank off the east coast of Sumatra in the middle of the 9th century is the earliest evidence of sea trade between India and China. The flat bronze basin with a diameter of 30.5 centimeters has, like today's specimens, a hump in the middle and a small hole in the hump. The word elathalam is composed of talam and the prefix ela , Tamil "leaf".
Design and style of play
The elathalam consists of two brass plates with a diameter of 12 to 15 centimeters and a thickness of about 0.5 centimeters. The plates are flat on the outer half, and on the inside they curve into a flat hump. A cord that runs through the hole in the middle is secured with a knot on the inside of the plate and fixes a plastic button at a distance of two to three centimeters from the hump. A plate is held between the thumb and forefinger with each hand.
Two different ways of playing are practiced. In a horizontal playing position, the musician hits the two plates flat against each other at the edges. Immediately after the hit, he keeps the lower plate steady and strokes the edge of the upper plate in a circle over the edge of the lower one, in order to lengthen the aftertaste of the rather dark hit with a lighter, grinding tone. Alternatively, the musician holds the cymbals approximately vertically with the cord in the curved palm and hits them against one another with sweeping, sweeping movements.
Temple music
In Kerala, religious rituals differentiate between worship ( puja ) in temples ( kshetram ) and at shrines for village deities in sacred groves ( kavu ). The music performed at processions and in temples is not related to dance and is mostly instrumental ( vadya ) music called kshetram vadyam . Except for wind instruments, the temple orchestra consists only of drums and idiophones. The great seasonal temple festivals with their ceremonial percussion orchestras represent the culmination of the cultural events of a year in Kerala for Hindus and non-Hindus alike. The sound of the dozen-player percussion orchestras is said to evoke certain gods of the temple and to entertain the temple goers. As a musical form, percussion orchestras belong to the group kutuka ("drumming") compared to the sung music pattu , ("sing", for example villu pattu , "bow song") and pulluvan pattu , the one with the single-stringed fiddle pulluvan vina , the plucked drum pulluvan kudam and elathalam songs sung by the Pulluvan in a serpent cult. The wind instruments also have the function of rhythm instruments in the percussion orchestra, they decorate the drum beats and lengthen their sound. The elathalam set the pace and add a high, "flying" aspect to the ensemble sound.
According to their musical function, the musical instruments of the kshetram vadyam are classified as tala vadyam ("rhythm instruments ") and according to their function in ritual as deva vadyam if they are used to worship higher gods ( deva ) or asura vadyam if they are more dependent on worshiping lower gods Serving deities ( asura ). The elathalam belongs to the group of instruments for the latter deities, while its role in ritual music for the main gods inside the main temple is performed by the small hand gong chengila .
The temple festival season runs from October to May and includes the cooler and drier seasons. During this time, all temple musicians are employed professionally or semi-professionally at different temples. The players belong to the Nayar , Marar or a related caste and enjoy a high social standing which, apart from the well-paid soloists, has a relatively low income. The players of the elathalam and valantala chenda (the chenda struck on the bass side ) earn the least .
The great Panchavadyam is one of the most mature orchestral forms in Kerala. It is essential that the pace of the performances, which usually last over an hour, becomes ever faster. The percussionists and the wind instruments face each other in groups. Today's form is essentially composed, and since it is mainly used for entertainment and not played during rituals inside the temple, it also contains improvised elements. The five instruments of the Panchavadyam are the double-headed double-cone drum madhalam , the two wooden hourglass drums idakka and timila , the elathalam and, as the only wind instrument, the curved natural trumpet kombu . The position of the players is fixed: there are typically nine elathalam in the first row, seven timila in the second row and two idakka in the middle . Opposite them are four madhalam in the third row and seven kombu in the fourth row behind them . Such a Panchavadyam orchestra can also consist of 15 elathalam , ten to 15 timila, one to two idakka , ten madhalam and ten kombu . The orchestra begins after the snail horn shankh is blown three times. First, a very slow tempo of usually 448 beats per cycle ( tala ) is given, which increases gradually and ends in sections or layers ( talavattam ) of shorter cycles with 224, 112, 56 to finally 7 and 3½ beats per cycle. Each cycle consists of a fixed basic structure which is established by the elathalam together with the majority of the drummers. Drummers play a different rhythmic structure, stepping out solo at certain times.
The Panchari melam is the most popular and perhaps the oldest percussion orchestra that performs at almost every temple festival in central Alcala. In addition to the kombu , the short double-reed instrument kuzhal (also kurum kuzhal ) is used, a variant of mohori that is only used in Kerala . The Panchari melam belongs to the chenda melam family . Further ensembles and musical genres of chenda melam are Pandi, Chempata, Chempha, Dhruvam, Anchatanta and Atanta . The chenda melam is dominated by the large cylinder drum chenda , rhythmically supported by elathalam . The procession with the Panchari melam orchestra belongs in its large form to annual festivals and is then led by an elephant or a Nambudiri priest who carries a figure of the temple god. From the beginning at the entrance of the main temple, the procession circles it clockwise, stops at each of the eight cardinal points and plays at least one musical section ( talavattam ) for the respective secondary deity. The ensemble behind the elephant includes five kombu in the first row and five kuzhal in the second row . Opposite them are five high-pitched chenda in the third row . This is followed by two rows with alternating six deep-sounding chenda ( valantala chenda ) and five elathalam in between . Another three valantala chenda form the end .
The ensemble kuzhal pattu is a specialty . It embodies the only kshetram vadyam style in which a wind instrument plays a melody line and emerges as a soloist. This includes at least one kuzhal , which is accompanied by a chenda and an elathalam . The ensemble, which is related to South Indian classical music , can also consist of a toppi madhalam (a smaller version of the madhalam that hangs not around the waist but around the neck ) and occasionally a sruti kuzhal . The latter complements a drone ( sruti ).
Most percussion ensembles only play on the occasion of temple festivals. Only Thayampaka and occasionally Keli are also performed on concert stages. In the Keli , chenda, madhalam and elathalam play together. Thayampaka is an ensemble for solo chenda , several accompanying chenda and several elathalam that keep the beat . This musical form offers plenty of space for improvisations in which the chenda player can demonstrate his virtuosity. Elathalam are also used in the ensemble of the religious shadow play Tholpavakuthu , which is performed at the annual Puram festivals in the Palakkad district in honor of the goddess Bhadrakali. Its tradition is still maintained by some members of the Pulavar families.
Dance theater
In a different line-up of Panchari melam , the focus is on the large, round copper drum mizhavu . Several mizhavu players seated in the middle are surrounded by kombu, kuzhal, chenda, and elathalam players. Ensembles with mizhavu accompany the very old theater form Kutiyattam in Kerala .
In the classical dance style Mohiniyattam , which is also only practiced in Kerala, the main musical instrument is the hourglass drum idakka . There are also the barrel drum shudda madhalam , the double-cone drum mridangam , the long-necked vina , the flute venu and small pair of bronze cymbals (bell metal ) called kuzhitalam ( kuzhittalam ). The bronze kuzhitalam correspond in size and shape to the brass elathalam ; the large hump in the middle gave it its name: kuzhi means “ hollow ” or “sink”. Both are often used together in Kerala.
In the religious dance drama Krishnanattam, in which mask dancers perform in honor of Krishna , madhalam, idakka, elathalam and chengila (gong) belong to the accompanying orchestra of the bhakti chants. The tradition is kept alive in the Krishna temple in the small town of Guruvayur (about 30 kilometers north of Thrissur ). An eight-day temple festival takes place there in February / March.
During performances by the Kathakali dance theater , the actor's gestures and facial expressions are accompanied by chenda, madhalam, idakka and elathalam . Elathalam also belong to the ritual theaters Mutiyettu and Ayyappan tiyatta .
distribution
The surroundings of the elathalam in India include striking plates cast from brass or bronze with a diameter of up to 20 centimeters and a thickness of 0.5–1 centimeters. They are struck with a wooden stick in temple rituals and in folk music and are known under the name ghari , which is derived from Sanskrit ghanta ( hand bell ). Thin beating plates with a bent edge are called thali like the dinner plates . The general names for counter-strike idiophones are tal in north India and talam in south India . Small basins are thicker and are cast, larger basins have a thinner wall thickness, which is created by forging raw forms. With a diameter of over 30 centimeters, the pair pools in Assam , known as Bartal , are particularly large . The bartal (or bhortal ) struck by dancers have a deep hump and a broad, flat edge.
The south Indian jalra is a slightly smaller pair of cymbals with a diameter of ten centimeters and a thinner wall than the elathalam . Both plates made of copper or bell metal are usually connected to one another by a cord. Jalra mark the beat in religious songs ( bhajan ). If jalra are occasionally used in classical music as a secondary rhythmic accompanying instrument, they can enter into an exciting exchange with the drum mridangam . In Kerala, small cymbals are called kaimani , in northern India and Pakistan manjira . Other names for small cymbals are jhallarī and kartal , while jhallari, brhattalam, brahmatalam and jhanj denote large cymbals. Jhanj is derived from the Arabic-Persian word for cymbal or bell, chang .
Discography
- India. Ritual Percussion of Kerala. Vol. 1: Kshetram Vadyam. Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire. (AIMP LIV) Musée d'ethnographie, Geneva 1998 (Rolf Killius: recordings and text booklet)
literature
- Ela-ttāḷam. 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. 311
- Pribislav Pitoëff: Iḷataḷam. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 13
- Rolf Killius: Ritual Music and Hindu Rituals of Kerala. BR Rhythms, Delhi 2006
Web links
- Panchavadyam-2. Youtube video
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walter Kaufmann : Old India. Music history in pictures. Volume 2. Ancient Music . Delivery 8. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1981, pp. 27, 31
- ^ Arsenio Nicolas: Gongs, Bells, and Cymbals: The Archaeological Record in Maritime Asia. From the Ninth to the Seventeenth Centuries . In: Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 41, 2009, pp. 62–93, here pp. 63, 66
- ↑ Kerala India percussion ilathalam . Youtube video (demonstration of horizontally struck cymbals)
- ^ Rolf Killius, 2006, pp. 45, 49, 60
- ↑ Rolf Killius, 2006, p. 80
- ↑ Rolf Killius, 2006, p. 94
- ↑ a b Rolf Killius, 2006, p. 57
- ^ Rolf Groesbeck: "Classical Music," "Folk Music," and the Brahmanical Temple in Kerala, India. In: Asian Music , Vol. 30, No. 2, Spring – Summer 1999, pp. 87–112, here p. 90
- ↑ Kuzhal pattu ... by Velappaya Nandhanan, Peruvanam Satheeshan Marar, Peruvanam Murali. Youtube video
- ↑ Rolf Killius, 2006, pp. 74f
- ↑ Keli Kerala tradition. Youtube video
- ^ Rolf Groesbeck: Cultural Constructions of Improvisation in Tāyampaka, a Genre of Temple Instrumental Music in Kerala, India. In: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 43, No. 1, Winter 1999, pp. 1–30, here p. 4
- ↑ K. Pradeep: Rhythmic beats of Koodiyattom. In: The Hindu. February 8, 2008.
- ↑ Bharat Shivaji: The Art of Mohiniyattam. Lancer International, New Delhi 1986, p. 91
- ↑ Kuzhittālam . In: Late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh (Ed.): The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India. Saṅgīt Mahābhāratī. Vol. 2, Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2011, p. 582
- ↑ Krishnanattam. dvaipayana.net
- ↑ NK Singh (Ed.): The Ramayana in Kathakali Dance Drama. Global Vision Publishing House, New Delhi 2006, p. 12
- ^ Norbert Beyer: India. VIII. Musical instruments . In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Part 4, Bärenreiter, Kassel 1996, Col. 744f
- ↑ Dilip Ranjan Barthakur: The Music and Musical Instruments of North Eastern India. Mittal Publications, New Delhi 2003, pp. 104f
- ↑ Jālra . In: P. Sambamurthy: A Dictionary of South Indian Music and Musicians. Vol. 2 (G-K), The Indian Music Publishing House, Madras 1984, p. 242
- ↑ Pribislav Pitoeff: Jalra. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 3, Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 63
- ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva, Josef Kuckertz : Bhārūḍ, Vāghyā-muralī and the Ḍaff-gān of the Deccan. Studies in the regional folk music of South India. (Ngoma. Studies on folk music and non-European art music, Volume 6) Musikverlag Emil Katzbichler, Munich / Salzburg 1981, p. 130