Mizhavu
Mizhavu ( Malayalam : മിഴാവ് [ ˈmɨɻaːʋɯ ], also milavu, miravu, mizhav ) is a drum with a large, approximately oval or circular body made of copper, which is used in the traditional dance theater Kutiyattam and related solo theater styles called Kuthu in the southern Indian state of Kerala is used as rhythmic musical accompaniment. The very old, religiously revered percussion instrument cannot be assigned to any of the usual drum categories and, with its membrane, which is tiny compared to the body, represents the transition between kettle drum and percussion idiophonically .
Design and style of play
The roughly oval body has the shape of a bulbous, downwardly tapering vase with a maximum width of 53 to 63 centimeters, a round base and a short neck with an opening diameter of about 15 centimeters. Such an instrument is a little over a meter high. A circular mizhavu , which is worshiped in the Sri Krishna temple of Ambalappuzha (13 kilometers south of Alappuzha ), has a diameter of almost 1.5 meters. To produce an oval mizhavu , which is common today , a strip of sheet copper is bent and soldered together to form a conical tube. The bottom and the top part get their semicircular shape by driving with a hammer before all three parts are soldered together. The neck with a rounded bead edge is manufactured separately and placed on the correspondingly large hole cutout. A small hole punched in on the side at the end should produce the desired sound. One of the craftsmen stretches a moist, untanned animal hide as a membrane over the opening, while a second ties the hide at the edge with a cotton cord wound several times in a circle.
The mizavu must not be placed on the floor, it stands with its round bottom on a soft, cushion-like surface surrounded by a square fence made of horizontal timber. The player crouches on the edge of this wooden frame that is widened on one side, the mizhavu between his splayed knees and with his hips at the level of the eardrum. He hits the eardrum with one palm or alternately with both hands, although hits on the body are not common. The tone sounds metallic and, due to the small head diameter, is significantly higher than that of a kettle drum of a comparable size.
Origin and Distribution
Mizhavus belong to the division into Bharatas work Natyashastra , which was around the time and in which the ancient Indian music theory Gandharva is included for musical instrument class avanaddha vadya ( "covered"), is thus the Membranophonen in which a solid clay, metal or wooden body is covered with an animal skin, and which were generally called pushkara in Sanskrit Vedic literature . Their invention is linked to a saint who wanted to draw water from a lake ( pushkara also means lake) when Indra let rain showers from the sky, the drops of which rang in the saint's ear. Thereupon the same began to manufacture drums. At that time there was a now gone drum, which is described in the Vedas as bhumi dundubhi ( bhumi , "earth", dundubhi denoted kettle drums) the ox was beaten.
Many Indian drums have retained a symbolic and magical meaning. The mizhavu is an ancient drum that has always been worshiped religiously. In the early Tamil literature, the instrument is mentioned as muzha , which is also commonly referred to as membranophone. Before a finished mizhavu can be used, a Brahmin priest must perform a ceremony whose magical meaning is as old as the idea of the age of this drum and dates back to Vedic times. In the ceremony called upanayanam, the priest puts flower chains around the drum, drips holy water over it, burns incense sticks and recites mantras . Here the mizhavu is treated as if it were a youthful Brahmin who is incarnated into the celibate stage of Brahmacharya through the ceremony also mentioned , one of the four ideal stages of life in which the Brahmin follows a Guru and learns the holy scriptures. There is also a ceremony for a drum that is no longer usable, in which the instrument is honorably wrapped in a cloth and buried in the ground.
Another religiously revered metal drum is the large kettle drum dhamsa with a body made of sheet iron, played at the Chhau dance theater in East India . More closely related to the mizhavu is the panchamukha vadya ( pancha mukha vadyam , "five-face instrument") , which is occasionally used on religious occasions in South India. It consists of a large copper or bronze vessel with a rounded top and an almost flat bottom. At the top, five small cylindrical drums are placed symmetrically in the middle and covered with cowhides, which are beaten with the hands. This means that five tones can be produced, small metal kettle drums ( kudamuzha ) placed on both sides complete the set with two more tones. The instrument is moved on a small wooden cart within the temple area.
The main area of application of the copper drum is the Sanskrittheater Kutiyattam , which is performed by the members of the Brahmin ethnic groups Chakyar and Nambiar , who, together with other groups, belong to the caste of the Ambalavasi engaged in temple service. The Chakyar represent the male roles, the Nambiar are the only ones allowed to play mizhavu and the Nambiar women, the Nangiar, take on the female roles in dance theater. Because the mizhavu is beaten with the hands, the Nambiar are also called panivadas , from Sanskrit pani "hands" and vadanam , "to play".
The accompanying music used to consist of only one mizhavu , today the ensemble also includes the hourglass drum idakka , one or two small cymbals ( kulitalam ) and the snail horn shanku . Traditionally, Kutiyattam is only performed in one of the 16 kuttampalams , special theater buildings located within a walled temple area in Kerala. Temples in Kerala and thus the Kutiyattam performances are only accessible to Hindus . In the kuttampalam , the mizhavu stands in its wooden frame at the center rear of the stage. Before that, the actors act. The audience is divided into boxes; in the front rows the brahmins sit on a slightly raised area on the floor, behind them the kshatriyas sit on the floor, the other spectators stand on the outside at the edges.
An equally old form of theater related to Kutiyattam are solo performances, which in Kerala are called Kuthu ( Kuttu, English transcription Koothu , "dance"), while Kuti-yattam ("combined dance") refers to two or more performers. In Chakyar Kuthu , an actor from the Chakyar embodies all roles and acts with a mizhavu player as a companion, who sits directly behind him, and Nangiar women who play cymbals. The actor tells scenes from the great epics Mahabharata , Ramayana and the Puranas with humor and derision .
The female counterpart to Chakyar Kuthu is the solo dance theater Nangiar Kuthu performed by a Nangiar woman , which contains stories from the life of Krishna . It is also accompanied by the copper drum and cymbals.
Panchari melam is the most famous percussion orchestra that performs in Kerala at religious festivals on the temple grounds. The instruments include the cylinder drum chenda (similar to the chande in Karnataka), the paired cymbals elathalam , the curved natural trumpet kombu and the double reed instrument kuzhal (similar to a shehnai ). In a mizhavu Panchari melam , the other instrumentalists are grouped around several mizhavu players.
Web links
- Mizhavu Thayambaka, Orchestra, Kerala. Youtube video from keralatourism.org
- Kerala: A Miravu Pot Drum is ritualistically Introduced to a Temple. Youtube video, produced by Rolf Kilius (opening ceremony for a mizhavu )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mizhaav. ( Memento of May 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Enchanting Kerala.org
- ^ Mizhavu, Percussion instrument, Art forms, Kerala. Youtube video from keralatourism.org (making a mizhavu )
- ↑ Heike Moser: The Sanskrittheater Kūṭiyāṭṭam - a short introduction. Fig. 12
- ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: An Introduction to Indian Music. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting , Government of India, New Delhi 1981, p. 57.
- ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments . National Book Trust, New Delhi 1977, p. 28.
- ^ Nirmala panic: Nangiar Koothu, the classical dance theater of the Nangiar-s. (Documentation of Kutiyattam Series, No. 2). Natana Kairali, Irinjalakuda 1992, p. 27 (2nd rev. Edition 2005)
- ↑ George Jacob: Kerala. Initiation of a 'Brahmin' instrument. In: The Hindu. October 27, 2008.
- ^ Musical Instruments. Pancha Muka Vadyam. Government Museum Chennai; Drawing of a panchamukha vadya with two kudamuzha ( memento from March 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (shown in Deva, Musical Instruments , p. 49)
- ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments. National Book Trust, New Delhi 1977, pp. 49f.
- ^ Ragini Devi: Dance Dialects of India. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, New Delhi 2002, ISBN 81-208-0674-3 , pp. 78, 83.
- ↑ Kerala. Art & Culture. Theater. ( Memento from February 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) knowindia.gov.in
- ↑ Chaakkiar Kootth. ( Memento of May 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Enchanting Kerala.org
- ↑ K. Pradeep: Rhythmic beats of Koodiyattom. In: The Hindu. February 8, 2008.
