Pashchima

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Pashchima ( Newari ), also paschima, pachima , Nepali marijan , is a double-skinned double-cone drum that is played in folk music by the Newar living in the Kathmandu valley in Nepal . Like the similarly built drum pakhawaj, which is probably related in name, in North Indian music , the pashchima is struck with both hands in a horizontal position. It is the essential rhythm instrument in the dance drama Mahakali pyakhan and is also used in other musical performances that take place on the occasion of the numerous festivals of the annual cycle.

Origin and Distribution

The pashchima belongs to a series of double-cone drums , a special form of tube drums that occur almost exclusively in Indian culture and are played in classical and popular music. They represent one of about ten basic types, of which there are countless variants. Already in the 1st millennium BC In the Vedic scriptures similar and other types of drums were grouped under the name dundubhi . In addition to the pahkawaj , this design includes the northeast Indian khol , the south Indian mridangam and the maddale , which is limited to Karnataka . A variant of the mridangam played in Manipur is the pung , but its almost symmetrical, slim shape looks more like a barrel drum. The Nepalese variant of the dholak is also significantly more symmetrical than the pashchima .

The Newar play over 20 different types of drums, the drums are traditionally made by the lowest society, the Kullu caste. For wedding celebrations and certain temple festivals, the kettle drums damaha or nagara (from naqqara ) are required, which members of the lower-class Damai drumming caste play for the Newar.

Design

The wooden body is pried into two parts from a trunk section and joined together to form a double cone shape. The diameter on the connecting side of the two parts is, for example, about 38 centimeters for a measured drum, the larger outer diameter ( manka ) measures 37 centimeters. This results in an almost cylindrical shape on this side. In the direction of the smaller fur ( nasa ), the body tapers in an almost straight line up to a diameter of 22 centimeters with a total length of 67 centimeters. A smaller specimen measured 29 and 21 centimeters outside diameter. At the junction of the two asymmetrical halves, an externally glued wooden strip ( nago ) ensures stable cohesion and forms a striking decorative strip that is highlighted by an ornamental painting.

The two eardrums are made of untanned cowhide, the hem of which has been reinforced with multiple, circular strips of skin. The thus thickened edge ensures that the membranes do not slip out of their position. Strips of skin are pulled through 16 holes evenly drilled at the edges of the membranes and both are braced against each other by a V-shaped lacing.

The eardrums can be tuned with eight pieces of round wood (sound pegs, gatta ), each of which is clamped under two tension strips. If the woods are pushed closer to the larger skin, the tone increases, after the middle the tone becomes lower. To fine-tune the timbre, a black tuning paste ( khou ) is applied in a circle only in the middle of the smaller head . The permanent paste consists of the crushed yam species Dioscorea rotundata , variety alafu (also the name in Nepal), mixed with rice flour and water. The voice paste lowers the tone. To fine tune the larger head, a moist dough made of flour and water is applied before the game. The pakhawaj is tuned in the same way. The pitch difference between the two heads is a fourth .

Style of play

The drum lies across in front of the musician who is sitting cross-legged on the floor and who hits the large skin ( manka ) with his left hand and the small skin ( nasa ) with his right hand . Just as the syllable language bol is used in Indian drums , there is also a linguistic memory aid for pashchima with syllables such as “ta”, “tin” and “nan”, which denote certain beats of the fingers and palm. For each of the drum types played in the Kathmandu valley (the music of the Newar knows 15 different ones) there is a separate memo language consisting of non-meaningful words and sounds.

At the end of September, the eight-day Indra Jatra (Nepali, in Newari Yandya ) festival is held in the Kathmandu valley at the end of the rainy season. There are also several dance theater groups that represent different styles. In the Lakhe mask dance, for example, the barrel drum dhimay and cymbals provide the rhythm. In another mask dance, the Mahakali pyakhan , which takes place in honor of the goddess Mahakali , around 20 men perform and dance and make music. The performance manages without spoken text and without singing. The musical instruments include the pashchima , the cymbal chusya jhali and the double reed instrument muhali (also mwali, a conical oboe that corresponds to the Indian shehnai ), alternatively the long, thin natural trumpet kahan .

Twelve different talas (rhythmic structures) are used for the individual scenes , which are characteristic of the (god) figures that appear. If a deity and a demon ( daitya ) dance at the same time, two different talas are required , which are played by two drums. Drums should therefore be present in the number of figures appearing together. Usually the pashchima opens the individual scenes with a quick foreplay. Only when a dancer arrives with a string tied around the waist, to which several metal vessels rattle ( chusya ghangla ) are attached, does the muhali player begin. The cultural center of Mahakali pyakhan is Bhaktapur .

Within the Newar, only members of the Hindu music caste Jogi play the muhali . A typical Jogi ensemble consists of three to five of the shrill sounding wind instruments, a pashchima and one or two pairs of cymbals .

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. 292-294

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Felix Hoerburger : Folk Music in the Caste System of Nepal. In: Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, Volume 2, 1970, pp. 142–147, here p. 146
  2. ^ Felix Hoerburger: Studies on Music in Nepal. (Regensburg contributions to musical folklore and ethnology, Volume 2) Gustav Bosse, Regensburg 1975, p. 17 f.
  3. ↑ Ulrike Kölver, Gert-Matthias Wegner: Newarian drum language. In: Rüdiger Schumacher (ed.): From the diversity of musical culture. Festschrift for Josef Kuckertz . Ursula Müller-Speiser, Anif / Salzburg 1992, p. 261.
  4. ↑ Kumar Prasad Darshan in: Emmert, p. 48
  5. ↑ Keiko Okuyama: Aspects of Mahakali Pyakan. In: Emmert, p. 171f
  6. ↑ Nepal. Musique de fete chez les Newar. CD produced by Laurent Aubert. Archives Internationales de Musique Populaire (AIMP) 1989