Shehnai
Shehnai , also shenai, sahnai, is the most widespread double-reed instrument in North Indian music . It is played for entertainment at family celebrations, religious processions, and in classical music . Its south Indian counterpart is the nadaswaram .
origin
The cone oboes of folk music, which are widespread throughout Asia, belong to the very old surnais instrument type that originated in Persia . Common characteristics are the loud, sharp tone, the timbre of which cannot be changed; and use mostly outdoors at festive events, especially rites of passage , and processions.
From the onomatopoeic Persian surnai was in India sanayi ( Sanskrit ) and hindi : sarna Shahnai, and surna. The name and instrument came to India during the Mughal rule . The usual interplay of the shehnai with a cylinder drum brought the surnai as zurna into the military music of the Ottoman Empire and in a similar use to the Indian rulers. The derivation of the name from the word components Persian probably comes from the esteem of the shehnai among the Muslim rulers شاه, shah , "king" and from Arabic نايor Persian ني nai: (bamboo) cane, corresponding to the longitudinal flute nay , so together "king's flute ".
Before the arrival of the shehnai , there were already oboe types in India whose old names madhukari, mohori or muhuri are still used regionally for folk musical instruments or are used synonymously for the shehnai . The name is said to come from Sanskrit mari ("tube"). Another derivation of mizmar , as Arabic oboes are commonly called, could pinpoint the early arrival of a cone oboe in the early 8th century, when an Arab expedition first conquered Sindh .
In Hyderabad , the Charminar Victory Gate , built at the end of the 16th century, represents the center of the urban street system. In the Mughal times it was also a symbol for the center of the Islamic Paradise Garden. At the eastern city gate there was a music pavilion, where a shehnai player was continuously making such nasal-sounding tones as are ascribed to the virgins waiting in paradise in comments on the Koran sura 55 .
An old bamboo oboe that came to North India from the Orient was called kalama ( Sanskrit for a pen ). Her name is related to the Arabic writing instrument qalam . The root of the word became the medieval European shawm .
During Akbar's reign (1542–1605) there were several music bands ( naubat ) with various wind instruments and kettle drums ( naqqara ), which were used at representative events and processions. The Naubats at the royal court consisted of at least nine instruments. Their popularity can be seen in the illustrations in Indian miniatures during the Mughal period. The Naubats were promoted by all Mughal rulers, were able to spread through northern India and ensure the increasing popularity of the shehnai among the population. In the historical work Ain-i-Akbari (1597) written at his court, the shehnai and, along with other wind instruments, the smaller sundri , which is rarely heard, is mentioned. Wind instruments at the end of the 16th century included nine surnā ( shehnai ), four long trumpets karna , some smaller trumpets nafir and two curved horns shringa .
Around 1770, at the time of the British trading establishments , the European clarinet was introduced and used by military bands and in smaller ensembles in folk music. Some Shehnai players adopted the clarinet because of its larger range. In wind orchestras, in which the British and Indians played together, the easier-to-play western instrument predominantly replaced the shehnai . As a sign of national independence struggles from the end of the 19th century, the clarinet exemplified the aversion to foreign rule and was exchanged for the shehnai .
The shehnai developed into a sacred instrument of temple service ( puja ), it became the louder-sounding ally of the snail trumpet blown by the priests in ritual ; with the difference that the shehnai was played by low-caste musicians some distance away from the action. Because of this social classification, the shehnai remained an instrument of folk music played outdoors at festive events until the beginning of the 20th century, but received the honorary title of mangal vadya as an auspicious instrument .
distribution
In addition to the shehnai , which is known throughout northern India , other double reed instruments have been preserved in regional playing traditions. The slightly larger sanai in Maharashtra is associated with the repertoire of the Marathi folk song tradition. The local sundri is smaller . The shortest wind instrument in this category is the surnai played in western Rajasthan . It is used by two different social groups, the Langas and the Manganiyars, in their respective musical traditions. Another Indian type of oboe that is still in use is the somewhat larger swarnai in Kashmir , which was often used until the 1980s at weddings, religious celebrations and at popular plays ( bandi pethir ). In West Bengal , a mahuri plays in the dance drama Purulia Chhau . In Meghalaya the ka tangmuri has a wooden play tube. In Nepal the name is Newari mwali and in Nepali shanahi or shahane , in Bihar pipahi and in Gujarat pipori .
The best-known double-reed instrument in South India is the nadaswaram , an extended shehnai variant, the accompanying drum is the tavil . The small, only 25 cm long mukhavina ( mukha vina , "mouth instrument"), which, like the South Indian mohori, has an ancient Indian name, is played less often in the south . Smaller but otherwise closely related to the shehnai are the south Indian kuzhal and in Sri Lanka the horanewa . The swarnai in Kashmir is larger than the shehnai .
Regionally known from folk music was the sunadi , in use from the 17th century, and a high, particularly shrill-sounding trumpet with a bulbous wind chamber in the middle, actually a single- reed instrument with two playing tubes, which is still part of the snake charmers' tools under the name pungi . The pungi is not a pre-form of the shehnai , but of the bagpipe . In return, the nadaswaram , also nageshwaram , took its name from Naga , the Indian snake. The fact that a ruler's hairdresser is said to have developed the shehnai after the ruler expressed displeasure at the high-pitched, shrill tones of the pungi is one of the original myths of the instrument.
Design
The shehnai consists of three parts and is 45 to 50 centimeters long. The wooden play tube with six to nine finger holes is slightly wider at the bottom and ends in a separate brass funnel ( pyala , "cup"). The sometimes chrome-plated funnel is about 7 centimeters long with a front diameter of up to 8.2 centimeters. Seven of the nine holes are playable, the other two are used for mood and can be sealed with wax as required. The play tube is about 36 centimeters long, the outer upper diameter is 2, the lower diameter 3.5 centimeters. The bore widens from 9 millimeters at the near end to 18 millimeters in diameter just before the transition to the bell. The finger holes are equidistantly 3.1 centimeters apart, with the first hole 7.7 centimeters from the near end. The diameter of the first hole is 5, that of holes two to six 5.5 and of hole seven 6 millimeters.
A removable brass tube ( nali in Delhi , nari in Varanasi , “tube”) is inserted from the slim side of the play tube, which is made of seasoned Burmese teak . The double reed ( pattur , from patta, "leaf)" from a wild grass species ( Saccharum spontaneum, in India: narkat, also pala ) is inserted into this mouthpiece . The grass, which is related to sugar cane , is harvested in the marshland on the Ganges in Bihar . Two of these sheets lie on top of one another, arching slightly upwards or downwards, and are tightly wrapped around the middle with a thread so that they cannot slip into the instrument. In the event that these delicate rolling papers are damaged or worn out during play, replacement papers are attached to the shehnai on strings. There they are put in small containers ( chapil ) made of two pieces of wood connected like a clip, so that they keep their flat shape. At the start of the game, the musician opens the two reeds that are pressed together by inserting a conical awl ( suja ) between them.
Style of play
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The shehnai is held down about 60 degrees with the thumbs of both hands when playing. Three fingers of the left hand serve the three upper holes, four fingers of the right hand the lower ones. The mouthpiece is pushed into the mouth so that the reeds can swing freely. The pitches result from completely or only partially covering the finger holes. All chromatic tones including the microtones ( shrutis ) required for Indian ragas can be played in the range of two octaves. A tonal influence can be achieved through the position of the lower jaw and tongue. As with other reed instruments, circular breathing is used. The design of the shehnai is simple, but the game is difficult to learn and breathing is quite strenuous. Since a large frequency range can be played with a single finger hole, glissandi ( mind ) are also possible and typical for the instrument.
The range is two octaves and a major third . Ten different finger positions are available for this, in comparison to this the oboe requires 29 finger positions with the same pitch range in semitone steps. In shenai , the upper octave is only reached by overblowing without the half- hole technique or other finger positions. There is a range of variation in the pitch of each finger position, the knowledge of which is therefore only a rough guide for correct tone formation.
A shehnai is played as a melody instrument rarely alone, it needs a drone who does not like Indian stringed instruments from the tanpura , but when Duetspiel of a second shehnai or another, sur -called shehnai is generated whose finger holes are clogged with wax. The tabla is usually on the right, the sur player sits on the left of the shehnai player. The traditional rhythm accompaniment by the clay drum duggi (also khurdak ) played in pairs has receded into the background compared to the tabla , but is still preferred by well-known shehnai players. Often the tabla and duggi provide the rhythmic accompaniment at the same time.
The shehnai occurs in folk music and in classical music . During processions on the occasion of weddings or other festive events, the brass bands are similar to those of the earlier Naubat representative orchestra from the Arab-Persian region. There shehnais were played under the name surnā in large orchestras with drum accompaniment at military parades and other outdoor ceremonies in front of high dignitaries. Dhol , dholak or nagārā provide the rhythmic accompaniment during processions . Many regional folk dances, funerals, and folk theater are accompanied by shehnais and drums. In some regions of Rajasthan, the second shehnai in wedding ensembles can be replaced by the old bagpipe mashak .
The melody instrument from folk music was introduced into classical North Indian music at the beginning of the 20th century through the initiative of a few musicians. The shehnai experienced a change in general appreciation comparable to that of the bamboo flute bansuri , the string sarangi and the box zither santur . The credit for having brought the shehnai to the big concert stage for the first time goes to Bismillah Khan (1916-2006) with his concert at the Calcutta All India Music Conference in 1937. He is considered the leading shehnai player of the 20th century.
Other well-known musicians who come from a shehnai Gharana (traditional family of musicians) and, like Bismillah Khan, have their roots in the shehnai stronghold of Varanasi , are Anant Lal (1927-2011) and his son Daya Shankar. Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan (* 1939) comes from Kolkata , and Jagadish Prasad Qamar, a student of Bismillah Khan, is from Delhi . The best instruments are made in Varanasi.
literature
- Mamta Chaturvedi: How to Play Flute and Shehnai. Diamond Books, New Delhi 2007, pp. 65–87
- Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: The Double-Reed Aerophone in India. In: Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, Vol. 7. International Council for Traditional Music, 1975, pp. 77-84
- Reis Wenger Flora: Styles of the Sahnai in Recent Decades: From Naubat to Gayaki Ang. In: Yearbook for Traditional Music 27, 1995, pp. 52-72
- Reis Wenger Flora: Observations on the Hindustani sahnai, its structure and performance. In: Rüdiger Schumacher (ed.): From the diversity of musical culture. Festschrift for Josef Kuckertz . Ursula Müller-Speiser, Anif / Salzburg 1992, pp. 207-216
- Rita Ganguli: Bismillah Khan and Benares: The Seat of Shehnai. Siddhi Books, New Delhi 1994
- Nazir A. Jairazbhoy: A Preliminary Study of the Oboe in India. In: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 14, No. 3, University of Illinois Press, September 1970, pp. 375-388
- Nazir A. Jairazbhoy: The South Asian Double-Reed Aerophone Reconsidered. In: Ethnomusicology, Vol. 24, No. 1, University of Illinois Press, January 1980, pp. 147-156
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Dileep Karanth: The Indian Oboe Reexamined. ( Memento of February 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast (at Internet Archive)
- ↑ Jan Piper: Hyderabad. A Qur'anic Paradise in Architectural Metaphors. In: Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Center, 1984, p. 51 (PDF; 650 kB)
- ^ Curt Sachs : The musical instruments of India and Indonesia. Georg Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1915, p. 153
- ↑ Jairazbhoy 1970, p. 377
- ^ Shanti Raval: A Method for Performing Hindustani Music on the Clarinet. P. 6 ( Memento from June 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 521 kB)
- ↑ Flora 1992, p. 208
- ^ Kashmiri Theater. Indianet zone
- ↑ Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments. National Book Trust, New Delhi 1977, p. 67
- ↑ Flora 1992, pp. 209f
- ↑ Flora 1992, pp. 211-213
- ↑ Ali Ahmad Hussein Khan ( Memento of the original of July 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Homepage
