Tanpura

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Tanpura

Tanpura , also tambura , is a plucked long neck lute that is used in Indian music as an accompanying drone instrument .

The tanpura generated as the sitar a harmonically rich sound. Body and neck correspond to the sitar , whereby the tanpura has no frets. Mostly it is carved from the hard wood of the breadfruit tree . The tanpura usually has four or five metal strings. These are plucked unhandled. The tandura played in the folk music of Rajasthan is considered a simpler forerunner of the tanpura . The related tanburo is played as a drone and rhythm instrument in the Pakistani province of Sindh .

to form

A distinction is made between three forms of tanpura :

Instrumental tanpura

Built flat and usually strung with five thin strings , it has a bright sound and is played to accompany melody instruments such as the sitar . The length is usually 95 to 115 cm. The pitch of the keynote is around C.

Female tanpura

The female tanpura is medium-sized and strung with four strings, with the keynote usually being tuned to G. The length is 120 to 130 cm. It has a bulbous pumpkin body and is played to accompany singers.

Paint tanpura

With a length of 140 to 150 cm, it is particularly large. It is strung with thick strings, the keynote of which is mostly tuned to C. With its full sound, it is traditionally played to accompany singers.

Today, even professional musicians often replace the tanpura with an electronic shruti-box .

Mood

In the Tanpura various open moods are used as normal moods. The choice of mood is determined by the raga to be played. Examples of the tuning of the four-string male tanpura with C as the keynote. The Indian names are given in brackets:

  • The most common tuning: fifth - octave - octave - root note (Pa - Sa ^ - Sa ^ - Sa)
  • Fourth - octave - octave - root (Ma - Sa ^ - Sa ^ - Sa)
  • Seventh - octave - octave - root (Ni - Sa ^ - Sa ^ - Sa)
  • Sixth - octave - octave - root (Dha - Sa ^ - Sa ^ - Sa)

There is no uniform notation in Indian music. The higher octave is marked here with ^. See also Indian notation of ragas .

literature

  • Bonnie C. Wade: Performing the Drone in Hindustani Classical Music: What Mughal Painting Show us to Hear. In: The World of Music. Journal of the International Institute for Traditional Music. Vol. 38 (2), 1996, pp. 41-68

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norbert Beyer: Tambura. II. Art music. 1. Shape, mood and playing technique. In: MGG Online , November 2016 ( Music in the past and present , 1998, preview )
  2. ↑ a b Rajen Jani: Tuning the Tanpura. March 1, 2014, accessed January 15, 2018 .