Tarpu

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Tarpu , tārpu, also tarpo, tārpo, tārpā, is a traditional single- reed instrument made of two calabashes and two connected bamboo tubes, which is played in popular Indian music in some regions in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat .

Design

The tarpu consists of two slender, dried wax gourds , which in Marathi are called dudhi bhopla (other spelling doudi , "pumpkin") and are connected to each other by two parallel bamboo tubes. One of them is the play tube with four to five (seven) finger holes, the other tube with one or two holes provides a drone . The sound is generated by means of a tongue at the upper end of the tubes according to the principle of the pungi , known as the wind instrument of the snake charmers . A slightly oblique cut along the tube wall creates an idioglottic reed that is not visible from the outside and is pushed into a wax gourd . With the pungi , a bulbous wind capsule from a pumpkin or a coconut shell transfers the blown air to the play tube, here it is a slender bottle gourd with a long, curved neck. The blow-in opening is not at the tip, but on the side. A short tube inserted into the hole and firmly connected to the pumpkin forms the mouthpiece.

An even blowing pressure is created in the pumpkin, which is passed on to the reed. This causes the air flow in the tube to vibrate; the pitch is determined by the effective length of the tube. At the lower end there is a narrow bell ( concave ) consisting of another, curved bottle gourd , the funnel opening of which is extended by spirally wrapped leaf strips of the palmyra palm (Marathi tad ). The individual parts are fixed and sealed at the connection points with beeswax. Some tarpu s are decorated with peacock feathers that protrude over the top.

There are two different sizes by name. A medium-sized, about a meter long tarpu called in Marathi Ghogha and Gujarati frequently dobru . In rural areas around Surat , south of Gujarat, the instrument is known as pavri . The construction in Maharashtra, which is up to two meters tall, is called khongada . The bagpipe-like pressed sound is similar to the pungi .

distribution

The traditional mural of the Warli shows a stylized circle dance around a tarpu player in the middle.

In rural areas in southern Gujarat and in Maharashtra, some adivasi groups play the tarpu for entertainment in the fields. With the Dangi in the south of Gujarat, the self-made wind instrument is typical for the music of the shepherds, as well as for the local Konknas who mainly grow grain. In general, the tarpu is used to accompany village dances. Professional musicians, including the dhodias, perform with her at weddings in Gujarat together with a percussive bronze gong ( thali ) and the double-headed barrel drum dholak or dholki .

The characteristic musical instruments of the Warli in Maharashtra are the tarpu and the two-stringed zither ghanghli . The ghanghli is the simple shape of a vina with a calabash sound box at each end of the rod. During the rice harvest in the month of Bhadrapada according to the Indian calendar (September), the Warli meet at night to the widely audible tones of the tarpu . In the following month of Ashvina (October) they traditionally perform the tarpu dance every day after sunset. Several musicians turn around their own axis in the midst of a group of listeners during the game. Around them the listeners also begin to dance in a circle. Warli tarpu players also perform at temple festivals in honor of the goddess Mahalakshmi . In war dances, colorfully costumed men and women form a chain and move around a tarpu player standing in the middle. The dancers create the rhythmic accompaniment with their anklets (Marathi ghungru ).

Tarpu s belong to a series of single-reed instruments in India with one or more play tubes and a fixed wind capsule. The south Indian, somewhat smaller counterpart to the north Indian pungi with two play tubes is the magudi (also makuti ). The Mavchi, a subgroup of the Bhil in Maharashtra, play the approximately 60 centimeter long pawri ( pavri , also pawari ), which largely corresponds to the tarpu in shape . The bamboo tube of the pawri has three finger holes; in contrast to the tarpu , it is not blown on the side, but at the end of the pumpkin neck. In addition to wind instruments with reeds, the West Indian Adivasis play a number of bamboo flutes (generally bansi ) and natural trumpets such as animal horns and the metal trumpet tutari, which is curved in a semicircle .

Seven pipes made of bamboo cane stick out of a bottle gourd during the rasem in the northeast Indian state of Tripura . This instrument, which is similar in appearance but functionally belongs to the oral organs , is blown through a pipe on the neck. Also restricted to the northeast of India are single-reed instruments of the pepa type , in which a buffalo horn is placed on the playing tube as a bell.

literature

  • Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva: Musical Instruments. National Book Trust, New Delhi 1977, pp. 63-65
  • Alastair Dick: Tarpo. In: Laurence Libin (Ed.): The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 4. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2014, p. 719
  • Tārpu. In: Late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh (Ed.): The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India. Saṅgīt Mahābhāratī. Vol. 3 (P – Z) Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2011, p. 1068

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deva, p. 65
  2. ^ RD Tribhuwan: Body Image, Human Reproduction and Birth Control. Discovery Publishing House, Delhi 2009, p. 228, ISBN 978-8183563888
  3. ↑ Keyword: Tripura, Musical Instruments of. In: Late Pandit Nikhil Ghosh (Ed.): The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India. Saṅgīt Mahābhāratī. Vol. 3 (P – Z) Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2011, p. 1090