Kingri is a chordophone Indian bowed
string instrument
String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the ...
(string spike fiddle), similar to
Rabab and
Ravanastron. It has a resonator box of unglazed pottery, through which a stick is passed to function as the neck.
History
The Kingri is mentioned in the Sanskrit epic ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'', in many Ancient Indian
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
's tales. and in Punjab's folk music. The kingri is also used in traditional death ceremonies, marriages and religious festivals in
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
and
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
.
Texture and Timbre
The kingri first appeared as a single string instrument and has since evolved into a three string instrument. A long piece of bamboo is inserted into the fingerboard with three pegs. The strings on the bow are made by using three tufts of horse hair or Goongaru. The strings on the instrument were originally made of animal gut, but modern day Indian gypsies typically use low quality steel strings instead, resulting in more vibrato and lending the instrument a sound similar to the violin.
Modern use
Sri Lankan composer
Dinesh Subasinghe
Dinesh Subasinghe (born 10 July 1979, Colombo) is a Sri Lankan composer, violinist, and music producer. He composed ''Karuna Nadee'', a Buddhist oratorio, and re-introduced a lost, ancient musical instrument known as the ''ravanahatha'' to Sri ...
used the kingri on the album
Rawan Nada as well as for performing
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. In 2007, Subasinghe made some modifications to the instrument and discovered it to be another close version of the Ravanstron mentioned in Abele and Niederheitmann's ''The Violin: Its History & Construction''.
[This refers to the following book: Abele and Niederheitmann, ''The Violin: Its History & Construction, Illustrated & described, From Many Sources''. London: William Reeves, 1900–1930. Translated by John Broadhouse.].for the first time a four string Kingri has created by Sandaruwan Ranatunga in Sri Lanka & it was used by Dinesh Subasinghe in various musical recordings,
See also
*
Bowed string instrument
Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound.
Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to t ...
*
Ravanahatha
A ravanahatha (variant names: ''ravanhatta'', ''rawanhattha'', ''ravanastron'', ''ravana hasta veena'') is an ancient bowed, stringed instrument, used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and surrounding areas. It has been suggested as an ancestor of t ...
*
Ravana
Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations.
In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He a ...
References
{{Reflist
Violins
String instruments