The madal ( ne, मादल) or maadal is a Nepalese folk musical instrument. The madal is used mainly for rhythm-keeping in Nepalese

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 ...

. It is very popular and widely used as a

hand drum A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater. Types The following descriptions allude to traditional versions of the drums. Modern synthetic versions are a ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. The madal has a cylindrical body with a slight bulge at its center and heads at both ends, one head larger than the other. It is usually played horizontally in a seated position, with both heads played simultaneously. The madal is the national instrument of Nepal and is the backbone of most Nepali folk music. The well-known Nepali musician

Ranjit Gazmer Ranjit Gazmer is an Indian film music director and a musician, who is noted for his work in Nepali-language films. He had a long association with music director R.D. Burman as a musician. Early life Ranjit Gazmer is from a gold merchant fa ...

introduced this instrument to

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

music when he started working under

Rahul Dev Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work w ...

, and has used it in numerous Bollywood songs such as '' Hum Dono Do Premi'' and '' Kanchi Re Kanchi Re''. There is also a madal drum used by certain

Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

groups.

History and nomenclature

The madal originated in the Magar community of

. The name of the madal is said to come from that of an earlier instrument, the ''mardal'' (), whose name in turn is derived from the ''mridung'', a classical Indian instrument. In the

Palpa district Palpa District ( ne, पाल्पा जिल्ला, a part of Lumbini Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal, a landlocked country of South Asia. The district, with Tansen as its headquarters, covers an area of and ha ...

of Nepal, it is known as ''rāni mādal'' (). In the Nepalbhasa (Newar) language in the Kathmandu Valley, it's called the ''maga khĩ'' () in reference to the Magar people.

Construction

Typically, a wooden log is carved so as to form a hollow cavity, called ''ghar'' (). The heads of the drum are made of double-layered goat skins, and a black paste made of flour, iron filings, and egg is burned in to a circular area in the center of each head. This circle adds weight to the head and significantly alters the sound of the drum, giving it a bell-like quality. The heads are fixed to the body of the drum by leather strips running the length of the body, and an additional loose strip of leather which can be looped behind the performer's knees while playing The larger and smaller heads are often referred to as male and female respectively.

Similarities

Similar instruments called ''modal'' or ''mondal'' are found throughout the

Central India Central India is a loosely defined geographical region of India. There is no clear official definition and various ones may be used. One common definition consists of the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are included in alm ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

References

Notes

* Anmol, Amrita Priyamvada (2009). ''Encyclopaedia of Indian Musical Instruments'', vols. 1 to 3 :, xxxvi, 720 p, 3 vols, figs, * L.S. Rajagopalan, L.S. in A. Purushothaman and A. Harindranath (eds) (2010). ''Temple Musical Instruments of Kerala''. Sangeet Natak Akademi, xvi, 168 p,

External links