The pambai or pamba (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: பம்பை) is a pair of cylindrical drums used in temple festivals and folk music in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

and

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 ...

, India. There is a small community in southern Andhra who plays this instrument: the Pambalas. This unit of two drums is held near the waist of the player or put on the floor, and beaten with sticks, or with a hand and a stick. In the simpler varieties, both drums are made of wood, but there is a pambai in which one drum is of wood and the other of brass: the wooden one is known as veeru vanam and the metal drum as vengala pambai. The pambai is played in the traditional ensemble naiyandi melam. File:A_Pambai.JPG, Pambai (single) File:A close-up of Pambai.JPG, Close up File:A close-up of Pambai 1.JPG, Close up

References

* ''South Asia : The Indian Subcontinent''. (Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 5). Routledge; Har/Com edition (November 1999).

External links

*{{youtube, id=-TzMs7A45Mk, title= pambai & oudoukkai Indian musical instruments Membranophones