The anandalahari (; ) is originated in

bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

region. The instrument often accompanies dance, and may act as melody and rhythm.

Name

The name ''anandalahari'' means "waves of joy". Popularly this instrument is called by

onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...

names like ''gubgubi'' and ''khamak''.

Description

The anandalahari has a barrel-shaped body, open on one side, and fixed on the "bottom" of a single string. The tool body is wooden, open on both sides; the membrane is fixed in the lower and upper parts with a leather hoop and cords. Some instruments have a hole in the upper diaphragm, others not; it may be completely absent in old instruments. The vein string is attached to the bottom with a piece of bamboo or other material. The other end of the string is fixed inside a copper pot.

Use

The barrel is placed in the left armpit, the pot is taken in the left hand and the string is pulled with it, and the string is played with the right hand using a

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsic ...

. A similar instrument named ''pulluvan kudam'' is found in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. Another similar instrument known as the ''gopiyantra kendra'' is used by the

Munda people The Munda people are an Austroasiatic-speaking ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. They speak Mundari as their native language, which belongs to the Munda subgroup of Austroasiatic languages. The Munda are found mainly concentrated in ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

and

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

. Both the gopiyantra and the anandalahari are used by religious mendicant singers of the

Sadhu ''Sadhu'' (, IAST: ' (male), ''sādhvī'' or ''sādhvīne'' (female), also spelled ''saddhu'') is a religious ascetic, mendicant or any holy person in Hinduism and Jainism who has renounced the worldly life. They are sometimes alternatively ...

type and especially by singers of the

heterodox In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , + , ) means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". ''Heterodoxy'' is also an ecclesiastical jargon term, defined in various ways by different religions and ...

Baul The Baul () are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism and Vaishnavism from different parts of Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute bot ...

faith.

Classification

Curt Sachs Curt Sachs (; 29 June 1881 – 5 February 1959) was a German musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology (the study of musical instruments). Among his contributions was the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which he created with Eric ...

believed that the anandalahari and related instruments are a separate class of purely Indian plucked

membranophones A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a acoustic membrane, vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument ...

but

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

Laurence Picken Laurence Ernest Rowland Picken (16 July 1909 – 16 March 2007) was an ethnomusicologist and scientist. He had a wide research interest, and published works on cytology, biochemistry, musicology, Turkish musical instruments, and ancient Chines ...

and others have shown that they are clean

chordophones In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play som ...

.L.E.R. Picken (1981): The 'Plucked Drums': ''Gopīyantra and Ānandalaharī''’, Musica asiatica, iii, p 29–33

References

External links

Anandalahari
Banglapedia {{Authority control Indian musical instruments Bangladeshi musical instruments Chordophones Plucked membranophones

Name

Description

Use

Classification

See also

References

External links