The Drums Of North India

The drumming of North India can be split into two main categories, folk and classical. The percussion instruments are also of two distinct sorts. First we have ghana vadya (idiophones), and secondly avandha vadya (membranophones). We will be mainly concerned with membranophones, drums with skins.

Phakawaj

Certainly the ancient mother of all North Indian drums is the phakawaj. This is a thin barrel-shaped drum with a head on each end. It's very similar to the mridangam of South India and it is even sometimes called the mrdang of the North. The drum comes in various sizes, ranging from 60 to 75cm in length. The wooden shell is hollow all the way through, with one head slightly bigger than the other. It's the bigger of these two heads that creates the bass tone and is usually on the performer's left. The shell is 18 to 32cm in diameter at the widest point on the shell, which is usually slightly closer to the bass end (hyha) than the treble end (dynhu) of the drum.

The heads are usually made of goat skin and are constructed in a way similar to tabla heads. This entails weaving a hoop which is sewn around three layers of skin that form the head itself. The top and bottom layers of these three skins are cut away to form a 1/2" rim around the edge, leaving the middle layer as the main drum skin. This has the effect of warming the sound of the skin as well as protecting the outer edge.

The smaller treble head of the drum has a permanent paste patch applied, which is made from iron filings, flour and ground hill stone. Patches such as these are very common as resonating devices on Indian drum skins, the purpose to create a warmth of harmonics from the drum head once it's pulled into tension. But there are three other ways of doing this.

The first is apply a patch of dough onto the outside of the skin. This is not permanent and needs to be kept wet during a performance and removed afterwards. The second alternative method is to have an oil and spice massala applied to the inside of the skin permanently. The last method is to keep the head wet with water to such a degree as to keep it lower in and warmer in tone. These three methods are used exclusively for the creation of bass tones.

The bass end of the phakawaj uses the first of these methods, the big lump of soggy dough, about enough for a crusty roll. It's common for these lumps to fly off during a performance. The bass head is usually between 24 to 29cm, while the treble head is between 16 and 20cm. Both heads are sewn together over the shell with one continuous leather strap which is then pulled tight and stretched to tension by the insertion of small cylindrical wooden blocks between the shell and the strap. These can then be moved to adjust the tuning. The drum is quite low in pitch and very warm and resonant. It's generally found in strictly North Indian classical concerts, quite often accompanying an old singing style known as dhrupad.

The drum is played with the fingers and palms of both hands. It's supported horizontally on the legs with the performer sitting cross-legged on the floor, the bass being played with the left hand and the treble being played by the right hand. This double-ended drum technique is very likely to be the reason that the tablas are played as they are, with the left hand playing the bass notes and the right hand playing the treble.

Dholak and Nall

There are many other double-ended drums found in North India, including the dhol, dholak, and nall. We covered the dhol in a recent issue of Rhythm, so that leaves us with the dholak and nall. Both drums are found only within the folk, film and light classical genres and have very limited techniques in comparison to drums such as phakawaj and tabla.

The dholak is a lot shorter and stubbier than the phakawaj, although the general prinicple is the same. There are two sorts of dholak available nowadays - bolt tension or the more traditional tensioning method which entails the head being sewn together over the shell by a piece of rope. Unlike the phakawaj there are no wooden blocks between the shell and rope to increase tension and tuning possibilities.The bass end has a permanent oil and spice massala inside the skin, whilst the treble head has no patches or resonating devices at all. This makes the possible tones on the dholak a lot more limited. All in all the skin is a lot simpler in construction, without any complicated woven hoops. They are usually lapped over a simple ring and have holes pierced for the acceptance of the rope tensioners.

The nall is of similar proportions to the dholak. The heads are usually slightly smaller, the treble nall head being 5" in diameter - the dholak treble head could be between 6 and 7". The bass heads are proportionately just less than twice that size. The shell of the nall is slightly longer than the dholak and does not bulge as much in the middle; it's shape is far more conical. The bass end has the permanent oil and spice massal, although in my experience there is usually a lot more of the mixture used in the dholak. I actually use a bass tabla head on the nall.

The treble head is of similar construction to that of the dholak, apart from the inclusion of a permanent thin paste spot. It is this along with the shape of the drum and the head sizes that gives the nall its distinct sound. Rope and bolt tension systems are used on nall drums, although with the rope tensioned ones there are wooden toggles intertwine with the rope. These are twisted round and round to bring the skins into tension. The toggles are then held in place by the tension of the ropes twisted against the shell.

Tabla

Finally we move onto the most well known drum of North India, the tabla. Tabla is a set of two drums - treble and bass - which are distinct from most other drums of the world in as much as each drum is played with a different hand. Very seldom do you see both hands playing on one drum.

The performer sits on the floor with the drums in front of him, nestled in two supporting rings called adharas. The high pitched drum is cylindrical in shape abnd stands about 10" high. It's made from wood, usually shisam or nim, and is hollowed out from the top like a big cup, remaining sealed at the bottom. The drum has only one skin, generally about 5" in diameter, and the shell is wider at the the bottom than at the top by about 1 1/2".

The bass tabla is basically a small single-headed kettle drum made from nickel alloy. (It's sometimes possible to find them made from clay.) Both drum heads (puri) are made from goat skin with a complicated hoop (pagri) woven around it's edge. The skins are fixed to the drum with a long leather strap called chot. This strap is threaded through the hoop and, underneath the drum, a small leather ring.

A thin rim about 1/2" wide runs around the edge of the skin, both inside and out. This is called the kinar or kani and is also made of goat skin.

The long leather strap is pulled tight, bringing the drum skin to tension. The treble drum is pulled a lot tighter than the bass and needs small wooden blocks (gattha) inserted between the shell and straps to get it up to the pitch required. Sometimes you see smaller wooden blocks used for the bass tabla. (In Benares, a completely different method is used for the bass tabla: they use rope and metal rings to get the tension.) The skins then have paste patches applied to give them the resonance required. These patches (shyahi) are made from a paste of iron filings, ground hill stone and in India there is also a chemical added to stop the ants from eating the patches.

The treble drum is tuned by knocking the wooden blocks with a hammer. Finer tuning is then carried out by hitting the leather hoop of the skin either up or down, depending on the pitch required.

The drum is tuned to the dominant note in the scale of the piece of music to be played. It is important to bear in mind that Indian music does not change key, so if you play music that does, you'll need more than one high pitched tabla to hand. The bass tabla is generally not tuned to a particular pitch, largely because of the glissando technique that is used on the drum. Tabla is the one percussion instrument of North India that is found in both classical and non-classical idioms, although it must be pointed out that the playing styles differ greatly. Even styles of classical tabla differ greatly from region to region. India is a huge and rich continent for drums and drumming, and there are many other instruments to be found all over the country.

Pete Lockett is an award winning versatile multi-percussionist who lives in the UK. He has recorded and toured with a multitude of internationally known performers and recording artists. Pete plays percussion instruments from around the world including tabla, frame drums, congas, djembe, taiko drums, drumset, electronic samplers and many more. You may learn more about Pete, and also access many free lessons on drumming and percussion, by visiting his web site at www.petelockett.com.