Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Jaltarang : water music of India « Indian Raga

Jaltarang : water music of India « Indian Raga: "Jaltarang : water music of India
September 16, 2009 at 4:24 pm (hindi film music, hindustani classical music)
Tags: jaltarang, master vyas, milind tulankar, water music

The Jaltarang, one of the most rarely heard instruments today, is among the oldest instruments in the world. It consists of china bowls filled with water and struck by two wooden sticks. Earlier, since china clay bowls were not available, artists used to play this instrument with metal bowls. Each bowl can be tuned to the desired frequency by varying the quantity of water in it. These bowls are placed in a semi-circle arrangement around the artist and played. The Jaltarang has a pleasant characteristic tone similar to the Feng Shui wind chimes. The player can produce on it, classical Indian Ragas and light melodies as well. Jaltarang is a unique instrument in the sense that it is both a percussion, as well as non-percussion instrument.