Mashak
Encyclopedia
The mashak is a type of bagpipe found in Northern India and parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The pipe was associated with weddings and festive occasions. In India it is historically found in Rajasthan
and Uttar Pradesh
. This bagpipe uses single reeds, and can be played either as a drone or as a melody instrument.
Colonel James Tod
(1782–1835 CE) notes in reference to the mashak that the Raja of Jind
had a bagpipe band, with the players wearing kilts and pink legging in imitation of Scottish Highland pipers.
, however, described an intermediary development stage wherein Indian musicians imitated the Highland pipe by tying "an extra pipe or two" into their mashak. Similarly, the New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (1984) describes the traditional mashak as becoming rare as it is displaced by the Scottish pipes.
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
and Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. This bagpipe uses single reeds, and can be played either as a drone or as a melody instrument.
Colonel James Tod
James Tod
Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod was an English officer of the British East India Company and an Oriental scholar.Tod was born in London and educated in Scotland, later joining the East India Company as a military officer. He travelled to India in 1799 as a cadet in the Bengal Army where he rose...
(1782–1835 CE) notes in reference to the mashak that the Raja of Jind
Jind
Jind is a town in Jind District, Harayana state, India.It is one of the oldest districts of Harayana. It is one of the first Sikh Kingdoms. It lies in central Haryana and is the fourth district of the Jat belt .The city is beautiful...
had a bagpipe band, with the players wearing kilts and pink legging in imitation of Scottish Highland pipers.
Relation with the Scottish Highland pipes
Some academics dispute any indigenous origins of the mashak; researcher Ander Burton Alter wrote in 2000 that the pipes today played in Garwhal are Scottish Highland bagpipes with one bass and two tenor drones, with no local manufacturer or evidence of existence prior to British rule in 1814. Organologist Anthony BainesAnthony Baines
Anthony Cuthbert Baines was an English organologist who produced a wide variety of works on the history of musical instruments, and was a founding member of the Galpin Society.-Partial bibliography:...
, however, described an intermediary development stage wherein Indian musicians imitated the Highland pipe by tying "an extra pipe or two" into their mashak. Similarly, the New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (1984) describes the traditional mashak as becoming rare as it is displaced by the Scottish pipes.
Discography
- Various Artists – Footprints In The Desert... track Rajasthan's Bagpipe (Mashak). De Kulture
- Various – Music From The Shrines Of Ajmer and Mundra track Populat Naubat Shahna'i. Topic Records (UK), 1995
See also
- Titti (bagpipe)Titti (bagpipe)The titti is a type of bagpipe played in Andhra Pradesh, India, made from an entire goat-skin. The instrument is described as a goatskin with a double-reed inserted into one leg, and a bamboo blowpipe into the other...
, a Telugu bagpipe of Andhra Pradesh - Sruti upangaSruti upangaThe sruti upanga is a type of bagpipe played in Tamil Nadu, southern India...
, a drone bagpipe of Tamil Nadu