Pakhavaj
Encyclopedia
The pakhavaj, pakhawaj, pakuaj, pakhvaj or pakavaj is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, the North Indian equivalent to the Southern mridangam.
It is the standard percussion instrument in the dhrupad
Dhrupad
Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...

 style and is widely used as an accompaniment for various forms of music and dance performances. The pakhavaj has a low, mellow tone, very rich in harmonics. Set horizontally on a cushion in front of the drummer's crossed leg, the larger bass-skin is played with the left hand, the treble skin by the right hand. The bass face is smeared with wet wheat dough which acts as the kiran and is the cause of the vivid, bass sound the Pakhawaj produces. This makes it very traditional in its built and rich in sound.

Etymology

The word is of Prakrit
Prakrit
Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...

 origin, whose Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 equivalent is . This instrument is always known as Pakhavaj and not Pakshavadya. This word is derived from the words , meaning a side, and meaning an musical instrument.

Technique

As with the tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...

, the pakhawaj rhythms are taught by a series of mnemonic
Mnemonic
A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...

 syllables known as bol
Bol (music)
A bol is a mnemonic syllable. It is used in Indian music to define the tala, or rhythmic pattern, and is one of the most important parts of Indian rhythm. Bol is derived from the Hindi word bolna, which means "to speak."...

. The playing technique vary from that of Tabla in many aspects viz. in the bass face, the artist hits with his whole palm instead of the finger tip hitting which is done in tabla. In the treble face, the artist very diligently hits his whole palm with the fingers properly placed on the skin to produce different bols.

In traditional pakhavaj-styles a student would learn a number of different strokes which produce a specific sound. These are remembered and practiced with corresponding syllables.

The very basic capacity is to play a theka in a particular tala or rhythmic cycle, as for instance chautala in 12 beats:

| dha dha | dhin ta || kite dha | dhin ta | tite kata | gadi gene |

Advanced students learn reelas that are virtuoso pakhawajist compositions.

Pakhawajists

Some of the notable pakhawaj players include:
Arjun Shejwal, Bhavani Shankar, Pratap Patil, Kunal Patil, Durga Lal, Talib Hussain, Dalchand Sharma, Partha Ghosh, Manik Munde, Sukhad Munde, Mohan Shyam Sharma, Ravishankar Upadhyay, Ramashish Pathak.
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