Santal music
Encyclopedia
The Santal people love music and dance. Like other Indian people groups, their culture has been influenced by mainstream Indian culture and by Western culture, but traditional music and dance still remain. Santal music differs from Hindustani classical music in significant ways. Onkar Prasad has done the most recent work on the music of the Santal but others preceded his work, notably W. G. Archer who collected and analyzed hundreds of Santal songs in the mid-twentieth century. The Santal traditionally accompany many of their dances with two drums: the Tamak' and the Tumdak'. The flute was considered the most important Santal traditional instrument and still evokes feelings of nostalgia for many Santal.

Instruments

Traditionally the Santal used a variety of musical instruments, but the following are now the most prominent ones in use.

Membranophones
The Santal have two primary membranophones: the Tamak'
Tamak'
The tamak' is a stick-struck double-headed drum of the Santal people of India. The body of the drum is made from metal and shaped like a large bowl. The head of the drum is usually cowhide and 14-18 inches in diameter. The player strikes the drum with a pair of drum sticks...

 and the Tumdak'
Tumdak'
The tumdak is a hand-struck double-headed membranophone of the Santal people of India. The Santal typically use the Tumdak' in combination with the Tamah' for religious ceremonies and Santal festivals. Both drums are almost universally played by men rather than women. The body of the drum is...

. These instruments are critical for most traditional Santal music because they provide the metric foundation for the music. The Tumdak' is a hand-struck two-headed drum. The body of the drums made from clay. Like most similar Indian drums, the left head is larger than the right. Leather straps zigzag from head to head to connect and keep them tight. The drum is usually suspended around the drummers neck by a leather strap. The Tamak' is a single-headed kettle drum. It is struck by the player with two sticks. The size of the head is usually 14-16 inches in diameter. The Tamak' is thought to have special spiritual meaning and power.

Idiophones
The ankle bells of dancers are called Junko and like other such Indian instruments they sound as the dancers dance. The Santal frequently use a small pair of cymbals with their music as well. Metal rattles of various sorts are also found in many Santal musical contexts.

Areophones
The flute or Tiriwaw held a special place of importance. The Tirio is made from bamboo and has seven holes. The Santal flute, like the widespread Bansuri
Bansuri
The bansuri is a transverse alto flute of Bangladesh, India and Nepal made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is...

, has open holes which permit the player to bend the pitch. The Santal flute is associated with love. Many Santal musicians also play the Harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...

. Introduced by the British, the harmonium is a small pump organ with a three-octave keyboard and hand bellows at the back. Although it was originally introduced by outsiders, Indian musicians have adapted it to Indian musical styles and it is now as ubiquitous in India as the guitar is in the West.

Chordophones
The Dhodro banam is a one-stringed bowed lute. The Dhodro banam often has anthropomorphic carved heads. The Phet banam is also a bowed lute but has three or four strings. Both are similar to the more widely known Indian Sarangi
Sarangi
The Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...

. Christian Santal musicians sometimes use a unique instrument called the kabkubi. This one-stringed plucked chordophone was developed by Christian Santal as a substitute for the Tamak'. Because the Tamak' had such strong associations with traditional religious ceremonies and was thought to invoke the presences of certain spirits, early missionaries and Christian converts began to use the kabkubi in its place.

Tunes

Traditional Santal tunes can still be heard in many Santal villages, especially during Santal festivals. Most songs and tunes have direct associations with particular festivals. Tunes used for the Sohrae harvest festival, for example, are referred to by that name. Moreover, most tunes are related to the festival dances they accompany. As a consequence, the meters and rhythms of the tunes reflect those particular festival dances. Santal melodies usually stay within an octave and often utilize scales of five or six pitches. The cadence of many Santal tunes include a unique version of hemiola
Hemiola
In modern musical parlance, a hemiola is a metrical pattern in which two bars in simple triple time are articulated as if they were three bars in simple duple time...

--a metric feature in which divisions of 2 and 3 are placed in contrast to each other.

External links

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