Musical Instruments

Musical instruments are the tactile and physical counterpart of music, which is an auditory art. The Natya Shastra, compiled by Bharata Muni between 200 BC and 200 AD , divides musical instruments into four main categories based on the sound they produce.

String Instrument - Tat instrument or cordophone. Wind instrument - Sushir instrument or aerophone. Percussion instruments - downed instruments or membranophones. Solid Instruments - Cubic instruments or audiophones.

stringed instruments

Musical instruments in which sound is produced by striking strings made of iron , steel , brass, or other metals , as well as cotton , silk thread, etc. Stringed instruments are divided into two broad categories — plucked and bowed .

Rudra Veena / Bean : Famous exponents - Zia Mohiuddin Dagar , Mohammad Khan Faridi , Ustad Shamshuddin Faridi Desai, Zahid Faridi Desai, Hindraj Divekar, Jyoti Hegde, R. V. Hegde , Ustad Abid Hussain Khan , Ustad Asad Ali Khan , Bandeali Khan , Jamaluddin Khan , Murad Khan , Naubat Khan , Rajab Ali Khan , Wazir Khan , Zahid Khan , Krishnarao Kholapure , Sharada Mushti , Madhuvanti Pal , Dattatreya Ram Rao Parvatikar , Bindumadhav Pathak , Shrikant Pathak , Peter Roe , P. D. Shah , Carsten Wicke .

Sarod : Famous exponents - Ustad Amjad Ali Khan , Ustad Allauddin Khan , Ustad Ali Akbar Khan , Brij Narayan , Ashish Khan , Bahadur Khan , Jotin Bhattacharya , Buddhadev Das Gupta , Radhika Mohan Maitra , Vasant Rai , Hafiz Ali Khan , Rajeev Taranath , Pandit Vikash Maharaj , Soumik Dutta.

Sitar : Famous exponents - Pandit Ravi Shankar , Ustad Vilayat Khan , Pandit Nikhil Banerjee , Annapurna Devi , Ustad Rais Khan , George Harrison , Anoushka Shankar , Prem Joshua , Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan , Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan , Nishat Khan , Imrat Khan , Anjan Chattopadhyay , Shujaat Khan , Purbayan Chatterjee , Manju Mehta.

Saraswati Veena : Famous exponents - Muthuswami Dikshitar , Veenai Dhanammal , Veena Sheshanna , Veena Venkatagiriappa , Veena Doraiswamy Iyengar , Emani Sankara Sastry , Chitti Babu , Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer , K. S. Narayanaswamy , Trivandrum R. Venkataraman , S. Balachander , Nirmala Rajasekhar , Prashant Iyengar , B. Sivakumar.

Ektara : It is generally played by Nath , Kalbelia sadhus. Famous exponents –

Sain Zahoor Ahmed , Girish Khyaapa.

Mohan Veena : Famous exponents - Vishwa Mohan Bhatt , Harry Manx.

Surbahar : Famous exponents - Annapurna Devi , Imdad Khan , Wahid Khan , Inayat Khan , Imrat Khan , Mushtaq Ali Khan , Pushparaj Koshti , Ashwin M. Dalvi , Irshad Khan , Budhaditya Mukherjee , Manilal Nag , Kushal Das , Rajiv Janardan , Suvir Mishra , Debabrata Mishra , Babukhan.

Sursringar : Famous exponents - Pyar Khan , Basat Khan , Jaffer Khan , Mohammad Ali Khan ( son of Basat Khan ), Bahadur Sen Khan , Allauddin Khan , Radhika Mohan Maitra , Kumar Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury , Shaukat Ali Khan , Joydeep Mukherjee.

Sarangi : Famous exponents - Abdul Latif Khan , Aruna Narayan , Ashiq Ali Khan , Bharat Bhushan Goswami , Bundu Khan , Dhrub Ghosh , Ghulam Ali , Harsh Narayan , Kamal Sabri , Manonmani , Ramesh Mishra , Ram Narayan , Sabir Khan , Siddiqui Ahmed Khan , Suhail Yusuf Khan , Sultan Khan , Ustad Faiyaz Khan , Moinuddin Khan , Ram Narayan.

Santoor : Famous exponents - Ulhas Bapat , Tarun Bhattacharya , Rahul Sharma , Shivkumar Sharma , Abhay Sopori , Bhajan Sopori , R. Visweswaran , Varsha Agrawal , Mohammed Tibet Bakal , Harjinder Pal Singh , Areti Ketime.

 

wind instruments

produces sound primarily by vibrating a stringed body , without the use of strings or membranes . Wind instruments are broadly divided into two categories based on the sound produced : flute and reed .

Flute : Famous exponents - T. R. Mahalingam , Hariprasad Chaurasia , N. Ramani , Pannalal Ghosh .

Harmonium : Famous exponents - Shri Purushottam Walawalkar , Appa Jalgaonkar , Gyan Prakash Ghosh.

Shehnai : Famous exponents - Bismillah Khan , Krishna Ram Choudhary , Ali Ahmed Hussain , Daya Shankar.

Nadaswaram : Famous exponents – Rajaratnam Pillai , Sheikh Chinnamoula , Neeruswamy Pillai.

Saxophone : Famous exponents - Kadri Gopalnath , Manohari Singh.

 

rhythm instruments

In instruments of this category , sound is produced by striking a clay or metal vessel or an animal skin stretched over a wooden barrel or frame.

Ghatam : Famous exponent - T.S. H . Vinayakram , E​ M.Sc.​ Subramaniam , K. Umayalpuram . Narayanaswamy , Tripunithura N Radhakrishnan , Trichi Shankaran , V Selvaganesh , Sukanya Ramgopal , Giridhar Udupa.

Tabla : Famous players - Zakir Hussain , Sabir Khan , Allah Rakha , Pt . Kishan Maharaj , Sandip Das , Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan , Pt . Gyan Prakash Ghosh , Trilok Gurtu , Anindo Chatterjee , Bikram Ghosh , Alok Dutta.

Mridangam : Famous exponents - S. V. Rajarao , K. V. Prasad , Palghat Mani Iyer , Palghat Raghu , Karaikudi R. Mani , Guruvayur Dorai .

Pakhawaj : Famous players - Totaram Sharma , Gopaldas , Ramshankar Pagaldas , Pt . Ayodhya Prasad.

Kanjira : Famous exponents - G. Harishankar , V. Nagarajan , C. P. Vyas Vittala , Bangalore Amritha , B. Sri Sundarkumar , V. Selvaganesh , Swaminathan Selvaganesh , A. S. N. Swamy , B. S. Purushothaman , G. Guru Prasanna , N. Ganesh Kumar , S. Sunil Kumar , Nerkunnam Shankar , Anirudh Athreya , K. V. Gopalakrishnan , Sunad Anur .​​​​

 

Cube musical instruments

The oldest musical instruments invented by humans are called solid instruments or cubic instruments. Once constructed , this type of instrument does not require special tuning before playing.

List of folk musical instruments of India ,

Ladakh - Damien , Dungchen , Gyaling , Silnyin / Bubjal , Kangling , Dung , Damru , Drilbu

Sikkim - Tungbuk , Cymbals

Tripura - Sumui , Sarinda , Chong Preng , Kham , Dangdu

Meghalaya - Besli , Bamboo Flute , Tangmuri , Duitara , Dimphong , Maringod

Nagaland - glutton , glutton

Assam - Gogona , Pepa , Rhythm , Shell , Madol , Khanjari Dutara

West Bengal - Swarmandal , Khanjani , Tortoise Sitar

Jammu and Kashmir - Saaz-e-Kashmir , Tabla , Kashmiri Setar , The Vasul , The Dokra

Punjab - Pumpkin , Algoz , Dhad , Tongs

Goa - Ghumat , Kasale , Madlem , Surt , Tasso , Nagado , Tambura

Karnataka - Nagaswaram , Kalimba , Gotuvadyam , Tambura ,
 

Kombu , Kahle , Mukhavine , Panchamukh Vadyam Andhra Pradesh - Pambai , Tambura

Telangana - Gummatas , Brahma Tal , Titti , Burra ( Dhakki ), Chirutalu , Jamidika Veeranam , Endelu , Kinnera.

Kerala - Chenda , Edakka , Kombu , Mizhavu

Tamil Nadu - Thalam , Thavil , Udukkai , Veelai , Venkural

Maharashtra - Dolki , Tuntuni , Daff

Himachal Pradesh - Dammama , Gajju , Doru , Nagara , Dholku , Nagarath , Tamaka , Daffle , Hudak , Ghanta , Ghadiyal ( bells ), Cymbals , Kokatha Murchang

Uttarakhand - Damoun , Ransingha , Daur , Bhankora , Musk Baja , Hurka , Binai , Mushak Bean

Rajasthan - Trumpet , Ravanhatta , Kamaicha , Morchang and Ektara , The Duff and Chang , Poongi , Algoja , Tarpi , Bankia , Khartal , Satara , Chautara and Bhapang , Sarangiya Langa

Gujarat - Sundari , Bhorrindo , Kani , Jodia Pava , Ghado , Ghaghar

Chhattisgarh - Dhankul