Santali Musical Instruments

Santali Musical Instruments:

The life of Santals in always associated with music and dance. A social or a cultural event is always welcomed with the rythm of music accompanied with dance. There are a lot of musical instruments used by Santal people. The instruments are either made by them or some times purchased from the local market. The main instruments include Tiriaw(flute),Banam,Tamak and Tumdah. The brief description about the instruments is given below.

•Tiriao:

The instrument most favoured by Santals, is bamboo flute with seven holes. It is viewed as a symbols of love and seduction. A flute is made of narrow hollow bamboo. Its best size can be 45cm-65cm length and 2-2.5cm of diameter best known in Santali- ‘bar langa mat’. It consists of 4-5 holes of about 0.8 to 1 cm diameter on the body to use four fingers and one for blowing air by mouth. One end may be open and other closed. It can be played alone or with songs of other. Play can match any rhythm of song and play of harmonium etc.

•Banam:

According to legend, at one time there were seven brothers who conspired to kill and eat their sister. But the youngest brother was so overcome by

guilt that he could not bring himself to eat his portion. He surreptitiously buried it in an ant hill. Upon that spot, a beautiful tree grew. A stranger passing the tree, hears a beautiful sound emanating from it. He cuts a branch off the tree and fashions the first banam. There are two types of banam, Dhodro banam and Tendar banam.

Head of the 'Derenj' Banam

'Deren'j Banam

•Dhodro Banam:

 is a bowed instrument carved out of a single log of wood of a tree. It consits of a belly(laj) covered with an animal skin on which rests the bridge(sadam, lit, horse), an open chest( koram), a short neck(hotok)and a head( bohok) which is oftenbeautifully carved in the shape of a human head, a couple or whole groups of humans or of animals.

Jhadar Tamak (the leather sheet loosely covers the top, which gives a low pitch sound)

•Phet Banam:

is a fretless stringed instrument with three or four strings. The waisted belly is completely covered by animal skin.

•Tamak:
Tamak is a bowl shaped kettle drum. Its body is made of thin metal sheets and the shape is like half globes of various sizes. covered by bullock hide and beaten by a pair of sticks. Some tamaks are used to be lifted by two men. Those tamaks are used in sendra or mass hunting. Others are drummed in time of lagne, dong, baha, dahar and at most of all dance. The deep and loud sounds coming out of the Tamak and tumdah combined at once attracts the Santals from across the localities, even from distant places.

•Tumdah:

It is a two faced drum with a body of burnt clay. It is tapered cylindrical in shape and one end is tight, covered with untannedleather of bullock and other end by goat skin. The part covered by bullock skin is beaten with left hand and and the other by right hand. The whole is covered with strips of bullock hide. This instrument is used in all the occasions of dancing and merrymaking.

These are their ethnic instruments connected with their life. About 10,000 Santals, were organized during the great Santal Hul (Rebellion) of 1855-56 under Sidhu, Kanhu, Bidu and Chandan Murmu against the oppression of the British and local money-lenders with the call of these drums. The instruments have become symbols of their ethnic identity.

•Singa:

Singa is a half S-shaped wind instrument played in pairs in weddings. Made of brass or copper, it is usually constructed in the three pierces with mouthpiece at the blowing end and a conic opening at the other.

• Sakwa:

Sakwa is a an instrument made of buffalow horn or clay specially used during the offerings to Bongas(same as the use of sea cronch in of Hindu Poojas)

•Bhuang:

This is made out of a shell of ground. This instrument is exclusively used at dasain dance performed during the month of dasain(aswin- bhadrav).

Other instruments used at the time of group dancing are chor chuli, dhak, kortal, ghanti etc. Girls dance keeping hand in hand moving forward with rhymes. Boys beat tamak, tumdah, chor churi in front of dancing girls and lead them in circular line. With them the other men-folk and the women folk dance through-out the night maintaining full discipline. Others watch and enjoy the rhythmic dance.