Tambura players

lahari · Post by **lahari** » 15 Nov 2009, 17:44

Can anyone let me know a few tambura players and their contact numbers for a concert of my friend's?

Thanks a million.

Rasika911 · Post by **Rasika911** » 15 Nov 2009, 20:32

Anybody can play tambura after a quick 5-10 min demo.
However, it would be best to get someone who has had some musical training so that they can pick up when the sruthi drops and adjust it accordingly.
I dont know of any professional tambura players

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 15 Nov 2009, 20:38

I agree &disagree. Playing it in a concert for a professional musician is VERY difficult as I found out in 1965 for KVNat Syracuse University- I was 31 then-& he could not concentrate on his music. It is the length & continuity over that period that's tough!....I have not touched a Tambura for long periods since. There are SEVERAL professional Thambura players in Chennai, Bangalore etc. For example one of the prominent ones is late Kothamangalam Subbu's son. VKV

PUNARVASU · Post by **PUNARVASU** » 15 Nov 2009, 21:23

I do not think tamburA playing can be picked up in 15 minutes; it has to be to be practised to perfection; if the tamburA player does not do the job well, it will mar the concert.As VKV said, it distract the artist.
Added to this is the fact that,he/she should be able to sit crossed legs for more than 3 hours.

There are many professional players; unfortunately not many takers, thanks to the electronic tamburAs.

saianamika · Post by **saianamika** » 15 Nov 2009, 21:42

VKV sir,

I think you mean Ganesh who is Kothamangalam Seenu's son. I have seen him play for a lot of senior musicians over a span of about 40 years or so.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 15 Nov 2009, 21:58

Dear P & S,
You are both right. Actually professional musicians INSIST on a particular person in each town! K.S's son is one of two to three in Chennai for musicians who pay importance to sruthi& swarasthanam. vkv

Ramasubramanian M.K · Post by **Ramasubramanian M.K** » 15 Nov 2009, 22:21

To add a touch of levity to this serious discussion about Thambura strumming(crudely in Tamil Sruthi podaradu),

GNB's jokes.
He had taken a newly minted shishyan (who was brought to him and introduced only the previous day!!).he had to go on a concert trip(apparently his regulars--TRB,SK were not available!!--he goes to the concert hall with the shishya dutifully bringing the Thambura along,GNB gets on the stage and tells the shishya,"Sruthiyai Poduda"--the guy drops the thambura smack on the dais!!

Another one. After a concert in which he had a very difficult time with adhering to the Sruthi,one of his sycophants approached him and offered a mild alibi re: acoustics which probably may have caused the deviation from the sruthi(this was one of those Anukoola Shatrus perhaps!!!), GNB says :
Nan Enna Pannaradu,Sruthiyai poduda enru shishyan kitte shonnen!! Avan thangitteye Vachindutan!!(What can I do? I asked him to put the sruthi--he kept it to himself!!)

lahari · Post by **lahari** » 16 Nov 2009, 10:58

Btw, is there any site that lists artist directory (for free, if possible

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 17 Nov 2009, 10:15

I would totally agree to what vkv has said. It is indeed very tough to be doing it on stage, without getting distracted and do it properly for a few hours at a stretch. While in middle school, Sri Vijay Siva had come to our school, for a Spic-Macay concert. The tambura person had not come and our principal asked me to do the honours. Though I had been exposed to playing the tambura in music class before, I was totally out of mind that day and did a shabby job. eventually, somebody else from the audience came and substituted me

lahari, the musicians' directory does have a set of people with their address and phone numbers. If you are in chennai, u can find the directory in one of the music shops, else i can type out the list sometime later today...

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 18 Nov 2009, 02:23

I hear there's a very good sruti keeper called Radel

sivapriya · Post by **sivapriya** » 18 Nov 2009, 11:08

Tambura strumming is a "sadhana", that too to able to strum it for two -four hours at a stretch. Total attention and a single posture on stage makes it even more daunting.

These days, there is a fall back option which every artist big and small carry in the form of an electronic tambura. ( A good insurance against human omissions and errors) !!

It would have been extremely difficult those days when the fall back option was not available.

I personally had two situations when in one case the tambura player used to intermittently stop and start making it dificult to sing. In another one, he kept "plucking " the strings and it was very disturbing to hear the "tok tok" sound which was very annoying and irritating.

My guru RV, has told us to use the terminology "tambura meetu" instead of "tambura podu" , maybe to guard the repetition of the GNB experience !! as mentioned above !!!

If you notice most professional artists have tambura players specially dedicated for themselves as a "loyal sahadharmini".

Intinsically a wedded match gets developed between the main artist and the tambura artist and changing the tambura partner can cause a lot of discord and mental agony to the main artist.

All eager students / singers of classical music must read the excellent article of my guru's guru ( Sri Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer) on "Tambura - aligning the sruti and strumming ".

It is one of the best ever online class for someone who is interested in this. It is available in his centenary celebration publication
(1999) with the Music Academy Madras.

shriranjani · Post by **shriranjani** » 18 Nov 2009, 13:00

I know this discussion is about tambura players,but I felt tempted to add this info. here.Many musicians,especially those who travel have found it immensely useful & beautiful.
iTanpura is not only the first electronic Tanpura for the iPhone and iPod Touch, it is the first electronic tanpura that actually sounds like a real tanpura! In fact it includes two tanpuras so you can have a jodi or pair of tanpuras accompanying you. It uses sounds sampled from real Hemraj tanpuras to provide beautiful yet realistic sound in a pleasing design. It uses stereo digital sound to simulate a set of two tanpuras, each of which can be tuned with a different string combination. This can be used for everyday music practice, concerts, or even as a serene background for meditation. The sound quality has to be heard to be believed!

For more information, see the website or the demo on YouTube
http://www.upasani.org/home/iTanpura.html
Many of my Carnatic performing musician friends have spoken very highly of it.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 19 Nov 2009, 03:48

Since the Discussion has turned "slightly" towards physics at least in a remote fashion I feel emboldened to bring to the attention of those interested that PROF. S.Ramanathan in a lecture at Saraswathi pointed out the research of C.V.RAMAN IN WHICH HE SHOWED THAT THO' YOU MIGHT PLAY "SA"-C in Western S- in thambura what are called OVERTONES are produced (like ri, ga etc) & these result in the COMPLEX Sound Thambura produces. When these are RELEVENT to the particular RAGA etc effect is ELECTRIC!Actually S.R. Demonstratyed that 16 OVERTONES are produced by the human voice- he said M.S.S in our system did that- as well as Thambura & Veena which is why its considered closest to human voice. Violin can produce 3-4 overtones & Flute only 2; Mridangam is also pretty low in number of overtones. This is why WHEN UKS demonstrated & claimed he can play any kriti in carnatic music in Mridhangam & demonstrated it was sort of a flop when kritis OTHER than EVERY ONE had heard was played by him. LGJ correctly has said NO instrument can play the kritis close to human voice......
With respect to Thambura now a days it probably does not matter as in my opinion no one is close to MS or MMI in THIS aspect. So electronoc Thambura etc can get by as the criteria have been DILUTED. I would like to know whetrher some one that has done a FREQUENCY Anlalysis with these devices. I had done it it WITH Thambura and it was shocking to me hear Thambura by itself( Thenpannan had written about it?) It was SO MESMARIZING; And listening to MSS & MMI with Thambura without the cheap amplification devices in India then used was simply ASTOUNDING!...Even now a days I contend the amplification systems used are quite poor as PMI had observed....Like to hear from those who have tried like me to understand Thambura VS REST....VKV

Svaapana · Post by **Svaapana** » 19 Nov 2009, 06:08

vkv said "With respect to Thambura now a days it probably does not matter as in my opinion no one is close to MS or MMI in THIS aspect".
Clearly an uncharitable comment. I find that the leading musicians of today have much better control over sruthi compared to many of their predecessors. Other day I was listening to a leading vocalist of today who stayed on one swara (thara sthayi sadjamam) for 31seconds (Yes I really counted the time). I did not have any instrument to check the purity of the note, but any experienced ear would have noticed that the note stayed where it should. It was breathtaking (no pun meant please!) indeed.

cacm · Post by **cacm** » 19 Nov 2009, 08:42

YOU are entitled to your opinion as I am entitled to mine. NOT just SRUTHI but swarasthanam & position of various notes (thru' out the concert) in the scale in the raga being rendered. I have nothing against today's artists . Most of them are my friends& they are better in many other areas than the older generation. If you notice I had SPECIFICALLY mentioned only TWO..My intention is not to raise a ruckus.I would like to think this forum is for discussions & not being charitable or otherwise. VKV

pupasani · Post by **pupasani** » 20 Nov 2009, 01:10

Thanks to the member who recommended iTanpura - I'm the developer for it. This is an electronic tanpura for the iPhone & iPod platform. See this post for more details:

http://rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic.php? ... lehra.html

Radhika-Rajnarayan · Post by **Radhika-Rajnarayan** » 20 Nov 2009, 10:28

In a concert, it is not enough if the performer alone hears the sruti. It is essential for the accompanists and audience to hear the sruti.
Very often, players of acoustic tamburas, even users of electronic tamburas, strum it / set the volume at such a low level that the audience cannot hear the sruti. This is disastrous, because the identification, appreciation and enjoyment of a raga depends on the aadhaara sruti. If the performer is presenting Hindolam and no sruti is heard, someone may mistake it for Mohanam (if they imagine the Ga to be the Sa!)
As a listener, I feel that frequent long pauses on jeeva swaras while merging the voice / instrument to the tambura, and wherever possible, presenting plain notes, added to a relaxed and slow delineation of the raga, with the performer enjoying every single note, appreciating its harmony with the tambura sruti, help in conveying the essence of the raga. This can and should be taken further into the neraval and swaraprastaara portions also. I feel that this is what contributes to the impression of 'saukhyam' in a concert.