What is a chengala?

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 14 Dec 2007, 03:32

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2007/12/14/stor ... 170300.htm

Two questions:

The music had the melodious voice of Tridev Varrier on vocals, her guru Girija Chandra on chengala, Gyaneshwaran on maddalam/mridanga and Srikumar on the violin.

1. What is a chengala? Is it similar to the cymals wielded by the naTTuvanAr in bharatanATyam?

wrote:She started her recital with â€œTuliya Unarthuâ€

braindrain · Post by **braindrain** » 14 Dec 2007, 09:39

1. Chengila is a ,metal circular instrument( ?) used to keep the rythm by the Kathakali playback singers.

http://www.india9.com/i9show/Chengila-44239.htm

Here is a picture of Sri Sankaran Embranthiri , a well known kathakali singer ( who died recently) with Chengila.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 15 Dec 2007, 02:01

Thanks, Braindrain - then it is some sort of cymbal equivalent for keeping time.

braindrain · Post by **braindrain** » 15 Dec 2007, 10:06

You are right. In Kathakali, the singers have to stand and perform through out the performance. There are no other way to keep the 'thala' . If you listen to any of the Kathakali music records, you can hear the sound of Chengila distinctly. An equivalent of Adi thala , is called "Chembada" which is used in most of the 'padams'.

However, in between the "padam" ( something like the BGM style) , this is used in more open and a very different sound is produced.

BD

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 15 Dec 2007, 19:14

Thanks!