rhythmic accompaniment for jor?

ramarama · Post by **ramarama** » 13 Mar 2008, 09:17

Mridangam accompaniment for tanam often sounds very complementary. The other day, i saw/heard a similar pakhawaj accompaniment for the jor (btw, is it still called jor when sung and not played on an instrument?) for the jor part of a vocal aalaap-jor-dhrupad piece- is that highly unusual or has anyone else heard such rhythmic accompaniment for vocal dhrupad singers before? Or even fr instrumentalists?

For nadaswarams, i find the tavil rather disturbing when it is played throughout the ragam rendition - and i wonder what aesthetic or practical purpose such accompaniment serves? Anyone have a clue? And in carnatic music, this is peculiar to the nadaswaram, right? not to other instruments or vocalists?

matterwaves · Post by **matterwaves** » 13 Mar 2008, 15:43

my surmise on nadaswara is , given the difficulty in blowing the huge instrument, the thavil is played as a filler in the pause that the artist needs to catch his breath!

ramarama · Post by **ramarama** » 15 Mar 2008, 13:19

so the tavil only plays in the intervals or breaks that the nadaswara player takes in the ragam rendition, yes? even when there are two tavil players, i think the tavil still joins in in the ragam yes, perhaps that is just out of habit? it surely is not very pleasing to the ear to be interrupted by percussion solos during a ragam?