History

History Of Tabla

All over the world, archeologists list simple idiophones as the first prehistoric musical instruments. This includes rattles, scrapers, and bone flutes (without holes). The neolithic strata contains slit drums, flutes (with holes), shell trumpets, and musical bows. The paleolithic strata yields basket rattles, xylophones, flutes, friction sticks. These early instruments, at least the instruments which survived, often resemble tools that early society utilized. In India, the doddu rajan, found among the Savaras, resembles a fire producing implement (a tool to create heat by friction). This type of scraper, also found as the kokara among the Palayans of Kerala perhaps became the Palayans' scraper, and used in the music of exorcism.

Earthen pots, used for cooking and storing grain, served as percussion instruments. Examples are the noot, rouf (Kashmir), matki (Rajastan), gugri, gagra (north India), ghatam (south India). Since many of these instruments, built out of perishable materials, did not leave evidence for us to trace their history, we rely on sculptures, paintings, and manuscripts which depict or describe them.

The seals of the Mohenjodaro Indus valley civilization contain depictions of men playing long cylindrical drums hung around their necks played horizontally. These drums are most similar to the kharrang of Assam and with the dhole of the Reddis of Andra Pradesh. Other drums inscribed on the seals include an hour glass shaped drum like the hudukka, castanets and cymbals. Some arched harps found in their hieroglyphics and unearthed clay whistles demonstrate they developed a tonal system, but no literature exists which we can translate in order to learn about that system.

Our first documentation of music occurs in the Vedic scriptures, of the Aryan culture. The most ancient Vedic literature describes drums covered with the skins of wild animals, large earthen drums, and the role of the drums in various rituals. The bhumi-dundubhi, a giant earth drum, consisting of a hallow pit covered with skin, struck by legs of wood, signaled danger or approaching enemies with its thunderous and deep resonating pitch. Vedic singers used the dundhubi, a drum formed out of hallow tree trunks with the upper part covered with skin.