mridangam
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The mridangam is an ancient percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is a traditional royal instrument originating in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is widely used in south Indian classical music, called Carnatic music, especially in its sangeetha kacherees. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is the kendang, played in the Maritime Southeast Asia. It is a complex instrument to tune and involves a lot of mathematics to co
Key facts
- Instrument.name
- Mridangam/Tannumai
- Instrument.image
- Wiki-mridangam.jpg
- Instrument.background
- percussion
- Instrument.related
- Mardala, pakhawaj, khol, tabla, kendang Ghatam, Kanjira, Morsing (accompanying instruments)
- Instrument.musicians
- Legacy: Palghat Mani Iyer, Palani Subramaniam Pillai, Ramanathapuram C S Murugabhoopathy, Palghat R. Raghu, Mavelikkara Velukkutty Nair, Vellore G. Ramabhadran, Karaikudi Mani, Umayalpuram Kasiviswanatha Sivaraman, Trichy Sankaran
- Instrument.articles
- Carnatic music
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- Membranophone
- Country of origin
- India
- Image
- Wiki-mridangam.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- Commons category
- Mridangam
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Legend
- History
- Tamil culture
- Construction
- Methods of use
- Talam (Rhythmic Cycle)
- Thani Avarthanam
- Modern usage
- Mridangamela
- Players
- Past players
- Current players
- See also
- References
- External links
The mridangam is an ancient percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is a traditional royal instrument originating in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is widely used in south Indian classical music, called Carnatic music, especially in its sangeetha kacherees. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is the kendang, played in the Maritime Southeast Asia. It is a complex instrument to tune and involves a lot of mathematics to construct korvais.
During a percussion ensemble, the mridangam is often accompanied by the ghatam, the kanjira, and the morsing.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “mridangam” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.