From the ancient past comes the oldest form of Indian classical music.
It is music not meant as a form of entertainment. It is music as devotion - Dhrupad. This steady, dignified form of music is often heard tuned to a lower tonic - low A or Bb (rather than C). There is a certain seriousness and purity to it. This bass tuning and purity of harmonics was the inspiration for this instrument. The Personal Tambura® is also a bass tambura (aka 'male') usually tuned to C. It has a string length of 29" thus affording it more portability than a usual bass tambura - hence "Personal". Tuning the Personal Tambura® to this low pitch calls for the use of a very fine polished wound wire with very clean harmonics. The clients who commissioned my Contrabass Tamburas were not so concerned with portability and wanted to bathe in the harmonics of a much longer string. It is in recognition of them that I dubbed this instrument the "Dhrupad Tambura" and built it with a 42" string length. The aubergine instrument pictured here is a five-string version. Above, it is pictured next to a Personal Tambura® to show its relative size. The Tambura pictured below is the four-string version but with custom sound holes based on a Fibonacci series (or a crop circle if you prefer). Since we are in the "Bespoke Instrument" section, this is the sort of individual expression that comes up. The Dhrupad Tambura is built in exactly the same manner as the Personal Tambura®, just larger. You can see pricing and ordering info HERE |
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