TAMBURA
 Tambura is an age-old drone
instrument familiar to the Andhraites ever since the period of Ramdas and
Thyagaraja! Tanpura as it is known in North India, forms an essential
part of every classical concert and is played all along the concert to maintain the
Sruthi of the main melody.Tambura is a look alike of Veena usually made of Jackwood consisting of a long
but unfretted neck, which has around 4-6 tuning pegs. It has a bowl-shaped resonator with
a broad grooved bridge made of bone or ivory at the lower end that vibrates and amplifies
the sound. About 4-6 strings run along the entire length of the main
bridge that bear a bead each, which is used for finer tuning by moving it up or down. Fine
silk threads called the "Jiva" are also used between the bridge and the strings,
positioning of which enhances the tonal effect.
In the four-stringed Tambura, the two
middle strings are tuned to the Tonic, while the last brass string is tuned an octave
lower. The first string however is usually tuned to the dominant. In the five or six
stringed Tambura, the performer can choose to tune the extra string(s) to any note(s) in
the Raga that is being played. It is thus, quite common to find a Tambura player sitting
behind the main artist at an audible distance for him to constantly hear the drone in any
classical concert.
 Click here for an Audio Clip of Tambura
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