IGCSE - India World Focus Instrument Listening Quiz

Which instrument do you hear?

• Algoza

• Dholak

• Khadtal

• Sarangi

• Sitar

Answer explanation

Rajasthani Folk Music

The dholak is a double-headed barrel drum that is widely used in folk music contexts across North India. When not performing as solo instrumentalist/singers, the Langās and Mānganiyārs typically use dholak for the main rhythmic accompaniment of songs. The drum is usually held on the player’s lap whilst sitting cross-legged on the floor or placed on the floor in front of the player and held in place by the musician’s foot or knee. Langā and Mānganiyār dholak players use a variety of open and closed hits to sound the drum, along with rim shots and sustained notes that are allowed to ring out. The right hand usually performs more elaborate patterns on the higher-pitched goatskin drum head while the left hand keeps the basic rhythmic pattern on the lower-pitched drum head.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Bansuri

• Kamaicha

• Murli

• Sarod

• Tabla

Answer explanation

Rajasthani Folk Music

The Mānganiyārs are particularly well known for being the only musicians in the world who employ the kamāichā, a hemispherical bowed lute that is usually carved from local hardwoods such as mango and sheesham. Like the classical sārangī, the kamāichā has three main playing strings that are typically tuned to the tonic, fifth and octave. However, these strings are fretted; the left-hand fingers press down with the nails as opposed to sliding the string against the cuticles. The kamāichā is typically held in the lap whilst sitting cross-legged on the floor, and it is sounded with a large wooden horsehair bow. The kamāichā also features a number of sympathetic strings; although these are set higher on the bridge than on a classical sārangī and are frequently sounded with the bow as the musician plays the main strings. Animal skin (usually goat – bakrā – or, more rarely, hiren – deer) is stretched over the gourd chamber to act as a resonator.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Bansuri

• Kamaicha

• Murli

• Sarod

• Tabla

Answer explanation

Rajasthani Folk Music

Wind instruments are occasionally used by some Mānganiyārs for melodic accompaniment and solo performance. Most notable of these is the murli, a double reed gourd flute also known as pūngi and made famous for being used throughout the Rajasthani desert by jogi, or snake charmers. It has a characteristically shrill, nasal sound.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Algoza

• Dholak

• Khadtal

• Sarangi

• Sitar

Answer explanation

Hindustani Classical Music

The sitār comes in all sizes. It has a long neck with curved metal frets that are moveable, and a main resonator made of gourd. It has a varying number of strings but 17 is usual, with three to four playing strings, three to four drone/rhythm strings (chikari) and the rest are sympathetic strings. The playing and drone strings are plucked with a wire finger plectrum known as mizrab, while the sympathetic strings are almost never played but they vibrate whenever the corresponding note is sounded.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Algoza

• Dholak

• Khadtal

• Sarangi

• Sitar

Answer explanation

Rajasthani Folk Music

Khadtāl is a generic term used for paired wooden clappers that are found in various forms in many folk and devotional music traditions throughout India. The Rajasthani variant of khadtāl commonly found in contemporary Mānganiyār music ensembles (although rarely used by Langā musicians), consists of two hand-held rectangular wooden blocks similar to Chinese pāibaˇn (clappers) or castanets. Expert Mānganiyār performers will hold a pair of khadtāl in each hand, anipulating them skillfully – and often theatrically – to create rapid, complex rhythmic patterns that accompany song performance.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Algoza

• Dholak

• Khadtal

• Sarangi

• Sitar

Answer explanation

Rajasthani Folk Music

In addition to playing the ubiquitous double reed oboe shehnai, a small number of Langā musicians play the double end-blown flute algoza, also known colloquially as satārā. This instrument is constructed from two joined wooden flutes: one of which is used to play the melody whilst the second, longer pipe is sounded as a drone. Circular breathing is commonly employed by algoza players to create a continuous sound, and beeswax can partially cover the fretting holes to modify the fundamental pitch of the instrument as required for accompaniment.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Algoza

• Dholak

• Khadtal

• Sarangi

• Sitar

Answer explanation

Hindustani and Rajasthani Music

A sārangī is a fretless, bowed lute with three main playing gut strings, one brass drone string, and up to 35 to 40 sympathetic strings attached to pegs along the side of the fingerboard. It is held vertically, with the instrument resting on the lap and the pegbox end resting on the left shoulder. A horsehair bow is held with the right hand and the left hand plays stopped notes by sliding against the strings with the cuticles. Unlike the sitār and the sarōd, the sārangī was originally a folk instrument. In Mughal times, it accompanied singing and dancing in the courts. Because of such associations, the sārangī has previously been thought of as an instrument of a lower class. In the twentieth century, it had been accepted into the classical tradition.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Bansuri

• Kamaicha

• Murli

• Sarod

• Tabla

Answer explanation

Hindustani Classical Music

The sarōd is another instrument that has held an esteemed position in Hindustani classical music. It has a wooden body covered with goatskin and a broad neck that has a fretless fingerboard covered in a smooth metal sheet upon which the player slides the cuticles of his left hand while the right hand plucks the strings with a plectrum made of polished coconut shell. The modern sarōd has four to five main playing strings, four fixed drone strings and approximately 15 sympathetic strings. By the nineteenth century, it had become one of the most important concert instruments in Hindustani music.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Bansuri

• Kamaicha

• Murli

• Sarod

• Tabla

Answer explanation

Hindustani Classical Music

The bānsurī is a transverse flute made from bamboo, reeds or canes. It has six or seven finger holes. Closely associated with the Hindu god Krishna, the instrument was previously associated with only folk music. In recent years, however, it has found its way into classical, film music and other genres. As it is keyless, the player must master difficult whole and half-hole fingering techniques to play the microtones and slides.

Which instrument do you hear?

• Bansuri

• Kamaicha

• Tanpura

• Sarod

• Tabla

Answer explanation

Hindustani Classical Music

The drone instrument is a four-string lute known as the tānpurā or tambūrā. It has a long, unfretted neck with four or five strings tuned to the tonic and dominant of the rāga. In performance, the tānpurā player sits behind the soloist and strums the strings in a fairly free rhythm. The sound of the drone has two important functions: firstly, the pitch ‘sa’ is of prime importance in relation to other pitches in the rāga being played, hence the sounding of the tonic (sa) string on the tānpurā helps to provide the reference pitch for the entire performance. Secondly, the sound of a drone helps to create ambience and mood to the music.