Conical shawm of South India. Although the term is mentioned in texts from the middle of the 1st millennium ce onwards it is unclear if this relates to a precursor of the modern instrument and scholars remain divided on the question of the instruments origins. It is approximately 95 cm long, and its large double reed, of cane, is fashioned similarly to that of the Śahnāī. The reed is mounted on a short, stubby conical staple, which is inserted into a conical wooden pipe containing seven equidistant finger-holes, and no thumb-hole; five additional holes are bored near the distal end of the pipe, two on each side and one on top. These holes, which may or may not be completely or partially filled with wax, assist in tuning the instrument. A widely flared wooden bell is attached to the distal end of the pipe. Additional reeds, staples and supporting paraphernalia are strung and kept together, to be readily accessible during performance. Although the instrument exists in longer (bāri) and shorter (timiri) examples, with gradations between, the longer variety has become more popular during this century. A metal bell is usually associated with the shorter nāgasvaram.
Three fingers are used in the proximal position and four in the distal position. Normally the left hand is proximal. Skilful lip command of the pliable double reed, virtuoso tonguing and breath control facilitate a wide variation of pitch and tone quality, important features of nāgasvaram technique. The range of the instrument is two octaves.
The exceedingly vibrant, penetrating sound of the nāgasvaram is valued as auspicious. Though also appearing on the concert stage today, historically the nāgasvaram is part of the periya melam which plays mainly in Hindu temples, at yearly festivals and at marriages. It is accompanied by the tavil, the tālam (small hand cymbals of bell metal) and the surudippetti (a bellows-activated drone box containing free reeds).
The tavil (or tavul, davul) is a double-headed barrel drum made of jackwood. The body is 40 cm to 45 cm long and 35 cm in diameter at the centre, about 21 cm at the heads, and the shell is less than 5 mm thick. The two skins are stretched on very thick hoops of bent bamboo bundles, covered with cloth, which project beyond the end of the drum and higher than its centre. The heads are interlaced by leather straps in a V pattern, but these are tightened by straps passing two or three times round the centre. The right head is played by the fingers, encased in plaster thimbles and the left is struck with a stick. The skins are said to be sometimes double, with an interior tuning-load.
T.V. Pillai: Nāhasvaram, Journal of the Music Academy, Madras, xx (1949), 11013 [in Tamil]
V. Raghowan: Nagasvara, Journal of the Music Academy, Madras, xx (1949), 1559; xxvi (1955), 149 only
W. Skelton: The Nagasvaram and the South Indian Hindu Festival, AsM, ii/1 (1971), 1824
Y. Terada: Effects of Nostalgia: the Discourse of Decline in periya mēlam Music of South India, Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan, xxi (1996), 92139
REIS FLORA, ALASTAIR DICK