The Sound of Percussion !

Last Thursday, I happened to watch a music performance, comprising a combination of percussion instruments, namely ‘maddalam’, 'ilathalam' and ‘chenda’. The instruments were played by young learners of the craft, still getting into the groove, slowly but surely creating a mark for themselves. It was a mesmerizing evening with the instruments creating a melody for the ages.

A maddalam is a percussion instrument, meaning a sound is generated by touching its outer surface. The instrument is currently made out of the lower trunk of the jackfruit tree. The jackfruit trunk provides more durability and longevity to the instrument.

Similar to a typical maddalam performance, the instrument was played in different combinations of beats such as the tishram (six beats), mishram (seven beats), khandam (ten beats). The beats are created by hitting on the two sides which are made of leather. Both the sides can create different types of sounds depending on the thickness of the leather and the pressure applied on each beat. The sound waves resonate within the hollow instrument, amplifying the sound output.

The five maddalam players were helped on the night by two ilathalam players creating what in Carnatic music is known as the ‘Maddala Keli’. The performance came to an end with a chenda player joining in and providing the finishing touches in a ten beat rousing finale. We walked home with a smile on our face, echoes of the music in our ears and happiness in our heart.