Musical Instruments Of Sikkim

                      Musical Instruments Of Sikkim

         

Sikkim is very rich in folk musical instruments, but it is very difficult to trace the first musical instrument of the state, because all primitive people all over the world seem to have made music of some sort. Folk musical instruments exist only in space, not in time. According to the myth of Mundhum of the Limboo community, the first musical instrument was a bamboo harp known as Simikla Koom (Binayo in Khas Language) made for their sister Tetlara Lahadongna, by the sons of Sawa Yukphung Kemba, namely – Samdang Khewa and Lingdang Khewa for their sister Tetlara Lahadongna in antiquity. The myth says that the next instrument was the Niyara Hongsing Ke of Lokpha Temba and Hongpha Temba brothers, who danced around the main pillar of the new house to protect the newly constructed house from the evil spirits. In another myth of Mundhum. It is also said that Yeba and Yema Limboo priest came to the village of Sawa Yethangs the primitive men with their gear Yegeysing pole tied with Niyara Hongsing Ke to drive away the evil spirits from the villages. Similarly, there are a number of myths about the origin of musical instruments amongst the different communities living in Sikkim in antiquity.

     Famous musical instruments in Sikkim are-

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  Tala- Tala in the music of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, a metric cycle with a specific number of beats—from 3 to 128—that recur in the same pattern throughout a musical performance. Tala might generally be equated with rhythm or metre, although the tala procedure has no precise counterpart in Western music. The concept of tala is found in rather different forms in northern (Hindustani) and southern (Karnatak) Indian music. In the north, beats appear in groups of two, three, or four and include strong as well as “empty” beats. The character of the
  beats and their subdivisions is represented by rhythmic syllables that are recited for practice and sometimes in performance; these syllables correspond to various types of strokes with the finger on the appropriate drum. Southern Indian talas consist of units of one (anudrutam), two (drutam), and three to seven (laghu) beats.

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  Vadya- Vadyaalso called Vadyaka or Atodya, is one of the three components of sangita (musical performance arts), and refers to "instrumental music" in the Indian traditions. The other two components of sangita are gita (vocal music,song) and nrtya (dance, movement). In the general sense, Vadya means an instrument and the characteristic music they produce,
  sound or play out.The term Vadya in the sense of "music, sounded, played, uttered" appears in the Vedic literature such as in the Aitareya Brahmana, and in early post-Vedic era Sanskrit texts such as the Natya Shastra, Panchtatra, Malvikagnimitra and Kathasaritsagara. These texts call the musician or the performer on the musical instrument as Vadyadhara. A stringed instrument is described with proportional lengths in Jaiminiya Brahmana and Aitareya Aranyaka, and these are compared to poetical meters.

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  Sushira Vadya or Aerophones are wind instruments. In the Sushira vadya group, sound is produced by blowing air into a hollow column. The pitch
  of the note is created by controlling the passage and the melody is played by
  using the fingers to open and close the instrument.

• Sushira Vadya- 
  
  Sushira Vadya or Aerophones are wind instruments. In the Sushira vadya group, sound is produced by blowing air into a hollow column. The pitch of the note is created by controlling the passage
  and the melody is played by using the fingers to open and close the instrument.