Mridanga (Carnatic, percussion instrument)

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The mridangam is the instrument used in Carnatic music to maintain the 'thala' or rhythm of the recital. The body is made of jackwood, and the circular sides are made of hide.

The mridangam is a double sided drum. The body of the instrument is made of one piece of wood. Hollow, the body has two opertures of different size, one, very small, that will generate high pitched sounds and another, wider, for low pitched sounds. The walls of the instrument are 2/3 centimeters thick and give it stability in the low frequencies.

The Right Head: A mixture of manganese dust, boiled rice and tamarind juice is worked on to the right head of the mridangam in order to increase the pitch of the note. This creates a permanent large black circle in the middle of the drum head. The note of the head is tuned to the tonic. Different harmonics of the head are produced by various finger combinations. The Left Head: The left head of the mridangam is left bare, but when it is played, a mixture of pounded raw rice and water is applied to the center. This gives its characteristic dull sound. The two skins are stretched together with leather strips.

The Mridangam is the main rhythm instrument of Carnatic music music with ghatam.

Artists

Major artists in alphabetical order

Palghat Mani Iyer

Umayalapuram Shivaraman