Nadaswaram
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Nadaswaram, also spelt Nadhaswaram, and also called Nagaswaram, is one of the most popular classical instruments of south India and the world's loudest non-brass acoustic instrument. It is a wind instrument similar to the Shehnai but larger with a large flaring bell, sometimes metal. It may be swung through the air while playing, creating a doppler effect.
In India the nadaswaram is considered to be very auspicious, and it is the key instrument which is played in almost all Hindu marriages and temples. The instrument is usually played in pairs, and accompanied by a pair of drums called thavil.
U.S. composers such as Lewis Spratlan and Carl Stone have expressed admiration for the nadaswaram, and the jazz musician Charlie Mariano (b. 1923) is one of the few non-Indians able to play the instrument, having studied it while living in India.
Discography
- Sheik Chinna Moulana
- Nadhaswaram: Music of South India (1996), described on the back as, "Insular cluture, Hindu gods/Simple, exotic musical sounds./Reed horns and tabla." Interra Records 5273. Also Wergo SM1507.
- Woodwind Melodies (1996). Koel 46.