Saturday 21 July 2012

Beautiful Instrument


What a wonderful surprise this weekend has brought!!!!!


Today we had a call from some fantastic friends arriving from the UK saying they were delivering a special instrument that my husband had ordered from India, they had driven from England and kindly said if we had it sent to their home address, they would bring it to Italy for us.
Let me tell you about excited boys, he was over the moon with happiness, it came in a very large bright red case, (there could have been a mummy inside,) with lovely red lining and packed with lots of fleecy material, even the case was exciting. When it was opened it revealed the most beautiful instrument I have ever seen, I think if the our friends were not there, I could have cried, and I'm not too sure about my husband, but, it was very moving.
 When our friends left he took it out of its casing, I did not know what to say as it was a wonderful looking, delicately crafted instrument, that had travelled so far, I couldn't imagine what a beautiful, spiritual sound resonated from it. It was a Tampura.
 I have never seen one so close up before, when we lived in England we were invited every year to a Sikh concert of music and meditation at the Sikh Temple and now I realise how fortunate we were to be selected out, to listen to such a beautiful sound.
The Tampura was found in Indian music around 2000 years ago and was used vocally to pass on religious scriptures. It is made from a hand crafted gourd which is the sound box which creates a droning sound that you hear in Indian music and meditation. It has a very long hollow neck and wooden pegs that hold the strings in place. The intricate carving on the gourd is exquisite, before playing, one should bow to it as though you were bowing to yourself, in respect, also, never show the soles of your feet to it, I believe this is an Asian belief of respect. My husband isnt to agile, so Im not sure about how he will sit when playing, at this moment, haha.

I do hope we hear it being played often as I was thinking about the man that would have crafted it, possibly a very poor musician that put his heart into making the beauty of the sound.
I will confess though, that I felt a bit peed off when my husband said he wanted one, I thought 'not another guitar', where is it going?, Is he going to play it? etc. but I think I am in awe of this awesome instrument, as much as he is, it seems to have brought happiness and beauty into the house. I really dont mind having an extra instrument to dust. (I know I know, I really mean it I wont grumble)














Well it is all set up now ready to be played, I think Im going to make a curry this evening, whilst John plays of course.  I will let you all know how it goes.  



1 comment:

  1. Wow it looks fantastic and I'm sure it will be happy in my bedroom!! I shall be interested to hear what sounds John can get from it...that should keep him happy for a long time to come........brilliant!

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