Archive for March, 2008

Mridangam, Drum from South India played by Canadian Singer/Songwriter

Mridangam South India drum played by James from Canada We would like to share these session photos of James Roop playing the Mridangam, a two sided drum/percussion instrument used in South Indian music. During the session, we called the instrument either bongos or drums, but we were all curious what this drum instrument is really called.

Thanks to Wikipedia, now we have an idea...

The mridangam is a double-sided drum whose body is usually made using a hollowed piece of jackfruit wood about an inch thick. The two mouths or apertures of the drum are covered with a goat skin leather and laced to each other with leather straps around the circumference of drum. These straps are put into a state of high tension to stretch out the circular membranes on either side of the hull, allowing them to resonate when struck. These two membranes are dissimilar in width to allow for the production of both bass and treble sounds from the same drum.

James is a Canadian singer/songwriter currently based in the Philippines. Click the title for more information about this South India drum recording session.

Posted at 9am on 03/19/08 | 4 comments | Filed Under: Recording-Tracking, Sessions & Projects
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