The tanpura (Sanskrit: तंबूरा, romanized: Taṃbūrā) (also referred to as tambura, tanpuri, tamboura, or tanpoura) is a long-necked, plucked, four-stringed instrument originating in the Indian subcontinent, found in various forms in Indian music.^[1] Visually, the tanpura resembles a simplified sitar or similar lute-like instrument, and is likewise crafted out of a gourd or pumpkin.

The tanpura does not play a melody, but rather creates a meditative ambience, supporting and sustaining the performance of another musician or vocalist, as well as for musicians accompanying a dance performance. The instrument features four strings which are tuned to specific notes of a given scale or musical key, normally the fifth (Pa; Solfège, “So”) and the root tonic (Sa; “Do”). The strings are generally tuned 5-8-8-1. One of the three strings tuned to the tonic is thus an octave below the others, adding greater resonance and depth to the ambient drone.

Through continuous, rhythmic plucking of its strings, the tanpura creates a constant harmonic bourdon or drone effect. Uniquely, the tanpura is not played in specific rhythm with the soloist, percussionist, or any other featured musician; the precise timing of plucking a cycle of four strings in a continuous loop is a determinant factor in the resultant sound, and it is played, unchangingly, throughout the whole performance. The tanpurist must keep true to their own rhythm for the duration of the composition, which may be over an hour in some cases, as their drone is critical to the entire musical foundation of the performance. The repeated cycle of plucking the strings in succession creates a sonic canvas on which the melody of the raga (or other composition) is drawn. The sequence of string-plucking is generally (according to pitch) 5-8-8-1, with the fourth and final string plucked being given a slight “rest”, usually two to three seconds, before repeating the cycle. The combined sound of all strings–each string a fundamental tone with its own spectrum of overtones–supports and blends with the external tones sung or played by the soloist.

Northern and central-Indian Hindustani musicians favour the term tanpura (often used within the context of languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, etc), whereas southern and Carnatic musicians normally prefer tambura (for example, in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, or Telugu); tanpuri is a smaller variant of the instrument, sometimes used for accompanying instrumental soloists.

History

Tanpuras form the root of the ensemble and indeed of the music itself, as the tanpura creates an acoustic dynamic reference chord from which the ragas (melodic modes) derive their distinctive character, color, and flavour. Stephen Slawek notes that by the end of the 16th century, the tanpura had "fully developed in its modern form", and was seen in the miniature paintings of the Mughals. Slawek further suggests that due to structural similarity the sitar and tanpura share a related history.^[2]

An electronic tanpura, a small box that imitates the sound of a tanpura, is sometimes used in contemporary Indian classical music performances instead of a tanpura, though this practice is controversial.

Tanpura makers

The Sitarmaker family of Miraj^[3] is regarded as the finest producers of tanpuras in the world.^[4] The family has been making tanpuras for over seven generations from 1850.^[5]

Construction

The body shape of the tanpura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – as the strings are always plucked at their full lengths. One or more tanpuras may be used to accompany vocalists or instrumentalists. It has four or five (rarely six) metal strings, which are plucked one after another in a regular pattern to create a harmonic resonance on the basic notes of a key.

Bridge and strings

The overtone-rich sound and the audible movement in the inner resonances of tone is achieved by applying the principle of jivari which creates a sustained "buzzing" sound in which particular harmonics will resonate with focused clarity. To achieve this effect, the strings pass over a table-shaped, curved-top bridge, the front of which slopes gently away from the surface of the strings. When a string is plucked, it has an intermittent periodical grazing contact with the bridge. When the string moves up and down, the downward wave will touch a far point on the curve of the bridge, and as the energy of motion of the string gradually diminishes, these points of contact of the string on the bridge will gradually shift as well, being a compound function of amplitude, the curvature of the bridge, pitch, string tension and time. When the string is plucked, it has a large amplitude. As the energy of the string's movement gradually diminishes, the contact point of the string with the bridge slowly creeps up the slope of the bridge. Depending on scale, tension and pitch, this can take between three and ten seconds.

This dynamic process can be fine-tuned using a cotton thread between string and bridge: by shifting the thread, the grazing contact sequence is shifted to a different position on the bridge, changing the harmonic content. Every single string produces its own cascading range of harmonics and, at the same time, builds up a particular resonance. According to this principle, tanpuras are attentively tuned to achieve a particular tonal shade relative to the tonal characteristics of the raga. These more delicate aspects of tuning are directly related to what Indian musicians call raga svaroop, which is about how characteristic intonations are important defining aspects of a particular raga.^[6] The tanpura's particular setup, with the cotton thread as a variable focus-point, made it possible to explore a multitude of harmonic relations produced by the subtle harmonic interplay in time of its four strings.^{[citation needed]}

Sizes and tunings

Tanpuras come in different sizes and pitches: larger "males", smaller "females" for vocalists, and a yet smaller version is used for accompanying sitar or sarod, called tanpuri. These play at the octave so as not to drown out the soloist's lower registers.

Male vocalists use the biggest instruments and pitch their tonic note (Sa), often at D, C♯ or lower, some go down to B-flat; female singers usually a fifth higher, though these tonic notes may vary according to the preference of the singer, as there is no absolute and fixed pitch-reference in the Indian Classical music systems. One female singer may take her 'sa' at F, another at A, sitaras tune mostly around C♯, sarodiyas around C, sarangiyas vary more between D and F♯, and bansuriyas mostly play from E.

The male tanpura has an open string length of approximately one metre; the female is three-fourths of the male. The standard tuning is 5-8-8-1 (so do′ do′ do) or, in Indian sargam, Pa-sa-sa-Sa. For ragas that omit the fifth tone, pa, the first string is tuned down to the natural fourth: 4-8-8-1 or Ma-sa-sa-Sa. Some ragas that omit Pa and shuddha Ma, such as Marwa or Hindol, require a less common tuning with shuddha Dha (major 6th), DHA-sa-sa-SA or 6-8-8-1, or with the 7th, NI-s-s-S.^[7] With a five-string instrument, the seventh or NI (major or minor 7th) can be added: PA-NI-sa-sa-SA (5-7-8-8-1)or MA-NI-sa-sa-SA (4-7-8-8-1). Both minor and major 7th harmonics are clearly distinguishable in the harmonic texture of the overall sound, so when the Ni - strings are tuned into these harmonics, the resultant sound will be perfectly harmonious.

Usually the octave strings are in steel wire, and the tonic, 4th or 5th strings in brass or bronze wire. If a string will be tuned to the 6th or 7th, a steel string is advised instead.

Variants

Tanpuras are designed in two different styles:

• Miraj style: the favourite form of tanpura for Hindustani performers. It is usually between three and five feet in length, with a carved, rounded resonator plate (tabli) and a long, hollow straight neck, in section resembling a rounded capital D. The round lower chamber to which the tabli, the connecting heel-piece and the neck (dandh) are fixed is cut from a selected and dried gourd (tumba). Wood used is either tun or teak; bridges are usually cut from one piece of bone.
• Tanjore style: this is a south Indian style of tambura, used widely by Carnatic performers. It has a somewhat different shape and style of decoration from that of the miraj, but is otherwise much the same size. Typically, no gourd is used, but the spherical part is gouged out of a solid block of wood. The neck is somewhat smaller in diameter. Jackwood is used throughout; bridges are usually cut from one piece of rosewood. Often, two rosettes are drilled out and ornamented with inlay work.