Kanjira

The kanjira is a single-headed South Indian frame drum of the tambourine family. Its circular wooden frame has a slot holding a small set of metal jingles. In Carnatic concerts it supports the mridangam, often alongside or in place of the ghatam and morsing, and it has long served in folk and bhajan music.

You can learn the kanjira with KalaSudha online and in workshops, and beginners start at Foundation level. You learn to hold the frame in the left hand, thumb above the rim, and the first right-hand finger positions. We teach children too: ask us what age to start and about a size for a younger learner.

After a long break, you start again where you left off. The levels in our courses make that possible, once your teacher has reviewed where you stand.

The traditional kanjira head is the skin of the Bengal monitor lizard, and its belly skin has long been used. Manpoondia Pillai, who shaped the modern instrument, experimented with woods and skins before settling on monitor lizard skin. Goat skin and synthetic heads are now the common replacements.

A kanjira is not tuned to a fixed pitch, unlike the mridangam or ghatam, and untreated it sounds very high. Players sprinkle or apply water to the inside of the head, which reduces its tension, lowers the pitch and brings out the bass tone they favour. Players therefore judge a kanjira on its bass response after wetting.

Manpoondia Pillai of Pudukkottai is credited with bringing the kanjira into Carnatic concert music around the 1880s and shaping its modern form. He learned drumming from the thavil player Mariappan, settled on monitor lizard skin, reduced the jingles to a single set and adapted thavil technique to the kanjira. He founded the Pudukkottai school of percussion.

The kanjira belongs to the tambourine family of frame drums. It is small, about 7 to 9 inches across, with a single slot holding its jingles. Players wet the inside of its head, traditionally lizard skin and now goat or synthetic, to lower the pitch and bring out a bass tone.

Because a kanjira has no fixed pitch, players judge each drum on its bass response after wetting, its head material and its jingle response, and serious players keep a spare. Goat skin and synthetic heads are now the common choices. Frames run about 7 to 9 inches across and 2 to 4 inches deep.

KalaSudha sells the kanjira to players outside India, by quote or made to order, and delivers worldwide. Choose a goat-skin or synthetic head: monitor lizard skin, the traditional head, is now protected. We pack your kanjira for international shipping; ask us about a case and insurance.

We service and repair any kanjira, wherever you bought it, in any country, and spare parts come from us too. For help with your drum after the sale, use the chat on any page or email [email protected]. Ask us as well about gift vouchers or class sets for schools, or a flight case for travel.

The kanjira is a supporting percussion instrument, an upapakkavadyam, to the mridangam in Carnatic concerts, often alongside or in place of the ghatam and morsing. It began appearing on classical stages from the late 19th to the early 20th century, after being thought unsuited to classical music because of its high pitch. It also serves folk and bhajan music.

Manpoondia Pillai of Pudukkottai brought the kanjira into Carnatic concerts, and his disciples Dakshinamurthy Pillai and Muthiah Pillai played it alongside the mridangam, thavil and ghatam. Later, G. Harishankar's main disciples include C. P. Vyasa Vittala, Bangalore Amrit and Nerkunam Sankar. T. H. Subash Chandran plays kanjira among several percussion instruments.

You can ask KalaSudha to book a kanjira player for a concert, event or recording. In a Carnatic concert the kanjira supports the mridangam, often alongside the ghatam or morsing. Send your request through our page to book Indian classical musicians, and hear our artists first in KalaSudha's recordings and concert videos.