Kanjira
कंजीरा
The small frame drum of Carnatic percussion, played beside the mridangam
The kanjira is a small South Indian frame drum of the tambourine family, played with one hand as secondary percussion to the mridangam in Carnatic classical music.
History & Evolution
The concert kanjira traces to Maanpoondiya Pillai (also spelled Manpoondia) of Pudukkottai, in present-day Tamil Nadu, who lived from 1859 to 1922 according to his biographer Lalitha Ram, as reported in The Hindu. Lalitha Ram records that he lit lanterns at the Pudukkottai palace and trained with a local thavil player (the thavil is a large South Indian barrel drum) before shaping the instrument with a monitor lizard skin head and old coins as jingles. He won the approval of the Thanjavur mridangam master Narayanaswamy Appa and founded the Pudukkottai school of percussion.
His student Pudukkottai Dakshinamurthy Pillai (1875 to 1936) carried the school forward, and the biographer reports that both men at times took the mridangam player's place on the concert platform. In the late twentieth century G. Harishankar (1958 to 2002), a staff artist of All India Radio, Chennai, received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2001. The Akademi cited his intricate technique in the Pudukkottai tradition and his part in popularising the kanjira as a concert instrument.
- Late 19th Century
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The concert kanjira takes shape
Small frame drums with jingles accompany folk and devotional (bhajan) singing, though no dated source fixes the age of that tradition. At Pudukkottai, Maanpoondiya Pillai adapts one for the concert platform, according to his biographer Lalitha Ram. - 20th Century
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The Pudukkottai lineage
Palani Subramania Pillai (1908 to 1962; some sources give 1909) is the son of Palani Muthaiah Pillai, one of Maanpoondiya Pillai's students. He becomes best known as a mridangam player, and he also gives kanjira performances. - Late 20th Century
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G. Harishankar
G. Harishankar trains with his father T.T. Govinda Rao, with Ramanathapuram C.S. Murugabhoopathy and with Palghat Mani Iyer. The Sangeet Natak Akademi gives him its award for 2001 and credits him with popularising the kanjira as a concert instrument. - 21st Century
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Synthetic heads and new makers
Players replace monitor lizard skin with goat skin or synthetic heads. In 2014 N. Ganesh Kumar told The Hindu of maple and Mylar kanjiras he co-designed with the US maker Cooperman.
Technical Aspects
How the Kanjira Is Played
In the usual position the left hand holds the frame and the right palm and fingers strike the head. Left fingertips pressing near the rim raise and bend the pitch. The drum has no tuning mechanism. Dry, it sounds very high, so players sprinkle water inside to slacken the head for a deeper bass. Too much water deadens the tone until it dries, so players keep several drums at different degrees of wetness.
The Head: Lizard, Goat and Synthetic
Heads today are goat skin or synthetic film such as Mylar. The traditional head was monitor lizard skin. The Hudson Music kanjira method notes that the Indian government has outlawed the use of these animals for drums. Players quoted in The Hindu rate synthetic heads well but say they do not match old lizard skins, which some players keep and reuse.
Jingles and the Frame Drum Family
Metal jingles, often coins, sit in a slot in the frame. Sources disagree on the number: some describe a single pair, others three or four small discs. One method book names small Japanese coins with a central hole as a common choice. Like the Western tambourine, the kanjira is a frame drum with jingles, though it carries far fewer.
Le chemin de la maîtrise
Suivez ce parcours structuré pour maîtriser cette discipline
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Holding and basic strokes
Begin with the standard grip described under How the Kanjira Is Played, and have a teacher check it before you move on. Then build the basic sound. One practitioner method works from two main tones, an open bass and a treble played with a split-hand technique, and combines them with closed strokes. Practise each stroke on its own before joining them in short patterns.
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Pitch Bending
Add pitch bending once the basic strokes are secure; one method book advises against working on it in the early stages. Press the head near its rim with the fingertips of the holding hand to raise the pitch, then control how far and how fast the bend moves. A steep inner bearing edge on the frame deepens the bend.
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Tala and Solkattu
Learn solkattu (also spelled sollukattu), the spoken rhythm syllables that stand for drum strokes. Kanjira players learn the mridangam's full syllable set and realise it on the kanjira's fewer tones. Practise the phrases within tala, the cyclic metre of a piece, for speed and clarity. Many players also study the mridangam, as B.S. Purushotham did before moving to the kanjira.
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Accompanying the Mridangam
Practise accompanying a singer or instrumentalist with a mridangam player beside you. Concert line-ups vary: some pair the kanjira with the mridangam alone, others add the ghatam or morsing, so rehearse in both. Many kanjira players train on the mridangam first or as well, as B. S. Purushotham and G. Harishankar did.
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Tani Avartanam
Prepare for the tani avartanam (also spelled thani avarthanam), the percussion solo after the main composition. The mridangam and the secondary percussionists take turns in the chosen tala, then play together in the koraippu before the main artist resumes. Learn the korvai, a composed passage that lands on a chosen point in the tala, to close your turns.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can a beginner, a child or a returning percussionist start learning the kanjira, the Carnatic frame drum?
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.
Have more questions? Contact our support team and we'll be happy to help!