Nadaswaramनादस्वरम्

The nadaswaram is a South Indian double-reed wind instrument with a conical bore. It leads the periya melam, the South Indian temple ensemble, with the tavil drum. It belongs to the mangala vadya, the auspicious instruments, and is played at most South Indian Hindu weddings and temple rituals. It is described as one of the world's loudest non-brass acoustic instruments.

The shehnai is its North Indian relative: the nadaswaram is substantially larger and uses a simple double reed, where the shehnai has a more complex quadruple reed.

You can learn the nadaswaram with KalaSudha online and in workshops, starting at Foundation level. Foundation builds the direct lip-to-reed embouchure, with no mouthpiece, and shows you how to soak the seevali reed and cut it to pitch. Children are as welcome as adults; ask us about a starting age and a size for a younger learner.

After a long break, returning players start again where they left off. Our courses run in levels, and your teacher first checks where you stand.

KalaSudha sells the nadaswaram to players outside India, by quote or made to order, and delivers worldwide. We pack the nadaswaram for international shipping, and you can ask us about a case and insurance.

We service and repair any nadaswaram, wherever you bought it, anywhere in the world. You can ask us for spare parts as well. For help with your instrument after the sale, use the chat on any page or email [email protected]. Ask us too about gift vouchers, class sets for schools or a flight case for travel.

The body of a nadaswaram is traditionally turned from aacha wood, identified as Hardwickia binata. Makers prefer old, well-seasoned wood, sometimes salvaged from old buildings. The flared bell at the foot is wood on many instruments and metal on others, and a bari instrument can carry a wide brass band wrapped below the finger holes.

The double reed of the nadaswaram is called seevali in Tamil, aku in Telugu and peepi in Kannada. It is cut from a dried grass or cane found on the banks of the Kaveri, then soaked and shaved to the required pitch. Players keep spare reeds and a small ivory or horn needle tied to the instrument to clear the reed.

A nadaswaram has seven finger holes on the front of the body. Below them are five further holes, called brahma swaram, which can be stopped with wax to adjust tone and tuning. There is no thumb hole. A bari instrument can carry a wide brass band below the finger holes, above the five lower holes.

The two main types of nadaswaram are the bari, also written pari, which is larger and lower-pitched, and the timiri, which is smaller, higher-pitched and closer in size to the shehnai.

In Musical Instruments of India (1978), B. Chaitanya Deva gives the main pipe of the bari as nearly 90 cm long. A bari instrument can have a bell about 16 cm across. A nadaswaram can measure 76 to 95 cm long. S. Krishnaswami gives a shorter length for the instrument: 2 to 2½ feet, about 61 to 76 cm. P. Sambamoorthy's catalogue for the Government Museum, Chennai, gives the same figure for the wooden bore.

The nadaswaram leads the periya melam, the South Indian temple ensemble. The ensemble traditionally consists of nadaswaram, tavil drum, ottu, a drone reed pipe, and talam cymbals, organised around the lead nadaswaram player. The nadaswaram and tavil are mangala vadyam, instruments considered auspicious, and are heard together at temple rituals and Hindu weddings in South India.

Narasingapettai, a village near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, is home to nadaswaram makers; in 2015 four families there still made the instrument by hand, PARI reported. They turn it from aacha wood that must be at least 75 to 100 years old, often taken from the lintels and pillars of old homes. Each piece needs three people to make.

T. N. Rajarattinam Pillai, known as the Nadaswaram Chakravarthy, modified the nadaswaram's structure and gave it a prominent place on the concert stage; he died in 1958. Sheik Chinna Moulana, from a hereditary family of players in Karavadi, Andhra Pradesh, studied with Rajarattinam Pillai's disciples at Nachiarkovil and settled in Srirangam. Scroll describes him as the first nadaswaram artiste to travel to the West.

KalaSudha can book a nadaswaram player for your concert, event or recording: ask us. The nadaswaram sounds at weddings and festivals as well as in concert, with the tavil drum beside it. Send your request through our page to book Indian classical musicians, and hear our artists first in KalaSudha's recordings and concert videos.

Both are double-reed instruments: the nadaswaram of South India and the shehnai, its Hindustani counterpart. The shehnai is shorter, with six to nine holes and a range of about two octaves. The nadaswaram has seven finger holes, five lower holes that players stop with wax, and a range of about two and a half octaves.

The nadaswaram leads the periya melam with the tavil at temples, weddings and processions.