Kingri (string instrument)
string instrument
Kingri is a chordophone bowed string instrument (string spike fiddle) originating from the Indian subcontinent, similar to Rabab and Ravanastron. It has a resonator box of unglazed pottery, through which a stick is passed to function as the neck.
History
The Kingri is mentioned in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, in many Ancient Indian Brahmin's tales. and in Punjab's folk music. The kingri is also used in traditional death ceremonies, marriages and religious festivals in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Texture and timbre
The kingri first appeared as a single string instrument and has since evolved into a three string instrument. A long piece of bamboo is inserted into the fingerboard with three pegs. The strings on the bow are made by using three tufts of horse hair or Goongaru. The strings on the instrument were originally made of animal gut, but modern day Indian gypsies typically use low quality steel strings instead, resulting in more vibrato and lending the instrument a sound similar to the violin.
Modern use
Sri Lankan composer Dinesh Subasinghe used the kingri on the album Rawan Nada as well as for performing folk music.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kingri (string instrument)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.