Ektara

Ektara is an Indian Musical instrument, also known as iktar, yaktarogopichand, ektar, etc, made  with a single string, played traditionally, not only in India, but also in neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, besides countries like Egypt, mostly used by wandering singers, minstrels and bards from India, who play the string with a single finger to match sometimes what they are singing as they walk along, the instrument’s single string stretched over an animal skin clad mount made out of dried pumkin, a kind of guard, wooden ball or a coconut shell, and with a pole neck or bamboo cane neck properly split for the purpose.

By pressing gently the two E halves of the neck the player moderates the pitch as the string tends to lose by that action, the tunes modulated accordingly, bringing out a music of enjoyable form, while the neck part or any other portion of the instrument not having any mark or calibration to guide the player, the entire exercise comes from the practice and talent of the musician or player of the instrument.

There are different types of ektara, such as Soprano, bass, tenor etc, while the bass ektara, which is also called ‘dotara’ has two strings as the name itself denotes that.

Design

Ektara is a single string fixed in a stretched condition, between a ball like head made out of animal skin bound round object, which can be a dried guard or coconut and a pole neck on the other side with a gadget or knob, to tighten the string while fixing, while both these ends are held by a split bamboo or seasoned wood which will not break, the player making sound with one finger, while he modulates the sound resonance by applying pressure on the bow like middle portion of the bamboo structure thereby reducing the tightness of the string a little bit, the sound made suitable for the music requirements.

Bengali Ektara, like theEktara instruments made  in few other regions,  is  made out of a half of a dried gourd shell functioning as the sound-box and a metal string stretching` right through the middle of the shell and at the top, the string is fixed to a knob, which adjusts the tension the of the string.

Playing Positions

The player of Ektara  operates the instrument  with a simultaneous plucking and giving a gong, to match the rhythm of the music he plays, the Ektaragiving the sound with a musical resonance and the GhatiBaya giving a bell sound, these instruments create music together forming the appropriate musical instruments particularly to accomplish Devotional and Deolati musical traditions.

Notable Players

SainZahoor , also known as SainZahur Ahmad is a well respected Sufi musician hailing from Pakistan, who has lived most of his life rendering devotional music in Sufi shrines, and  he was not known to the world until till very recently, however in 2006 when he had the opportunity to be nominated for the BBC World Music awards authorities hearing his name  on word of mouth, his fame came to limelight  as he was awarded the ‘best BBC voice of the year 2006’,SainZahoor carries  Sindhi honorific title Sain which is  also spelt as  Saeen or Saiyan, while his name  Zahoor  can be spelt asZahur too.

SainZukur was Born in 1937 in the Sahiwal region in the province of Punjab, which is part of Pakistan, as  the youngest child in a family of peasants involved in farming operations, when at the age of ten he felt that a divine hand beckoned him to sing in Sufi shrines,  he started travelling around  visiting  Sufi shrines situated in  Sindh and around  areas of  Punjab, making a living through singing .

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