Tamil Nadu’s Narasingapettai Nagaswaram got geographical identification tag

The Geographical Indication tag has been awarded to the Narasingapettai Nagaswaram under the category of musical instruments of class 15.

Context

The Geographical Indication tag has been awarded to the Narasingapettai Nagaswaram under the category of musical instruments of class 15.

Key-points

• Narasinghapettai nagaswaram is a classical wind music instrument that is traditionally made in a village near Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu.
• The wind instrument is made of wood and metal.
• The instrument has also been accorded a high status as a ‘Mangala Vadyam’ and is played in religious ceremonies, auspicious occasions, and classical concerts.
• Narasinganpettai village-based artisans who inherited these wooden instruments making skills from their forefathers, are manufacturing them through a process that requires specialized skills.
• The nagaswaram that is being used by artists nowadays is named pari nagaswaram and that is longer than the thimiri.
• This musical instrument has a body that is cylindrical in shape and takes the shape of a bell at the bottom. 

• This form of the nagaswaram provides volume and tone. 
• The instrument’s length is two and a half feet.
  
  

Important features

• The double-reeded instrument is made up of wood and has two parts –
• a conical tube
• a metal bell
• The major portion of the ‘Narasinghapettai nagaswaram’ is made from the Aacha (Hardwickia binata) tree. 
• Made out of wood, the main centre where this instrument is carved or produced is Thanjavur.
• The horn-like portion of Nagaswaram is known as ‘Olavi’ and the loudspeaker-like portion ‘anasu’.
• ‘Jeevali’ is played at one end of the horn. It is through this ‘jeevali’ that air is blown.
• To make nagaswaram, the artisans use drilling machines, carpentry tools, and sometimes, woods from parts of old houses.