Ghatam: India musical instrument

The ghatam is a percussion musical instrument that is used in the Carnatic music of south India. A kind of the instrument is played in Punjab and is called gharha as is a part of the folk tradition of the Punjabi people. Some analogous musical instruments is called madga and pani mataqa.

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The musical instrument is one of the oldest percussion musical instruments of the South India. The instrument is a clay pot that has a narrow mouth. From the mouth, it slants outwards to a ridge. The musical instrument that is manufactured of clay backed with brass or copper shreds with a slight amount of iron filings, the size of the musical instrument differs according to the [pitch. The pitch of the musical instrument can be a little bit changed by the application of plasticize clay or water.

Though the ghatam is of the same shape with the ordinary domestic clay pot of the people, it is produced particularly to be played as a musical instrument. The tone of the musical pot must be good and the walls of the pot should be of even thickness to manufacture an even sound.

The musical instruments are mostly produced in Manamadurai, a place close to Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Although this musical instrument is manufactured in some other places like Chennai and Bangalore, too, Manamadurai versions of the instrument have special timbre. It is believed that the mud of this version of the instrument is of special quality. This version of the musical instrument is a heavy thick pot that has a tiny shards of brass mixed into the clay that is used for the carving of the pot. This version of the musical instrument is harder to perform, but it manufactures a sharp metallic ringing sound that is favored by some players of the instrument.

The musical pot is often placed on the lap of the player, with the mouth of the instrument facing the belly of the player. The player of the instrument uses his gingers, thumbs, palms and heels of his hand to strike the outer surface of the instrument to manufacture various sounds from it. Various tones can be produced from the instrument by hitting areas of the musical pots with various parts of the hands. Sometimes, this musical instrument is turned around so that the mouth of the instrument can face the audience and the player of instrument plays the neck of the musical instrument. The ghatam can be moved to some other positions while the player of the instrument is performing on the instrument. Occasionally, the player of the instrument will, to the amusement of the audience, toss the ghatam up in the air and catch it back. The musical instrument is ideal for performing rhythmic patterns in very fast tempo.

The musical instrument often accompanies an mridangam.

The word ghatam in Sanskrit refers to pot, variations of the name is used in the contemporary Indian languages.

The madga is a north Indian version of the musical instrument and it is produced from very special clay. The maker of the instrument sometimes adds some kind of metal or graphite powder to the clay that is accountable for the blue and gray looking and for the special sound of the instrument. The madga can be performed in an analogous way as the ghatam. The extreme bass volume of the madga can be manufactured if the player of the instrument hits with the flat hand the opening at the top of the musical instrument. The madga can be performed with the use of mallets and there are several sounds that can be manufactured with this musical instrument. The instrument is thinner than the ghatam but very stable and not fragile as one can see it to be.