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Sound Play

This is because the walls of the ghatam must be of even thickness. Some ghatams have brass flakes mixed with the clay. The brass particles add weight to the ghatam and help give it a metallic sound.

Played using the ten fingers, palms and wrists or heels of the hands, the ghatam is held against the player’s body with the player seated cross-legged, the mouth of the pot facing upwards. Tonal variations are created by varying the method of striking the pot’s sides and its open mouth.

Since Carnatic music accompaniment requires the percussionist to produce complicated rhythmic patterns, at times individually and at others in a complementary, ‘retorting’ manner, the ghatam player has to have the ability to manipulate the hands and fingers at high speed across the body of the ghatam. In a traditional concert of Carnatic music, the ghatam is not used as the main percussion instrument. Its place is thus secondary to the mridangam. With the popularity of tala vadya ensembles featuring drums of India and the world, however, the ghatam has come into its own. Perhaps the most recognisable name associated with the ghatam is that of T.H. ‘Vikku’ Vinayakram. Besides being an accompanist of repute, he was arguably the first ghatam player to take a major role in percussion ensembles where his was the only drum from South India, with the tabla representing the leather-topped Indian drum and no mridangam at all.

In the jet setting world of today’s musicians, the ghatam poses some unique problems, including its fragile body and the fact that it cannot be tuned to different pitches like the tabla and other drums. Thus a different ghatam is required for different scales. The pitch can be slightly altered, however, by applying a coating to the inside of the pot.

Like all Indian instruments, the ghatam has its spiritual associations. Among these are the five elements that make up the universe - earth, air, fire, water and space - all of which are contained in the instrument. Made of mud, or earth mixed with water, the ghatam is baked in fire and air, and its hollow shape contains space.

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