Titti (bagpipe)

The titti (Telugu: titti,[1] masaka titti, or tutti) is a type of bagpipe played in Andhra Pradesh, India, made from an entire goat-skin.[2] The instrument is described as a goatskin with a double-reed inserted into one leg, and a bamboo blowpipe into the other.[3] The term tittii is used in Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.[4]

History

Several paintings possibly depicting bagpipes are shown in Kerala, from the early eighteenth century.[5]

Colonel James Tod (1782–1835 CE) notes that the Yanadis, a forest tribe in Madras, also play the bagpipes,[6][7]

Usage

The instrument is often used to provide solely a constant drone. References note the instrument being used as a drone accompaniment by storytellers and singers,[8][9] as well as for village dance-dramas.[10]

See also

• Mashak, a Northern Indian bagpipe
• Sruti upanga, a bagpipe of Tamil Nadu.

References

1. Mashak at India9.com^[dubious – discuss]
2. Subhash Kak (Louisiana State University). The Indian Epic Song Tradition. Presented at The 7th International Conference and Festival of Asian Music, Busan, Korea, Sept 26-Sept 30, 2002.
3. Gene Henry Roghair (1982). The epic of Palnāḍu: a study and translation of Palnāṭi Vīrula Katha, a Telugu oral tradition from Andhra Pradesh, India. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-815456-3. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
4. Sangeet Natak Akademi (1969). Sangeet natak. p. 669. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
5. Committee on Research in Dance (1973). Dance research monograph. CORD. p. 20. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
6. James Tod (1920). Annals and antiquities of Rajasthan: or The central and western Rajput states of India. H. Milford, Oxford University Press. pp. 755–. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
7. as do later sources in 1900 describing the Yanadi.Government Museum (Madras; India) (1900). Bulletin. Printed by the Superintendent, Govt. Press. pp. 1–. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
8. Sangeet Natak Akademi (1969). Sangeet natak. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
9. Alison Arnold (2000). South Asia: the Indian subcontinent. Taylor & Francis. pp. 901–. ISBN 978-0-8240-4946-1. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
10. Light Isaac (1967). Theory of Indian music. Printed at Shyam Printers. pp. 148–156. Retrieved 25 December 2012.