Tamil Nadu’s Narasingapettai Nagaswaram got geographical identification tag

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.