namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

I've been doing some investigation into drums and drumming lately.

Param Satya plays the tabla. I've been playing mrdanga for a few years now, and recently I've taken up doumbek (aka darbuka, tarambuka, egyptian tabla and more), and djembe.

Prahlad plays mrdanga, doumbek, and djembe.

We have a kirtan retreat coming up with drumming workshops and a drumming circle, so all these drums will come in handy. There are a few more at Atma as well.

Remo manufacture a number of different models of djembes, designed in conjunction with percussionists such as Paulo Mattioli. This is a review of the key-tuned djembe.

This drum is made of fiberglass, and is surprisingly manufactured in the good ole US of A.

Prem Yogi recently acquired a new Balarama mrdanga. He rang Krishna.com and asked them if they had anything lying around that they could supply him with, in order to avoid the standard 5-6 month waiting period for Ratna to make one up. Fortuitously they had a slightly used full-sized blue Balaram mrdanga that they sent over within a week. Tenacity pays off.

Prem Yogi with his new mrdanga

It was Prem's 25th birthday this week, and I wanted to get him something so I bought him a case for the mrdanga.

A mrdanga must always be transported and stored in a case. The mrdanga is understood as both Lord Balaram (Sankarshan) and Krishna's flute.

Raivata writes me:

Hmm I reckon you are right and copying a good synthetic design like that. It's a simple and proven design.

On the ahimsa note I reckon it's ok to use animal skin when it comes from pests like goats or possums (pests in NZ anyway). Allowing them to live is simply causing violence to the other life forms they harm. Perhaps you could train up some of the local boys as Kshatriyas and send them out there to bring home a few skins. Good for the environment, good for the sankirtana yajna and a practical step for introducing varnashram.

Both use mylar heads, and the bodies are constructed of aluminium. Weight is good. Sound is good.

The Egyptian design is something that could work for a mrdanga. It would remove the perishable rubber component from the current Balarama design.

This was on vina.cc in 2006. Does anyone know how true it is? If it is true, and it could well be, it's a powerful argument for mrdangas made with modern materials and technologies.

by Mahendra das
Dear Devotees, I am from India and have an export business where I ship out handicrafts, garments and all material related to devotional purposes to several temples. Also, I supply mrdangas to temples situated in the west.

Further to thoughts on making mrdangas and clay mrdangas versus other materials:

I think the Darbuka, also known as Doumbek, or Egyptian tabla, is a good example. This is a drum that is very popular throughout the Middle East, from Afghanistan through Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. Traditionally it is made with a clay body and fish skin head. Modern darbukas are manufactured by a number of companies worldwide, including one from Remo, and typically utilize aluminium covered with a decorative vinyl finish, with a mylar head with tuning screws.

Phani commented:

it's great how you utilize locally available material and skills to produce mrdangas, or something that comes close to the original thing. but isn't clay locally available in most places, too? (eskimos might experiment with ice-mrdangas...) i never watched mrdangas being made here in mayapur, but don't think there's a huge learning curve getting the clay molded, dried, and burnt into mrdanga shape.

for the heads you could still use fiber, plastic, or whatever; not screwed on, but tied up like the indian mrdangas are. at least until cow protection becomes more wiedespread in the west, and ahimsa leather of cows who passed on peacefully.

There is no need of sending the artisan to U.S.A. better send our disciples from here and learn the art there. In this connection manufacturing the mrdanga shells as well as the skin work on it is very essential. If possible our men may learn how to make karatalas also. At Navadvipa, there are many artisans for this purpose.
The summary is that our men must learn these four things: doll making, mrdanga making, karatala making and if possible making saris.

Amul from New Jersey, USA writes:

i just saw your video where you put silicon on the mrdanga head. I have a question about that. Does it dry smooth? i am asking because if you want to do the "woop woop" slide on the big side of the mrdanga, if its really rough then it wont be possible. please let me know, i am going to do this because this is such a problem, that black stuff just doesn't stay on sometimes!

Dandavats Amul,

That depends on how you do it, and what you use to do it.

See also here.

[Google video inside]

Problem: Leather head mrdanga has lost its "black stuff" - it dried up, cracked, and fell off.

Solution: Plan A: Initially I proactively took off the remaining black stuff, and Prahlad and I were going to boil up some rice and make a paste out of the black stuff and the rice syrup. I heard that the black stuff is boiled rice water mixed with burnt bricks - I haven't confirmed that. Anyway, Param Satya threw the black stuff out when she was cleaning up, so we lost that option.