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]

References

^ Mashak at India9.com^{[dubious – discuss]}
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Sangeet Natak Akademi (1969). Sangeet natak. p. 669. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ Committee on Research in Dance (1973). Dance research monograph. CORD. p. 20. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Sangeet Natak Akademi (1969). Sangeet natak. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ Alison Arnold (2000). South Asia: the Indian subcontinent. Taylor & Francis. pp. 901–. ISBN 978-0-8240-4946-1. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
^ Light Isaac (1967). Theory of Indian music. Printed at Shyam Printers. pp. 148–156. Retrieved 25 December 2012.