Dotara

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Dotara is a stringed musical instrument, commonly used in Bangladesh and West Bengal. The name Dotara literally means "Two stringed instrument" in Bengali language, but in practice, the instrument may have more than two strings. A dotara is also a four stringed instrument. It looks like a guitar but much smaller with four strings.

Dotara is the single most important folk instrument used in various genres of folk music throughout the land of Bengal. It has two main forms, namely Bangla and Bhhawaiya.

The Bangla form has originated and is used mostly in "Rahr Bangla", the part of Middle Bengal lying to the west of the river Ganga. The striking feature of this kind of instrument which makes it different from its other kind is that it has got metal strings to play upon, the quality of the notes thereby being more inclined towards the treble side. This instrument can be dated back to 15th-16th century, when it was adopted by the ascetic cults of Bauls and Fakirs.

The Bhhawaiya dotara is almost extinct in the contemporary times and has a more primeval beginning than its Bangla cousin. The strings again are its striking feature, being mostly made of thick cotton strings or more popularly of catgut, giving it a more bass timbre. This instrument finds widespread use in the Bhhawaiya, Jaalpariya and Mahishali forms of folk music, prevailing in and around the Bengal Province (which makes this instrument transregional, as this includes areas in Assam and East Bihar).

Dotara is a stringed, pluck instrument, played in an open note combination, widely accompanying the beat and rhythm structure of folk percussions, like Dhhol, Khhol and/or Mandira. It is made out of mostly neem or other species of hardwood, with an elongated, roundish belly for a sound box, tapering off to a narrowish neck culminating to a peg box, which is elaborately carved, in the shape of peacock-head, swan-head or other animal motifs. The narrow neck serves as the finger-board (albeit without frets)—this is mostly made of brass or steel (as in a sarod) and particularly lends the liquid form to the tonal quality (as opposed to the discrete quality of a fretted instruments). The sound box of the instrument is covered with a tightly stretched kid-skin or lizard-skin, as in a rabaab or a sarod.

The name of the instrument itself suggests two-strings—Bengali “Do”=Two, Bengali “Tar”=String—which suffices both as an octave for a complete set of notes in a scale as well as the bass and treble of the percussion (the low strung string serving as bass and the higher one as treble). However, contemporary instrument comes in as many as four strings or above (which gives a little more than two and a half of an octave) which increases the versatility of the instrument in terms of both music and rhythm. With four strings, the tuning structure is as follows (from top to bottom)—Do(lower)-Soh(lower)-Do-Fah, with Do being the dominant/root note of the song.