Ektara

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Ektara (Bengali: একতারা, Punjabi: ਇਕ ਤਾਰ; also called iktar, ektar or gopichand) is a one string instrument used in Bangladesh and India, and Pakistan. It literally means single-stringed (ek - one, tara - string).

In origin the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger. The ektara usually has a stretched single string, an animal skin over a head (made of dried pumpkin/gourd, wood or coconut) and pole neck or split bamboo cane neck. Pressing the two halves of the neck together changes the pitch, creating an unusual sound. The strings of the ektara give a range of tones by applying pressure at various points along the neck. This is a musical instrument that does not have markings for notes, and is played by assumption. The various sizes are a soprano ektara, tenor ektara, or bass ektara. The bass ektara, sometimes called a dotara often has two strings.

These instruments are commonly used in Kirtan chanting, which is a Hindu devotional practice of singing the divine names and mantras in an ecstatic call and response format. Used by Sadhus, or wandering holy men. Also, the ektara is used for Sufi chanting as well as by the Bauls of Bengal.

Nowadays the ektara is widely used by folk singers. Traditional and modern forms of bhangra sometimes use an ektara to accompany the singer and dhol.

The ektara has been made popular in the United States by devotional Kirtan wallahs, such as the legendary Western sadhu Bhagavan Das, author of Its Here Now, Are You? and of Be Here Now (book) and 1970s fame and kirtan recording artist.

Ektara is the most ancient form of string instrument found in the Eastern parts of India, whose family stays scattered all over the country, the Bin being one of its Up-country close cousins. Though it has a humble tribal beginning, but has been, through the ages, associated and popularized by the ascetic and minstrel tradition of songs in Bengal, and all throughout. This again, like the Bangla dotara, has its roots in the "Rahr Bangla" comprising of the districts of Birbhhum, Bankura and Nadia.

A typical Bengali Ektara is constructed out of a half of a dried gourd shell serving as the sound-box, with a metal string running right through the middle of the shell; at the top, the string is tied to a knob, which adjusts the tension the of the string and thereby, the tuning—the knob and the string-tension is supported by two bamboo-strips, tied to two opposite sides of the gourd shell.

The playing style of this instrument is a simultaneous pluck and gong, matching the rhythm of the music. The Ektara and the Ghati Baya, together form a complete set accompaniments, especially to Devotional and Deolati musical traditions. The string, as in a Dotara, is tuned to the main/root note of the composition.