Ektara

Instruments labeled ektara

One-string ektara drone-lute. With 2 strings it is called dotara.

One-string gopichand drum-zither. Can be plucked or drummed.

Tuntina, missing drumhead and string.

The ektara (Bengali: একতারা, Hindi: एकतारा, Urdu: اِک تارا, Nepali: एकतारे, Punjabi: ਇਕ ਤਾਰਾ, Tamil: எக்டரா; literally 'one-string', also called actara, iktar, ektar, Sindhi: يڪتارو, yaktaro, gopichand, gopichant, golki Nepali: गोल्, gopijiantra, tun tuna) is a one-stringed musical instrument used in the traditional music of the Indian subcontinent,^[1] and used in modern-day music of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.^[1]

Two-stringed versions are called dotara (two strings), a name which also applies to other instruments.

In origin, the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger. The ektara is a drone lute consisting of a gourd resonator covered with skin, through which a bamboo neck is inserted. It is used in parts of India and Nepal today by Yogis and wandering holy men to accompany their singing and prayers. In Nepal, the instrument accompanies the singing of the Ramayana and Mahabharata.^[2]

Three different instruments used in modern India and not necessarily related have all been called ektara. One form resembles a lute. To make that version, a bamboo stick (90 cm long) is inserted through the side of a wooden bowl (called a "tumbo") and the top of the bowl is covered with deerskin. The instrument has a single string running from a peg at the top, down the length of the stick-neck, across a bridge on the deerhide soundboard, and is tied at the "spike" where the stick pokes through the bowl. The instrument's string is plucked with the musician's index fingernail.^[3][2]

A second instrument (the gopichanta) uses a drum-like body, a one-piece bamboo neck consisting of a pegbox and two laths formed out of a carved section of hollow bamboo (with a wooden peg on the side of the pegbox at the upper end), as well as a skin soundboard with a string attached in the centre. The two bamboo laths are attached to the side of the drum shell and the string goes from the soundboard to a peg at the end of the neck where the laths join the pegbox. This version of the instrument may be played either by plucking the string or by tapping the drumhead. Squeezing and releasing the bamboo laths changes the tension of the string and bends the pitch down and back up. This form is associated with the Bauls of West Bengal, as well as the Tharu people of Udayapur District, Nepal.

A third instrument sometimes called ektara, also called the tuṇtuṇe, consists of a drum with a stick attached along the outer wall.^[4] A string runs from a hole in the drumhead to the a power in the end of the stick. It is played to accompany song, held under the left arm, "tuned to the tonic" and played for rhythm and as a drone. This is an instrument of a of Western India, used by "Hindu Sadhus and Islamic Sufi saints" and by Bhil, Kukna and Warli tribes.^[5]