The Magic of Rhythm and the Madal Drum

I always was attracted to magic, shamanism and percussion instruments.  When I discovered tap dancing as a child, I was thrilled by the ability to create rhythms with my feet.  I loved dancing alone with the special shoes that created a veritable thunderstorm of sound when I moved.  When I was at University at Southampton, I found the music room at Stoneham, the old residence of the bishop that had been converted into a residence for male students.  It had a lovely wooden floor and I could go inside to tap dance to my heart's content.  There were many picture windows that overlooked a lawn where students often played croquet.  Sometimes they would watch me, but I tried to ignore that and lose myself in the rhythms that different tap dance movements created.

In Nepal as a child, I discovered the two-headed madal drum that players would sling round their knees to play.  It can be placed round the neck as well and the player can create a point-counterpoint effect by hitting each head with his/her hands.  Each time I found some one playing, I would beg to be allowed to try my own hand at it and I learned some of those traditional rhythms.  I never saw a female player in those days but I was a foreigner and a child and I daresay I was given privileges that a Nepalese girl might not have been allowed at that time.  I cannot swear, however, that girls were not allowed to perform, but certainly the Newar girls I knew would not have thought of it.

Actually, there are photographs of women playing the madal...  so perhaps it was simply my own limited experience in the valley.

I tried not to think about Nepal for years, lost in a sort of miasma of emotional heartbreak about a number of different aspects of my life there.  I did have very beautiful memories as well and sometimes they would surface, very vividly in my dreams at night.  Beyond that, however, although I realised that one day I would want to return, I slammed the door on that part of my life.  In many ways, I was far too young and vulnerable for some of the things I experienced.

Now, however, I realise that if I do not recover those memories, I will run out of time and never be able to do so.  It was before the awful recent earthquakes that I began to try to work on my old memories and to ask my Mum for the items I brought back.  Apart from a few photographs, she has not sent me anything.  i begged for the Madal drum but she claims not to know where it is.  I begged for the brass water jug and the butter lamp but in this case, she simply refused to send them...    She is almost incapable of letting go of anything, even when the items do not belong to her, strictly speaking.  I have to understand that it is a psychological disease of sorts rather than thinking of it as selfish and greedy.  She is the ultimate hoarder and she does know this about herself.

Nonetheless, I need the items because they would stimulate my senses and allow the memories to come flooding back.

I found some one willing to lend me a cheap madal drum on a temporary basis.  I had to pay for the shipping and do have to return it soon, but meanwhile, I have found great pleasure in the drum.

I think that many people who never have played a drum are totally unaware of the physical and spiritual effect.  Every shaman knows how magical and powerful a drum can be.  In many of the ancient languages and traditions, they are called 'steeds' or 'horses' and are believed to have the ability to take the shaman to other realms.  Drum beats have the power to put the user or hearer into another state of consciousness as well as being able to regulate heartbeat.  A drum beat is a sort of heartbeat.

I have played many drums in my life and have a few shamanic-type drums.  It is not the physical appearance of the drum that matters but its tone.  A good drum has a deep resonance.  A drum that is not very good will sound flat, no matter how it is struck.  Someday I would like to have a bodhran because that is the Northern European equivalent of the Eastern shamanic drums.  I do have a bodhran stick.  It is interesting because it has two heads rather than one.  The player strikes each in quick succession, playing with a sort of rolling motion of the hand.

The madal, however, is fascinating because it has two heads, one for each hand.  You can play the drum in a number of different ways, with a single finger, with two fingers alternating or with all fingers, the flat of the palm or the ridge of the palm.  You can produce a kind of duet, with each drum head speaking to the other and then replying to the rhythm of the other or you can play them both at once.  It is a wonderful experience for me.

I no longer can tap dance effectively because my hips are damaged badly.  I can produce some of the rhythms with my feet but that is all.  The drum becomes even more important to me because of this.

I downloaded some traditional Nepalese songs in order to relearn the rhythms and have had fun doing so.  I discovered something new about the madal by experimenting with this one.  The two heads are bound by long straps that go along the entire length of the wooden frame, and there is a ring that connects every pair of straps.  By moving this metal ring towards one end or the other, one can tighten or loosen the heads a little.  It can change the tone for the better or make it less attractive.   Again, another way to experience different aspects of this wonderful instrument's voice.

Perhaps I will write my own 'song' and record it.  I am becoming better and better, despite the arthritis in my hands.   It is not the mastery of the instrument that excites me most but the interaction.  It becomes a living creature beneath my hands, a  'steed' on which t ride to other realms.  With limited physical mobility now, I am even more grateful for any ability to transcend this realm with its constant severe physical pain and lack of mobility.  I can lose myself a little in the drum beat...

I would love to be able to encourage other people to play a drum, whether it is a traditional single-headed drum or tambourine or a two-headed drum.  Large or small, every drum speaks with a very unique voice and the player can become one with that voice or even lend his/her heartbeat and cadence to the instrument.  It is almost as exciting as a ride on a carousel, but not quite!  I do miss those rides...

31 May:  Horrible weather today, very hot and humid and yet it has affected the Madal in a wholly positive way.  Either that, or my skills have leapt to a new level.  For today, the drum had a deep resonance that surpassed anything I had experienced from it before.  Even when I hit it ever so softly, the sound was gorgeous and on both sides.  There was not a hint of flatness.  It was perfectly aligned as well in tone.  Such a beautiful experience, albeit short-lived.  Never mind... I will play it again later.  Not every one loves the sound of the drum as much as I, but surely when it is played softly, it cannot disturb any one.  As for its effect on me, it is as good as a tonic.

I had a vision suddenly of myself leaping upon the drum as if on a steed and it was transformed into Garuda, the sun bird.  We rose higher and higher in the heavens and below us, in the fields, there were young girls swinging as they did at the festival, all dressed in a hundred different shades of silk, their saris fluttering in the wind.  How I miss that as well!  I always loved swinging and it was in Nepal that I learned to swing standing with another girl facing me.  The swings had flat boards as their 'seats' and two girls would stand facing one another and alternate in bending their knees to propel the swing higher and higher.  What utter bliss!  And so innocent...

Musical Traditions of Nepal

Again and again, I am struck by the wealth of information on the internet and, at this point in my life, so far away from Nepal geographically, it is wonderful to be able to experience some of the old traditions I remember imperfectly at best.  Here is a wonderful traditional performance i found on YouTube.  it is quite charming:

Traditional Nepalese Song and Dance

I actually was searching for tranditional music that I could accompany with the Madal drum when i found this.  There is quite a lot of nonsense, as one might expect, when one performs a Madal search on YouTube, but some very nice performances as well.

Good collection of old folksongs from Nepal

One does become increasinly sentimental as one grows older.  I do not know all of these songs, but hearing the language again and some of the simple melodies I do remember actually brings tears to my eyes.  I do not think any one ever knew how deeply Nepal affected me and how the heartbreak I experienced defined my life afterwards.  My heart and my trust in human beings was broken in Nepal.

Resham Firiri Song

Another good song:

Babari phool ko bot

Some popular old songs:

Well-loved old popular songs

Very different, but still a part of my childhood are the old popular songs from Nepalese films:

Old Nepalese Film Songs

It is interesting how similar these songs are to the popular Arab songs that use Western instruments and rhythms as well as their own.  Often my girlfriends and I would take the coach from Banepa to Kathmandu to go to the cinema where we would see either Hindi or Nepalese films.  They tended to be very dramatic, with loves lost and many copious tears.  I actually liked the occasional appearance of the Gods in these films much more than the actual plots.  I enjoyed the dancing, costumes and jewelry as well.

Many years later, after University, I lived in London and introduced a friend of mine from University to the Hindi films shown in Whitechapel.  I would make curry for her and we would go to Whitechapel to watch a film that neither of us completely could understand, although Hindi does have words that share roots with Nepali.  We both loved the spiced snacks they sold in these cinemas, a rare treat in Nepal and thus enjoyed even more when I discovered them again in London.  My friends in Nepal called it 'chura' but it was not simply pounded rice with spices.  It included various types of dhal and beans, very thin deep-fried noodles and other items.  It can be found now even in supermarkets in the States but is rather expensive.  Delicious though.

When I did an internet search, I saw that it has many different names:  Sev mamra, Bombay mix, Chiwda, Chevdo, Bhusa or Chanachuro.  There are so many different varieties.  When I went to mosque here, it was served often as a snack, making me homesick for Nepal!

Another old favourite but one served at the bhojs (feasts) and not at the cinema is a sweet called zelabi or jalabi which is known throughout the Arab world as well as Nepal and India.  It is deep-fried dough rather like a tube in a coiled or knot formation filled with sweet sugar liquid.  Delicious.

Well, I have veered away from music here to the subject of food.

Above is a photo of jalabi.

The Mysterious Sukunda Lamp

Separated a long time from Nepal and my childhood, I realised I had forgotten far too much and that I somehow had to jog my memory.  To do this, I resorted to a combination of sensory aids.  Smell, of course, is the most powerful tool for memory.  If I ever experience the smell of burning human flesh, I instantly return to the ghats of Banepa.  (One does smell this from time to time when one suffers a bad burn!)  The smell of string or rope incense is another that is far more pleasant but, unlike burning flesh, wholly associated with Nepal.  I do not think it is made anywhere else.

With the terrible earthquakes, so much of my childhood there is gone now, and I mourn the deaths of the thousands of Nepalese as well as the disappearance of their architectural and religious heritage.  I had intended to contact people I had known to try to find the items I wanted but feel somehow it is inappropriate at this point in time.

I did bring back a number of Nepalese objects, including a Madal Drum, a Water Pitcher and some Thals, but my Mother either tells me she cannot find them or does not feel she can send them to me.  She is the ultimate hoarder and to try to continue down that path of supplication would be akin to beating my head against a stone.  Better to find cheap substitutes.

Thank God for the internet!  People who do not use computers are quick to criticise and condemn but for any one like me, who has very little income and less mobility now, it is a lifeline.

I was able to find a Madal Drum and an inexpensive Sukunda lamp and a friend had both sent to me.  The Madal is a two-headed drum with a strap.  It usually is played by placing the strap over both knees, either in a seated position or standing, if there is no place to sit.  Every time I took the coach to Kathmandu as a child, some one was standing in the crowded aisle, playing the Madal while the passengers sang old folksongs, usually about planting or harvesting.

This Madal has a decent tone although it is new and smells strongly of the red paint used to cover the wooden frame.  The Madals from my childhood were natural in colour and I found the red a bit jarring at first.  One other problem is that, as a new drum, the rawhide used for the strap is very stiff.  I need to make it more pliable.  That will come with time.

The red drum is identical to the one I have at present.  Playing the Madal can be a sophisticated art.  I do not know if women always were allowed to play it, but when I was a child, I only saw men playing this type of drum and indeed, only men leading processions blowing the long horns.  I do not know if they taught me how to play because I was foreign or a little girl or if they would have taught any female had she asked.  In any case, I learned how to play although I had few opportunites to practice as I did not have one of my own until I left Nepal.

Basically, being left-handed, I play it backwards but it should not matter.  The small head is played with a finger or fingers.  The large head is played with the palm or the small ridges that lay like a range of Himals between the fingers and the palm.  The sounds made by hitting the small head are 'open' sounds ordinarily while the sounds made by hitting the large head tend to be 'closed'.  This is the more sophisticated method.  There are players who simply create rhythms by hitting both heads either together or in quick succession.  If the drum is held by the strap, it will sway back and forth slightly as the drummer plays.  It really is a wonderful instrument and I missed it greatly.

I always loved drumming, even aa a child.  I was told to play the piano but I never cared for that instrument, much preferring the harpsichord or clavichord.  When I asked for drums, I was told that they were not appropriate instruments for a girl to play.  I turned then to tap dancing for my rhythm and loved that, but my early fascination with drums never disappeared.

Later in life, I bought a few hand drums of the sort played by shamans.  I had an enormous elk skin drum made by an artist somewhere in the middle of the U.S.  It had a robust tone but one winter, mice went behind it to gnaw away the sinews that tightened it and it was ruined.  I would like to have it repeired but cannot find any one to do it.  In the end, I daresay I shall try to do it myself by hook or by crook as it is too good an instrument to toss.

I have some pretty drums sent to me years ago by a very good friend.  A couple are form the Arab world but the one inlaid with mother of pearl and abalone is more attractive in appearance than sound.  My best hand drum is quite plain and unattracitve.  It is an antique drum from Morocco and I love it.  The tone is absolutely gorgeous.

One other item from Nepal is one of the small two-headed drums that are shaken rather than struck iwth the hand.  A cord is attached to small objects that hit the heads of the drum when it is shaken.  That one is a vintage drum as well, given by another friend.  Unfortunately, I cannot find it at the moment.  It is a ritual object rather than one that is used for folk singing.  The Madal is used for any sort of musical event or simply for the drummer's own enjoyment.

I see


Meanwhile, there were a number of other items I needed.  One of these was the Sukunda lamp, as much a part of my childhood Nepal experience as the stupas and temples.

Butter or Oil Lamps are an essential element in Hindu and Buddhist ritual but the Sukunda I think is unique to Nepal.  Unfortunately, they are rare and rather expensive now, advertised as 'antiques' when often they are not that old.  Fortunately, there is some one who sells new Sukunda lamps at a reasonable price.  They cannot compare with the older, larger versions but are good enough for my purpose at the moment.

This is NOT proper procedure as far as any puja is concerned, but I am neither Hindu nor Buddhist and I simply was thrilled to be able to create the sacred flame with the tools I had in my possession.  I do not have ghee nor do I have cotton wicks.  I could not recall for the life of me how the lamp operated until I read a description on the internet.  For some reason, i thought that the wick would be threaded through the large body of the lamp to the small receptable in the front and burn that way.  In fact, there is no connection between the two.  The larger container is for ghee.  One spoons ghee from the larger container into the small front receptacle and places the wick in the front to burn there.  Hindu shops sell short wicks and ghee.  They sell the red and yellow dyes used for puja as well as other religious items but they appear to be in India and it takes a long time for items to be sent.  I used the rope incense sent with the Madal Drum and butter I clarified myself in a skillet.  The fact that it currently is on a shelf with a Ukrainian trinity Easter candelabra, Ukrainian wooden carved Easter eggs and a Coronation plate may or may not nullify the spiritual effects.  The brass dragon lamp is from Nepal and I believe the statue is of Laxshmi.  I simply am happy to have made the wick burn!