As I promised, I will present some more instruments from the depths of Tharparkar. Not only because they can produce tunes that are melodious and mystical at the same time, but because  - interestingly - these instruments are familiar to the people of my own homeland as well. Hungarians do recognize them, and immediately assume a cultural link between this area and the Carpathian basin and around... perhaps forgetting that it's more difficult to mention an area on the globe where the jew's harp has not been know since ancient times, than a place where it has always played a role.

I met Ali Mohammad Roonjho last year in Hyderabad. Inside a tent, at the backstage area of the Lahooti Melo festival he was preparing for his performance. Killing time, he kept picking jew's harps of various keys out of a basket (from now on, let me just refer to the instrument as 'chang'). I took the courage to fish out a chang from the basket as well, and placing it to my mouth, I began to play it. He immediately signalled that I was holding the chang the wrong way. I should finger it from the outside inwards, not from inside out... even though that was the way I had learned to play back home!

Here is a short presentation of how he and his brother play the chang together. They look so similar... I'm actually in trouble telling which one is Ali Mohammad. Judging from the hand position, my guess is the one on the right.

And now, for another duo.

I am utterly shocked every time I see two-handed playing style in Sindhi music. 'Two-handedness' is a phrase I coined when I first saw that a musician happily played two instruments at the same time, even though another musician was sitting next to him... who, in a far from economical manner, also played two instruments simultaneously. And, what do you know? He played the same two instruments. Sharing of chores in music seems to be an unknown concept in this area. To add a bit more thrill, in the video below, both musicians are playing three instruments. A rattle always comes in handy to make the sound more complete. And who would dare say that the rattle is not an instrument?

(Let's ignore the fact that the sound was recorded before the video itself. That is why the image is not in perfect sync with the music.)

I will introduce another instrument that needs no introduction in Hungary. It's the boreendo, a wind instrument. Compared to the bheen, it's really just a play thing. Yet, it produces the sound that makes any Sindhi man's eyes glitter.

Next time I will tackle shrine music, although in much less detail than I should. I genuinely hope one day I can visit one of the shrines. That will be a future project.