The Garos are the tribal people of the state Meghalaya, NorthEast, India. The Garos themselves prefer to be called as ‘A‧chik’ or Hill man. Garo have their own dialect and sub-dialects in their region. Linguistically , the Garo belong to the Bodo speech family of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic group.
The Music of the Garos is pass on by elders verbally. In Garos there is Nokpante (Bachelors dormitory), where all round training is imparted to the young men. Here they acquire knowledge in the field of art, craft, carving, music, culture, physical fitness, warfare, defense, medicine, agriculture known how as well as moral standards and etiquette, which are handed down by skilled elders of the village.
The Garos have many musical instruments they are classified into following groups
- Membranophones: With skins or membranes stretched over a frame – Am.bieng, Chisak Dama, Atong Dama, Garaganching Dama, Ruga, Dama, Nagra, Kram.
- Aerophones: Wind instruments, whose sound come from air vibrating inside a pipe when is blown – Adil, Singga, Sanai, Kal, Bolbijak, Illep or Illip, Olongna, Tarabeng, Imbanggi, Akok or Dakok, Bangsi rori, Tilara or Taragaku, Bangsi mande, Otekra, Wa‧pepe or Wa‧pek.
- Idiophones: Self-sounding and made of resonant materials – Kakwa, Nanggilsi, Guridomik, kamaljakmora, all kinds of gongs, Rangkilding, Rangbong, Nogri.
- Chordophones: Stringed instrument – Dotdrong, Sarenda, Chigring or Bagring, Dimchrang or Kimjim, Gongmina or Gonggina.
Chordophone is any class of musical instrument in which a stretched, vibrating string produces the initial sound. The five basic types are bows, harps, lutes, lyres, and zithers. The name chordophone replaces the term string instrument when a precise, acoustically based designation is required.
The Sarenda is a one-Stringed instrument, very much like a violin. It is a bowed string instrument. The body is carved out of Gambil wood (Careya arborica) and the strings are made out of animal gut or the bark of Kilkra bol (Celtis orientalis). A deep and fairly wide hollow is carved out in two parts. The lower end is covered with lizard skin (preferably) or by animal hide, and is held in place with the help of tiny wooden pegs. This serves as the sound box. The string is tied to one end (near the sound box) and on the neck side it is wound by a wooden key. It has a movable bridge called bora, made of the bamboo. Thus is played with the help of the brangchi or the bow made of bamboo and vegetable fibre, preferably the fibre of the sawe (sago palm).
Garo folk musicians they used play Sarenda when they return from work, while gathering. It is played anytime. There is no specific time to play Sarenda.
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Ch Marak | Radio Free (2022-10-03T14:00:55+00:00) Musical Instruments of Garo’s: The Sarenda. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2022/10/03/musical-instruments-of-garos-the-sarenda/
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