Bulbul tarang

Overview

The bulbul tarang (बुलबुल तरंग, (“waves of nightingales” in literal translation)) — also called the Indian banjo in modern usage — is a keyboard-zither string instrument widely played across India and Pakistan. It descends from the taishōgoto of Japan, and probably reached the Indian subcontinent during the 1930s; over the subsequent decades it adapted to Indian musical practice, gained additional sympathetic and rhythm strings, and is now treated as a naturalised Indian folk instrument.

A modern bulbul tarang has fourteen strings divided into three functional groups: two main strings (one melody, one bass), four jhala (rhythm) strings, and eight swarmandal (sympathetic / drone) strings. The strings run over a long fretboard called the surpatti, above which sit a row of typewriter-like keys; pressing a key shortens the strings and raises their pitch.

Origin & History

The bulbul tarang’s direct ancestor is the Japanese taishōgoto — a keyed zither invented by Goro Morita in Nagoya in 1912 during the Taishō era (the source of the name). The instrument spread through Japan in the 1910s and 1920s as an inexpensive, accessible keyboard-zither suitable for popular song accompaniment, and from there travelled with Japanese trade and missionary contacts to other parts of Asia.

The first documented appearance of the instrument in South Asia is in the 1930s, in northern India and what is now Pakistan. The keyed mechanism — radically different from the unfretted sitar / sarod tradition or the fretted swarmandal — made the instrument easy to learn and quickly popular for bhajan (devotional song) and folk-song accompaniment. Local makers in Lahore, Delhi, and Mumbai adapted the design over the next several decades, adding the jhala and swarmandal string banks that bring the modern bulbul tarang to fourteen strings.

The instrument retains its association with devotional and folk repertoire today and is rarely heard in Indian classical music, where the swarmandal (a separate plucked-zither tradition) and the santoor (struck-zither) hold the comparable harmonic-accompaniment roles.

Construction & Materials

A standard modern bulbul tarang is approximately 60 to 80 cm long and 15 to 20 cm wide. The body is a hollow wooden box (typically rosewood or sheesham), with a flat soundboard and a long fretboard running the full length. Fourteen steel strings are stretched across the soundboard from a fixed bridge at one end to tuning pegs at the other. Above the strings, a row of approximately twenty to thirty wooden or plastic keys sit on a hinged rocker mechanism — pressing a key brings small wooden bars down onto specific strings, shortening their vibrating length and raising their pitch.

The melody string is typically tuned to a tonic (often C or D); the bass string an octave or fifth below; the four jhala strings to a tonic-fifth-octave drone pattern; the eight swarmandal strings to the seven notes of the chosen raga plus an octave reinforcement. The instrument’s tuning is therefore raga-dependent and requires retuning when changing key — much like the swarmandal it partly replaces.

How It’s Played

The player sits cross-legged with the instrument in front, plucking the melody and bass strings with a plectrum held in the right hand while pressing keys with the left. The jhala and swarmandal strings are strummed periodically to produce drone and rhythm support; the result is a single-player accompaniment with simultaneous melody, bass, drone, and rhythm.

Standard repertoire includes bhajans (Hindu devotional songs), qawwali and naat (Sufi devotional song), folk songs across the Punjab, Sindh, and Hindi-belt traditions, and contemporary devotional film-music adaptations. The instrument’s keyed melody system makes it particularly well-suited to playing the melody line with one hand while keeping the rhythm and drone strings active with the other.

Cultural Significance

The bulbul tarang occupies a distinctive niche in South Asian music. It is the standard street-and-temple instrument for bhajan singing across northern India and Pakistan; it appears in Sikh gurdwara music; it is commonly used by mendicant musicians and itinerant religious singers; and it has a settled role in folk-music revival projects and educational programmes that introduce children to South Asian song. Its low cost (a serviceable instrument can be bought new in Delhi or Lahore for the equivalent of 30 to 50 USD) and easy initial learning curve have kept it accessible across class and region.

The naturalisation of a 1912 Japanese invention as a 21st-century Indian folk instrument is also a small case study in how musical instruments travel and adapt; the bulbul tarang’s history is the South Asian counterpart of the harmonium’s earlier 19th-century journey from France into the centre of Indian devotional music.

Notable Examples & Recordings

• The instrument appears widely in field recordings of South Asian bhajan and qawwali performance, in commercial devotional-music releases by labels including Saregama, T-Series, and Times Music, and in occasional film-music productions.
• No single solo bulbul tarang virtuoso has emerged; the instrument is overwhelmingly used as accompaniment rather than as a concert solo voice.

Related Instruments

• Taishōgoto — the Japanese ancestor.
• Swarmandal — the Indian plucked-zither tradition.
• Santoor — the Kashmiri struck-zither.
• Harmonium — the other naturalised Western instrument central to South Asian devotional music.
• Sitar — the central North Indian classical plucked-string instrument.
• Dholki — the standard hand drum that frequently accompanies bulbul tarang in bhajan settings.
• Tongue drum — another modern adaptation that has rapidly gained a global popular following.

Where to Hear It

Live: at Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwaras, Muslim shrines, and Sufi venues across northern India and Pakistan; at folk festivals of Punjab, Sindh, and the broader Hindi belt. Recordings appear regularly in commercial devotional-music releases.

• Wikipedia: Bulbul tarang
• Wikidata: Bulbul tarang (Q15307471)
• DBpedia: Bulbul tarang
• Wikimedia Commons: Bulbul tarang

Learning Resources

A new bulbul tarang typically costs between 30 and 100 USD when bought from a music shop in Delhi, Lahore, or Mumbai; instruments shipped to North America or Europe carry a substantial markup but rarely exceed 200 USD even for higher-quality builds. Limited published method material exists in Hindi and Urdu; most learners pick the instrument up by watching family members or community singers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the bulbul tarang Indian or Japanese?
Both, in different senses. The instrument’s mechanism (keyed zither) was invented in Japan in 1912; the modern fourteen-string Indian configuration, the raga-based tuning, and the devotional-music repertoire are entirely South Asian. It is best understood as an Indian naturalisation of a Japanese design.

Why is it called the “Indian banjo”?
The English nickname dates from the mid-20th century and reflects the instrument’s plucked-string, rhythmic accompaniment role and its single-melody-line lead — both features that British and American observers associated with the banjo. The name is a colloquial label rather than a technical description; the bulbul tarang has no actual relationship to the Western banjo.

What music is it used for?
Bhajan (Hindu devotional song), qawwali and naat (Sufi devotional song), Sikh gurdwara music, and a wide range of regional folk-song traditions of northern India and Pakistan. It rarely appears in Indian classical music.

How do you tune it?
The melody string to the tonic of the chosen raga (typically C or D), the bass string an octave or fifth below, the jhala strings to a drone pattern, and the swarmandal strings to the seven notes of the raga plus an octave. Retuning is required when changing keys.

Where can I buy one?
Music shops in major Indian and Pakistani cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Lahore, Karachi, Lucknow), specialist Indian-instrument importers in the UK, US, and Australia, and several online retailers. Prices range from approximately 30 USD for a basic instrument to 200 USD for a high-quality build.