GHATAMGhatam is nothing more than a large clay pot. It is very commonly played in South Indian classical performances. There are two actions of resonance. The primary one is the ringing of the pot caused by striking. A very low resonance is also produced by the cavity. This pitch is raised or lowered by opening or closing the hole with the stomach.
Ghatam is one of the oldest carnatic instrument used in the percussion side. However this is made up of clay and iron ore which makes it a good solid body to play.
Ghatam is an earthern pot where player used all there fingers to produce the sound. However the sound is a metallic sound.
TH Vinayakram plays the Indian clay pot called the Ghatam. During performance he keeps his belly exposed to facilitate the use in creating tones on the mouth of the Ghatam. He plays fast rhythms of knuckle-cracking intensity using different parts of the Ghatam from the mouth to the bottom of pick up different resonant tones due to thickness of the clay. He is featured in the Taal Ensemble and in the Shakti recordings of Zakir Hussain and John McLaughlin.
ghatam is made with special metal ores such that it gives a good sound and it can be used as an instrument.
ghatam is of two type madras ghatam and maana madurai ghatam. The earlier madras ghatam is light and the maana madurai ghatam is a heavy ghatam and tone is beautiful in both the ghatams
A good quality South Indian Ghatam/Clay pot made of special resonant fire treated clay for high quality sound.
