musical instrument(dotara)
- Museum number
- As1972,03.7
- Description
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Four-stringed musical instrument called a dotara. End of neck in the form of bird's head. Four pegs with two strings remaining. Made of wood lacquered in a deep red.
- Dimensions
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Height: 69.30 centimetres
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Weight: 900 grammes
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Width: 16 centimetres
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Depth: 10.20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
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Originally registered as 1972,As3/Eu1.24, joint collection in error. Re-numbered 1972,As3.7 by CDMS staff in 1983. No provenance in register; "As" marked on Ethno. Dept. object tag.
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The dotara is a small folk instrument used by the Baul people in Bangladesh.
The body, neck and peghead of a dotara are carved from one piece of wood. The hollowed out body is covered with a thick skin. Sometimes the body looks a bit like an Indian sarod, with grooves on both sides. The neck is covered with a fingerboard of very flat and slippery material, like formica, metal or plastic. There are no frets. The pegbox ends in a woodcarving, usually the figure of a bird.
The metal strings (usually five) run to friction pegs on the open pegbox, two on the right and three on the left side. They go over a loose wooden bridge to pins at the end of the body. Some dotaras have a few resonance strings on the left side of the neck. Tuning could be something like g c' g' g' c". It is played with a plectrum.
Source: http://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/india.htm
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1972
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- As1972,03.7
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: 1972,As3/Eu1.24 (original Register no., in error)