Tumbi
The tumbi is a small, lightweight folk instrument with just one string from the northwestern Indian state of Punjab. It is used to play simple tunes with characteristic timbre.
The instrument has made an amazing career: First, the tumbi became the standard accompaniment of folk singer in the Punjab during the 20th century. Then it became popular among the Indian and Pakistani expatriate communities in the UK and the U.S., together with the danceable Bhangra music. At the same time it was frequenly used in Bhangra scenes in Bollywood movies. And finally, after the turn of the millennium, it even became fashionable among international hip-hop stars.
The tumbi consists of a wooden staff with a small resonator made of pumpkin and covered by a skin attached to its lower end. At the upper end of the staff it has has a peg which holds a single string. The string is attached to the lower end of the staff and passes over a small bridge on the skin covering the resonator. With the fingers of the left hand, the string can be pressed onto the wooden staff to change the pitch. The tumbi is plucked with upward and downward movements of the right index finger. The other fingers of the right hand hold the tumbi at the staff directly above the resonator.
Varished wooden staff, varnished gurd resonator, whitewashed skin top, half varnished peg, wooden bridge, steel string diameter 0.25 mm
PALOMA is the international brand name for instruments made by Haribhau Vishwanath from Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Haribhau Vishwanath was founded in 1925 as a small repair business and developed into one of the leading Indian harmonium manufacturers in the course of decades. In addition, Haribhau Vishwanath makes shrutiboxes, santoors, swarmandals and some drums. Haribhau Vishwanath is also an active musical instrument trader and supplies us with some rarely demanded instruments where a direct purchase from the manufacturer is not profitable. Thanks to his good infrastructure and long experience with instrument manufacturing, trading and international shipping, Haribhau currently supplies all common harmonium models and many other instruments constantly in a high quality regarding workmanship. In addition, he excels through attractive innovations, like e.g. the harmonium Compactina or a particular silk-mat finish. Haribhau Vishwanath is a partner of India Instruments since 2005. Today the company is run by Ashish Diwane.
Measure: length 55 cm, width 10 - 13 cm, diameter 10 - 12 cm, weight: 0.2 kg
Each instrument is individually hand-crafted and might differ from our description.