Karatals (90 sm)

Karatals are Indian percussion musical instruments.

Karatals can be of various sizes and shapes (for example, concave discs made of brass or another alloy). Behind each is a silk or wooden handle. The sound of the talas is quite soft and pleasant.

Two identical discs are struck against each other in different ways, depending on the rhythm and mode of the song, flat or edge, vertically or horizontally. Some drawings show that in one hand the small plate was held motionless, while the other struck it. If necessary, the sound was muffled with the thumb.

In Indian music, the earliest historical documents abound with mentions of karatals. Similar instruments are described in the "Natya-shastra," a treatise on theatrical art.