Multi racial city states have a wealth of choices of cultural influences to explore. Here you get to explore it in regards to traditional music instruments, So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp issue consisted of two Indian instuements, two Chinese, and one Malayan. You have to cut it off somewhere I suppose, but a certain colonial power might feel left out.
Todays stamp is issue A22, a 1 cent stamp issued by independant Singapore on November 10th, 1969. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.
The origin of the Mridangam drum in ancient south India. The name comes from an amalgamation of the Sanscrit wods for clay and limb. The early drums had bodies made of clay. On modern versions this material has been replaced by wood from the jackfruit tree. Before use, a creamy gum is applied to the leather to enhance the bass sound of the drum.
The instument is most often played in the performance of Carnatic music. A small band of a singer, a violin, a mridangam drum, and a guitar like instument called a tampura. The melodies performed are called ragas, The have both composed and improvisation sections. Listen here. https://youtu.be/S_frNc_CHho.
The world center of this type of music is Madras in India which hosts annual weeks long festivals of Carnatic music. I can find no evidence of such festivels in Singapore, though it is taught in local music schools, but there is a farely large one in Cleveland, Ohio.
Well my drink is empty, Come again next Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.