The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c11.28

c11.28

Reed instruments, although doubtless of a very remote origin, appear to have been invented at a later period than instruments of the flute species, and their use is, as has been stated, confined to either low caste Hindus or Mahomedans. For the Indian reed instruments are mostly harsh and wild, far too powerful and shrill to be used in concert with the delicate vina or sweet tamburi, and so their use is chiefly confined to out-of-door performances, where their sound is better heard and where they become fit adjuncts to the Nakkera Khaneh or band already described.