The titti (,Mashak at India9.com masaka titti, or tutti) is a type of bagpipe played in Andhra Pradesh, India, made from an entire goat-skin.Subhash Kak (Louisiana State University). The Indian Epic Song Tradition. Presented at The 7th International Conference and Festival of Asian Music, Busan, Korea, Sept 26-Sept 30, 2002. The instrument is described as a goatskin with a double-reed inserted into one leg, and a bamboo blowpipe into the other. The term tittii is used in Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.

History Several paintings possibly depicting bagpipes are shown in Kerala, from the early eighteenth century.

Colonel James Tod (1782–1835 CE) notes that the Yanadis, a forest tribe in Madras, also play the bagpipes,as do later sources in 1900 describing the Yanadi.

Usage The instrument is often used to provide solely a constant drone. References note the instrument being used as a drone accompaniment by storytellers and singers, as well as for village dance-dramas.

See also

Mashak, a Northern Indian bagpipe Sruti upanga, a bagpipe of Tamil Nadu.

References