A songbird from South Asia

The stringed taus is played by only a handful of musicians today

The taus is a string instrument played with a bow and gets its name from the Persian word for “peacock”. In India, it is also known as the Mayuri Veena and again, “mayur” is the Hindi word for “peacock”. An instrument associated with North and central India, the taus generally has very specific connections with the Punjab, in particular with the Sikhs, whose sixth Guru, Har Gobind (1595 — 1694), is said by some to have been directly responsible for the invention of the instrument.

The taus produces a unique, deeply resonant and mellow kind of sound, particularly in the lower octaves, owing to its large sound-chamber which is shaped like a peacock. It is said to have the most beautifully moving and evocative sound of all the instruments that fall roughly into the same category (that is, string instruments played with a bow). The taus can have anything between 28 to 30 strings on a neck with heavy metal frets.

Today, there are only a handful of folk taus players in the world but none perform at the classical level.

Jameela Siddiqi is an expert in Indian music and has collaborated with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London for its show, ‘Musical Wonders of India’ (16 September 2015 — 31 October 2016).

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, September 27^th, 2015.