A name spanning different constructions
Iktara, also written ektara, can serve as a broad one-string label rather than the name of one uniform object. The Metropolitan Museum describes this family vocabulary in its entry for a gopiyantra from Bengal or Orissa, dated to the late nineteenth century. Its account connects the instrument with Baul musicians who pluck the string and squeeze its sides, altering skin tension and pitch. Names in the same regional discussion include gubgubi, gopichand, khamak and ananda lahari. The museum explains ektara through the words for one and string, while retaining gopiyantra as this object’s title. The object therefore carries both a particular catalogue name and a broader family designation. Its wood-and-skin construction and adjustable tension offer a concrete example of the variety contained within one-string terminology. The catalogue credits its donation to Sourindro Mohun Tagore and records it in the Crosby Brown collection as object 89.4.233.[1]
The Punjabi tumbi comparison
Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum also calls its Punjabi tumbi sometimes ektara. Here the construction has one metal string, a stick neck, tuning peg, loose bridge and skin-covered resonator. The shared name accompanies a different documented arrangement.[2]
A performer’s particular instrument
The Aga Khan Music Programme’s profile of Sain Zahoor gives one Punjabi performer’s setting within this broad vocabulary. It identifies him as a laureate of the 2022 award cycle and describes his instrument as a tumbi: a gourd resonator attached to a wooden stick. The account traces his learning to local singers in Uch Sharif, with a particular focus on Bulleh Shah’s Sufi poetry and devotional songs called kalams. It also describes singing for alms at Lahore shrines and international appearances after a 2006 BBC World Music Award. Here the instrument accompanies a voice carrying a learned poetic repertoire between shrine settings and concert stages.[3]
Sources & notes
Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gopiyantra, object 89.4.233 ↗primary museum object catalogue · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Opening curatorial paragraph and Artwork Details: family names, plucking/squeezing, regional attribution, object date, Tagore donation and collection credit. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual curatorial body and object metadata read through the web reader. A later local snapshot request returned 429. This is an eastern Indian comparison; Punjab manufacture and a universal construction are not inferred. The apparent diameter-unit typo is excluded.Return to A name spanning different constructions, paragraph 1 ↑
- Asian Civilisations Museum; National Heritage Board, Singapore. Tumbi, accession XXXX-09407 ↗primary museum object catalogue · Source date: 2020-10-15 (page update) · Locator: Complete description: tumbi/toombi also called ektara, single-string stick-neck construction, tuning peg and bridge. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete object description read. Only a short terminology/construction comparison is used here; the detailed object account is in the separate Tumbi article.Return to The Punjabi tumbi comparison, paragraph 1 ↑
- Aga Khan Music Programme; Aga Khan Development Network. Sain Zahoor: artist profile ↗primary artist-award profile · Source date: not established (profile identifies 2022 award cycle) · Locator: Artist Information, 2022 Cycle/Laureate; About, Uch Sharif learning, Bulleh Shah, Lahore shrines, 2006 award and tumbi accompaniment. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual complete official-domain profile read and HTML saved. The award-cycle year is not substituted for a webpage publication date. Personal dream testimony and a disputed birth date are not used; no performance was auditioned.Return to A performer’s particular instrument, paragraph 1 ↑
Record PH-CUL-0064 · English edition · human review not performed