| We have more than
one reason to believe that the earliest music of the Indus
Valley was limited to only the three musical notes. In the
scant material that has survived through the centuries we
find some 'earthen balls' of various sizes, hollow from within,
having one hold in the middle and two on the side. These are
the oldest musical instruments, which were played by mouth
and fingers like a flute. Like the 'bullock-cart' of the Mohen-jo-Daro
civilization this instrument has survived through the ages
and has been in use in the villages of Sind. They call it
'Borrindo'.
The conjecture that the oldest
music of Sind was based on three musical notes or contained
at the most five notes till the time of the Arab conquest
of Sind is evident from a close examination of the 'Borrindo'.
This presumption is further strengthened by the presence
of yet another musical instrument called the 'Narr', which
serves as accompanied to the recitation of Bait commonly
called 'Narr Bait'. The Narr is a type of long flute and
it is so long that fingers of the player reach the last
of the instrument with hole of the instrument with difficulty.
There are different styles of playing the 'Narr', which
are distinguished by the manner in which the player blows
air into this long flute.
Music produced on the 'Narr'
sound primitive and it ranges between three and five musical
notes like the 'Borrindo' and provides a testimony for its
earlier origin is that the Narr Player during the performance
produces similar notes from his own throat. This instrument
has; retained the characteristic of the most primitive music,
when musical instruments were not yet invented and sound
produced by human throat was employed for this purpose.
The 'Narr', therefore, is historically an important musical
instrument, which bridges the pre-instrumental music periods
of our history of music.
If we look to the Sindhi language,
we find traces of the Dravidian influences in its phonetic
system and other peculiarities. One, therefore, feels tempted
to search for the peculiarities of Sindhi music in the Dravidian
sources because these are as peculiar to Sindhi music as
to the Sindhi language. The employment of voice by a 'Moro'
singer also has a typical style, which speaks of its primitive
origin.
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