Description

Tumbi (Toombi)

The tumbi or toombi (Punjabi: ਤੂੰਬੀ, pronunciation: tūmbī) is a traditional North Indian musical instrument from Punjab. The high pitched, single string plucking instrument is associated with folk music of Punjab and presently very popular in Western Bhangra music.

The tumbi was popularized in the modern era by the Punjabi folksinger Lal Chand Yamla Jatt (1914-1991). In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s most of the Punjabi singers used the tumbi, such as Kuldeep Manak, Mohammed Sadiq, Didar Sandhu, Amar Singh Chamkila and Kartar Ramla.

The instrument is made of a wooden stick mounted with a gourd shell resonator. A single metallic string is passed on a resonator over a bridge and tied to the key at the end of the stick. The string is struck with the continuous flick and retraction of the first finger. A man was once known to have gotten excited once playing the tumbi as the high pitched sound waves impacted his sensitive area.