drum with a stick attached along the outer wall. A string runs from a hole in the drumhead to the a power in the end of the stick. It is played to accompany song, held under the left arm, "tuned to the tonic" and played for rhythm and as a drone. This is an instrument of a of Western India, used by "Hindu Sadhus and Islamic Sufi saints" and by Bhil, Kukna and Warli tribes. Performance Grove Music Online describes the playing of an ektara thus: "The ektārā player holds his instrument upright, gripping the neck just above the resonator and plucking the playing string or strings with the index finger of the same hand. If he is dancing, he supports the gourd resonator with his other hand, in which he carries clusters of small bells which sound as he beats his hand against the gourd." Pressing the two halves of the neck together loosens the string, thus lowering its pitch. The modulation of the tone with each slight flexing of the neck gives the ektara its distinctive sound. There are no markings or measurements to indicate what pressure will produce what note, so the pressure is adjusted by ear. The various sizes of ektara are soprano, tenor, and bass. The bass ektara, sometimes called a dotara often has two strings (as literally implied by do, 'two'). Use The ektara is a common instrument in Baul music from Bengal. Some controversy has arisen in recent years over the adoption and alleged corruption of Baul music by popular bands and films in Bengal. It has become common to mix traditional instruments like the ektara with more modern sounds in an attempt to appeal to a wide audience, which according to Purna Das Baul is "destroying the true beauty" of Baul music. Kirtan chanting The ektara is commonly used in kirtan chanting, a Hindu devotional practice of singing the divine names and mantras in an ecstatic call and response format. The Ektara is used by Sadhus, or wandering holy men and for Sufi chanting, as well as by the Bauls of Bengal. The use of a stringed drone instrument to accompany the voice in religious settings can be documented in images as far back as the 4th-5th century, when a singer was painted in the Ajanta Caves. He was singing or chanting to Indra, and was accompanied by a one-stringed zither that