Chimta
The fire tongs that became an instrument.
A pair of long steel tongs with jingles fixed along their length, struck and shaken to drive Punjabi devotional and folk music. You will hear it through bhangra, through gurdwara kirtan, and behind almost every folk singer in the region.
Is it easy? To make a sound, yes, immediately. To play it well, in time, with the sharp accents the music wants, takes as much practice as any percussion instrument.
What to look for. Weight and the quality of the jingles, which decide how bright and how sustained the sound is. Ours are listed with dimensions on each product page.
