Paloma
A Mumbai workshop that has been building instruments since 1925.
Paloma instruments come out of a hundred-year-old Mumbai house, and what that century buys is not romance but consistency: seasoned timber selected before it is cut, the same construction standards applied across a wide range, and quality control tight enough to export worldwide without a reputation for surprises.
Their string range is broad, and we have chosen the part of it we think is genuinely worth carrying.
Santoor. A hundred strings across thirty-one bridges, struck with two light mallets. The santoor is the most immediately approachable instrument in our string catalogue, because there is no intonation to get wrong and no bowing or embouchure standing between you and a beautiful sound. What takes time is control, damping, and learning to tune it. See Santoor.
Shahi baaja. The larger, fuller relative of the bulbul tarang, with drone strings and a pickup for the stage. It is the concert version of the same idea, and it has been a fixture of qawwali and devotional performance for generations. Ours come in four finishes.
Bulbul tarang. Typewriter keys pressing down on a bank of strings while you strum, which means anyone who can hum a melody can play one within minutes. It is the most instantly rewarding instrument we sell and the one we recommend most often to someone who wants to accompany group singing without years of study. Four colours. See Bulbul Tarang / Shahi Baaja.
Swarmandal. The vocalist's zither, thirty-six strings tuned to the notes of the raga and swept behind a phrase to make it shimmer. See Swarmandal.
Ghatam. Carnatic music's fired clay pot, with percussion-grade walls of even thickness that give it a defined pitch and a ringing tone no ordinary vessel has. See Ghatam.
We do not carry Paloma harmoniums or shruti boxes. That is deliberate rather than accidental: for those two instruments we would rather sell our own workshop's boxes, or Bina and MKS harmoniums, and we would rather tell you where we think a maker is strongest than pretend everyone is best at everything.
