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Tibetan singing bowls for sale

 

Tibetan singing bowls are traditionaly sold by weight, meaning that each bowl will be usually priced differently depending on price per gram. There is also an unwritten rule that with each bowl you get a wooden stick (or a mallet) with which you make the Tibetan bowl "sing".

 

There are several types of singing bowls on offer - Jambati, Ramgondi, Bengali and Peter Hess singing bowls. All of them were made in a traditional way - hand beaten to perfection. Price per gram which determines the final price of the bowl is to be found in the information attached to particular type.

 

So far there are no sound samples available, though I am working on them. At the moment you can chose your Tibetan bowl from photos by design and if you find that you really like one of the designs then you are welcome in my house where you can chose one of the bowls personaly. Or, we can arrange for a visit at your place where I would arrive with a big suitcase full of these beauties. In the end, thanks to our developed technologies, we can "meet" on Skype where you can make the choice virtually and I will send you your singing bowl by 'collect on delivery' post. 

 

How will you know if the bowl is "authentic" or "false"?

 

At this point I'd like to emphasize that there are only two areas (or factories if you will, but they are villages really) where the Tibetan singing bowls are still made in a traditonal way. One of these areas is in Nepal and the other one in North India and both are managed by one family (!). Mr. Chopra manages the Indian one and Mrs. Chopra takes care of the Nepalese one. (These are understandably not their real names by the way.)

 

How do I know that? I was invited there for a visit. They let me stay at their house for couple of days and I even got a chance to visit one of the villages where these singing beauties are still hand beaten by real people and masters of their craft. There is no such thing as an "authentic" singing bowl from Nepal not to speak from Tibet. Because if those are authentic then all other bowls are authentic too which makes the word 'authentic' meaningless. Which doesn't mean that some of the singing bowls don't come from Nepal or Tibet, they certainly do or did. But even to Tibet they arrived from surrounding areas together with business caravans some long, long time ago. To make the long story short, there used to be many sources of these instruments but only two remain. And to be entirely fair Tibetan singing bowls should be called Himalayan singing bowls due to their roots which are wide spread. Word 'Tibetan' is popular and flashy but it's more like a nick name rather than a real name. So in the end it doesn't matter the slightes where was the bowl made and there are no "false" bowls. There is nothing to worry about really. What matters though is how was the bowl made and what is it made from.

 

There are two basic types of singing bowls: cast (machine processed) and hand-beaten (hand-hammered). The machine made bowls are made from brass (alloy of copper and zinc) and the hand-beaten ones from bell-metal bronze (alloy of 78% copper and 22% tin). Brass is great for wind powered instruments but too hard for an instrument meant to rezonate and generate sound by itself by striking or rubbing. Plus it is hard enough to be machine processed which bell-metal bronze is not. Bell-metal bronze on the other hand is softer and has been tested by centuries as the perfect material to be used to manufacture sound generating instruments like gongs, bells or singing bowls since due to its' characteristics it resonates longer and sounds "warmer" then brass. The main "disadvantage" of bell-metal bronze in todays world of make-it-quick-and-cheap set up is that it has to be processed manualy because of its' "softness". Which I actually appreciate very much. But the choice is yours. You can have a machine processed, perfectly finished bowl which won't sound like much or you can have a singing beauty with a soul, hand-beaten by masters which will take your breath away. I make it sound quite one sided, don't I? Well, in the end it comes down to chose between 'hand-made' or 'machine-processed' singing bowls and I preffer human touch to machine touch so that's where my view stems from. But we are all different. Feel free but be informed.

 

Of course, any good coming from the use of a singing bowl rests not only on its' sound and the material it's made from but mainly on the bowls' owner.

 

And there is more. Have you heard the one about the seven metals yet? No? Well, you're in for a surprise. But I will leave the popping of that fairy tale for later. The article about the seven metals story I already wrote but am at the moment working on it's English translation. Wait for it, it's worth it. :)

 

Note: There exist a types of singing bowls which come from Japan, Korea and China and are traditionaly connected to Zen but you won't find those here. I am interested only in the so called Tibetan/Himalayan singing bowls.

This type of singing bowl is original, very elegant and thanks to its thin walls light. Given its light weight its perfect for treating migranes. Ramgondi bowl being resonanted by rubbing the rim can generate a rather intense sound but when struck hums sweetly. Its unusual design will make any singing bowl collector very happy.

 

These bowls are on offer at about 1400 grams with diameter sizes of around 24 cm. Price is 2,30 CZK per gram.

Bengali bowls are available in matt (antique look) or polished versions. These bowls can be called a 'classic' among the singing bowls since they are generaly well known and are available in various shapes and sizes in many shops around the world. Same style is being sold as 'Nepalese'. No wonder it is so popular, its sound is breathtaking.

 

Bengali bowls are available at about 1500 grams with diameter sizes of 24 cm. Price is 2,20 CZK per gram.

Jhumka singing bowls are available in matt (antique look) and polished versions. Thanks to its elegant decoration these bowls resembe antique singing bowl which are, many times, decorated in similar, very delicate ways. These robust bowls with thick walls generate beautiful creamy sounds and have a carry a very long fade-out. Jhumkas are a heavy weight of any collection.

 

Jhumka singing bowls are available at around 1500 g and 1800 grams with diameter sizes between 23 and 25 cm. Price is 2,50 CZK per gram.

Peter Hess singing bowls have thiner walls than a usual singing bowl. Is due to extra beating which results in them having much harder walls. Thanks to this characteristic tese bowls resonate much longer and more intensely than a usual singing bowl would. Never mind if you struck it or rub it, this bowl will stun you with its sound.

 

Peter Hess singing bowls are available at 1300 and 1570 grams with diameter sizes between 24 and 26 cm. Price is 3 CZK per gram.

 

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