@wundayatta you play the dijeridu (did I spell it wrong above?)? Cool. I really don’t know anything about Kirtan but if you check out the Wikipedia article on drone music, including instruments, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(music)
It says drone is used:
”... in Indian music and is played with the tanpura (or tambura) and other Indian drone instruments like the ottu, the ektar, the dotara (or dotar; dutar in Persian Central Asia), the surpeti, the surmandal (or swarmandal) and the shank (conch shell).”
Apparently there are a lot of drone instruments used in Indian music. I didn’t realize there were so many different ones, actually I think the only one I’ve heard of is the tambura but maybe have heard or seen the others without realizing it. So, are any of those instruments used in Kirtan? Like said, I really don’t know anything about it.
I like to collect instruments too and now I have my mom’s instruments too. I can’t play a single one of them.