Bachi

Bachi (桴, 枹) (also batchi) is the name for the straight, wooden sticks used to play Japanese taiko drums, and also (written 撥) the plectrum for stringed instruments such as the shamisen and biwa.

For percussion (桴/枹)

Drum bachi are made in a wide variety of sizes and materials, as appropriate to the drum it will be used to play. A typical bachi is about 22 mm (7/8 inches) in diameter, 400 mm (16 inches) long and made out of a hardwood such as oak. These would be suitable for a wide variety of playing styles.

A bachi for playing a larger drum like the O-daiko would be bigger both in circumference and length. Similarly, smaller bachi are used for smaller drums.

Distinctions between the characters 桴 and 枹 are not always made in technical terms, but 枹 can also literally refer to the white oak tree, or Quercus. Some other woods commonly used to make bachi are (Japanese names in parentheses): maple (楓, kaede), pine (松, matsu), cypress (檜, hinoki), magnolia (朴, hou/hō), beech (椈, buna) and bamboo (竹, take). Magnolia is one of the lightest and softest woods, most suitable for playing smaller drums with a sharp attack and less decay. On a larger drum, however, a magnolia bachi usually sounds "slappy" and flat, because it is too light to strike the thicker head of the drum with enough power to generate the lower tones of the drum. It is also too soft to strike the rim of the drum (in kuchi shoka, it is called a "ka") without denting the wood. Cypress is slightly harder than magnolia, and is usually cheaper as well. On the opposite extreme, an evergreen oak (樫, kashi) bachi is heavy and hard. It brings out a better, fuller sound when playing larger taiko, but it muffles the higher harmonics of smaller taiko, sounding "thunky" and dead.

Bachi (film)

Bachi is a 2000 Telugu-language produced by Chanti Addala on Srinivasa Arts banner, directed by Puri Jagannadh. Starring Jagapathi Babu, Neelambari, Master Teja in lead roles & Prakash Raj in pivotal role and music composed by Chakri. The film recorded as flop at box-office. This is first debut of Chakri as music director.

Plot

A police officer in the special branch, Bhaskar Chenmai alias Bachi (Jagapathi Babu) one day receives a boy Habibi (Master Teja) in a courier from Dubai. Claiming that his mother had told him that Jagapati Babu is his father, the boy starts addressing him father. The uncomfortable Bachi tries various methods to get rid of the boy, but his ways serve only to get him drawn towards the boy and become friends ultimately. Meanwhile, Bachi falls in love with Venkata Lakshmi (Neelambari) who gets annoyed at seeing the boy in Bachi's house. The former manages to convince the fuming Venkata Lakshmi that the boy is not his son and so the matter ends there although it crops up now and then in their discussions. Meanwhile, Bachi is the chief security officer for Tatineni Koteswara Rao (Prakash Raj), the Rs 50-crore winner of the Paris lottery. But Bachi's search for the boy continues and he manages to nail the father by his name, Bachi (Prthuvi Raj) and arrests him. But is he the real villain of the piece?