The bass sitar (Hindi/Sanskrit: सितार्, Urdu/ ستار) is a plucked stringed instrument. It uses sympathetic strings along with a lond rod and a gourd resonating chamber to produce a very harsh sound. Predominantly used in Hindustani classical, sitar has been ubiquitous in Hindustani classical music since the Middle Ages. This instrument is used throughout the Indian subcontinent.

Etymology and history

The Sitar is derived from the Veena family of Indian musical instruments. Its name most probably came from the Persian instrument called "Setar", which is from the saz family of instruments. An older Indian instrument called the Rudra Veena resembles the sitar in some important respects, most notably in the use of gourd resonators. Dr. Lalmani Misra in his book, Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya traced Sitar to Tri-tantri Veena which came to be popularly known as Jantra during the medieval period.

The Persian Setar and Indian Sitar are similar in name only, the former being of the "saz" family and resembling the Tambar, and the latter being of the "Veena" family. The styles of playing, as well as the music, are completely different. One is based on the "makams" or middle eastern modes of which there are approx 1,200 known and the other is based on the "ragas" of which about 2,000 known. These two instruments should not be confused.

The sitar first became popular in the Western world when Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison used it in a few Beatles songs, including "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," "Love You To," and "Within You Without You." Harrison was inspired, and later taught, by sitar player Ravi Shankar. The Rolling Stones also made the sitar popular by its use in the song "Paint It, Black". More recently, Ry Cooder has played sitar on recordings with John Hiatt.

Sitar mechanics

A distinctive feature of the sitar are the curved frets, which are movable (allowing fine variation in tuning) and raised (so that resonant strings can run underneath the frets). A typical sitar has 18, 19 or 20 strings (depending on the style) — of which 6 (in the Vilayat Khan style) or 7 (in the Ravi Shankar style) are playable strings, which are situated over the frets. Three of these strings (called chikari) provide the drone and the rest are used to play the melody, though most of the notes of the melody are played on the first string (called the baj tar). The sitar also has 11, 12 or 13 sympathetic strings or tarbs (A.K.A. "tarif" or "tarifdar" ) running underneath the frets.

The instrument has 2 bridges; the main bridge (the bada goraj) for the playing and drone strings and a smaller, secondary bridge (the chota goraj) for the sympathetic strings that run beneath the main strings. The sitar may or may not have a secondary resonator, the tumba, near the top of its hollow neck. The sitar's distinctive sound is a result of the way the strings interact with the wide, sloping bridge. This is in contrast to the bridge on a guitar which resembles a knife edge. In a sitar, as a string vibrates, its length changes slightly as its edge touches the bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive, rich tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called "jawari". Adjusting the jawari requires great skill. Many professional musicians will rely on professional instrument makers to perform this task. For years, Ravi Shankar toured the West with his sitar maker so that the tone of his sitar was always perfectly adjusted.

The materials used in construction include teak wood or tun wood (Cedrela tuna), which is similar to mahogony, for the neck and faceplate, and gourds for the kaddu (the main resonating chamber). The instrument's bridges are made of deer horn, ebony, or very occasionally from camel bone or elephant ivory.

Tuning

The tuning of a sitar varies depending on sitarists school or style. Generally, the main playing string is tuned to C# or D, and the drone strings are tuned to the equivalent of an open major or minor chord in Western music theory. The specific tuning for each raga is determined by tradition and each artist's personal preference. The sympathetic strings are tuned to the notes of the raga being played, although there is slight stylistic variance as to the order of these. The player will usually re-tune the sitar for each raga.

The strings are tuned by turning the pegs that hold the strings. The main playing strings are fine-tuned by sliding a bead fit around each string.

It may be rather difficult to tune a sitar. Not only because of the numerous strings (a typical electric guitar only has six strings) or the lack of geared mechanical tuners (sitar tuning pegs are wood cylinders that are chalked and tightened into a hole like traditional western classical music instruments such as the cello), but also because there are many different tunings, each based on the cadre of traditional and emerging tonal patterns or on the music of eminently influential sitar players.

In one or more of the more common tunings (used by Ravi Shankar, among others, called "Kharaj Pancham" Sitar) the strings are queer in this fashion: The Chikari, Sa (high) Sa (middle) Pa. The Kharaj strings (bass strings) Sa (low) Pa. Then "jod" and "baaj" string, Sa and Ma. When playing a Vilayat Khan Sitar (or "Gandhar Pancham" Sitar), the bass or "kharaj" strings are removed and in their place is a 4th Chikari which is tuned to Ga, when playing the chikari you produce a chord (Sa, Sa, Pa, Ga). The sympathetic strings (tarif) are tuned depending on the raga, although for most purposes, they are tuned: Sa, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, (last three in the upper range). If you were to tune it to rag Kafi for example you use tune as follows: Sa, ni (lower case denotes flat or, more properly, "komal") Sa, Re, ga, Ga (Shuddh ("natural"), considering that in Kafi you will come to Shuddh Ga when descending or "Avarohi"), ma, Pa, Dha, ni, Sa, Re, ga. Whereas, in ragini Yaman Kaylan you will tune the Tarifs to Sa, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, ma (Yaman Kaylan asks for a sharp, or more properly, "tivra" Ma, but often will touch shuddh ma on the descent or "Avarohi"), Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga. Again, however, there is a lot of stylistic variance to these tunings. An artist will develop a particular tuning for a particular piece and it may be totally idiosyncratic. There is no guarantee that other musicians will choose the same tuning even if they perform the same raga.

Playing

The dominant hand is used to pluck the string using a metallic puck or plectrum called the mezrab. When playing sitar, the thumb of the plucking hand should stay anchored on the top part of the fretboard just above the main gourd. The instrument should be balanced between the player's left foot and right knee. The hands should move freely without having to carry any of the instrument's weight. Generally only the index and middle fingers of the left are used for fingering although a few players occasionally use the third.

Learning to play

Traditional approaches to learning the sitar involve a long period of apprenticeship under the tutelage of a master during which the apprentice would accompany the master with a tambura, providing a droning chord harmony for the sitar's melody. Nowadays it is possible to purchase books and videos to assist home learning.

Learning to play the sitar is a difficult process. The entire 3-octave range of the instrument is achieved by sliding the index finger of the left hand up and down the neck of the sitar over a single melody string, while the mizrab on the index finger of the right hand strikes the string. Thus it demands a very high degree of technical mastery to play even simple melodies with clarity and accuracy. It is also a rather painful process for the beginner until the hard calluses and black grooves on the tips of the index and middle finger, which typify the sitar player, begin to develop. A specialised technique called "meend" involves pulling the main melody string down over the bottom portion of the sitar's curved frets, with which the sitarist can achieve a 7 semitone range of microtonal notes.

Variants

Surbahar is a larger Sitar with broader fret-board and thicker strings. It has a deeper tonal quality and the agile finger work characteristic of Sitar is not possible on this. A recent variant is Ranjan Veena which tries to emulate the sound of sitr but uses the technique of slide guitar.

Digital representations

Patch number 105 in the General MIDI Level 1 Instrument Patch Map^[1] is specified as a sitar. The accuracy of the sound produced by a General MIDI tone generator will vary from model to model. Also, due to additional frequencies generated by the interaction between the main strings and drone strings on the acoustic instrument, any accurately synthesized model would have to be extremely complex.

References

See also

• Electric sitar
• Sitar in popular music
• Sitar in jazz
• Surbahar
• Hiren Roy

External links

• A knowledge base on Sitar
• International sitar learning and information website (sitar.co.za)
• Origin of Sitar
• Nay-Nava the encyclopedia of Persian music instruments
• Hindustani Music Resources
• Information on the Sitar
• More about Sitar
• An on-line tutorial on Sitar for beginners
• Maintaining and repairing a sitar
• History and Origins of the Sitar
• Pictures and films of an electric sitar
• Web site for Rabindra Narayan Goswami (sitar) and A. Ramchandra Pandit (tabla).
• vimoksha - Indian classical music resources - Information on Indian classical music, stringed instruments and Indian classical dance.
• Sitar FAQ