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An invention of Debashish Bhattacharya, the anandi is a 4-string lap-steel instrument adapted from the Hawaiian ukulele
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—Debashish Bhattacharya (demo)—
“The Anandi, the first ‘ukulele-slide guitar’. From old Bollywood songs, to flamenco, to Punjabi geet, to Western blues. Whenever I was travelling, I saw so many little instruments – baglama, charango, ukulele…Musicians from all over the world came to play with me, and I became inspired to create another slide – there were no other slide instruments of this size. When you make it so little [~14/16 inch scale length], and it is so high-pitched, you have more sparkle – giving you new genres to play. The tone is high and mid, with less bass…so it has high staccatos, but because of the slide bar, it can also produce the sound of the voice – making a mix of glides, rhythms, and songs…” (Debashish Bhattacharya: also the inventor of the chaturangi)
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An open-ended project seeking to bring North Indian raga closer to all who approach with open ears. Combines direct input from dozens of leading Hindustani artists with in-depth insights from music history, global theory, performance practice, cognitive science, and much more besides!
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George Howlett is a London-based musician, writer, and teacher (guitars, sitar, tabla, & santoor). Above all I seek to enthuse fellow sonic searchers, interconnecting fresh vibrations with the voices, cultures, and passions behind them. See Homepage for more, and hit me up for Lessons!
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