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Notoriously difficult to play, the sarangi (‘hundred-coloured instrument’) is a bowed box-lute with a strikingly vocalistic sound

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–Raga instruments (full list)–

• Home | Megalist | Search •

—Kamal Sabri (Pilu)—

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“The sarangi is the black sheep of Indian music: the most difficult instrument, and the lowest status. It was a rural folk instrument, and came into the classical world in the 18th century as courtesans needed it to accompany singing and dance. It was the most popular instrument in the 19th-century, because every brothel had sarangi players. But in the 20th century, they became marginalised, and excluded from mainstream classical music. In the words of Ustad Abdul Latif Khan, ‘[courtesan] women have kept this music alive for the last 400 years’ – that’s something that’s been whitewashed, both in the West but specifally in India. Everyone wants to think of it as a kind of spiritual music that was played in the temples. There was court music; but in many cases male musicians who were idolised actually existed to teach the women how to sing. When India moved towards independence, it was felt that there should be a classical music tradition, and so they tried to create a ‘pure’ Hindu art…and ordnances were passed which gradually repressed the courtesan tradition. Muslims were discriminated against, and sarangi players were discriminated against by association…” (Nicolas Magriel)

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—Sarangi Basics—

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[COMING SOON: click here to hasten the project’s expansion, so all 365+ raga pages can eventually look more like these]

(Bundu Khan / Abdul Latif Khan / Ram Narayan)

 

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• Notable performers: Bharat Bhushan Goswami (1955-), Aruna Narayan (1959-), Dhruba Ghosh (1957-2017), Ramesh Mishra (1948-2017), Sultan Khan (1940-2011), Moinuddin Khan (?-?), Abdul Latif Khan (1934-2002), Sabri Khan (1927-2015), Ram Narayan (1927-), Nathu Khan (1920-1971), Bundu Khan (1880-1955)

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—Bharat Bhushan Goswami (Bihag)—

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• Get started with learning raga! •

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—Classifiers—

• Form: bowed box-lute with up to 37 strings, pitch-controlled with the upside of the finger
• Origin: evolved from Islamic-imported folk lutes around the 17th century, and modified in the mid-19th century
• Scale length: ~380mm (~15”)
• Range: variable (often a little over 2 octaves)
• Sa pitch: Most exponents tune to around D# for solo recitals (although artists tend to ‘relocate Sa‘ to their Pa string when accompanying female vocalists, thus rendering it closer to A#) [see my Survey of Sa Tunings for more].

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—Setup—

• Tuning:

(as per Nabeel Khan’s excellent demo)

• More Info •

• T: t
• https://india.serenademagazine.com/know-your-instrument/exploring-the-sarangi-construction-tuning-and-left-hand-technique/

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—Dhruba Ghosh demo—

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Q

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• Hindustani Instruments: Anandi | Bansuri | Bass-Veena | Bazantar | Bulbul Tarang | Cello | Chaturangi | Dilruba | Electric Guitar | Esraj | Fretless Guitar | Harmonium | Jal Tarang | Jori | Mandolin | Mohan Veena | Nal Tarang | Pakhawaj | Piano | Rabab | Rudra Veena | Sagar Veena | Santoor | Sarangi | Sarod | Saxophone | Shehnai | Sitar | Surbahar | Sursagar | Sursingar | Swarmandal | Tabla | Tabla Tarang | Tanpura | Tar Shehnai | Taus | Vichtra Veena | Violin

–Survey of Sa tunings–