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Revered for its physical challenges, the huge, ancestral ‘bass sitar’ allows for sweeping bends and powerful, deep-toned sustain

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–Raga instruments (full list)–

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—Kushal Das (Patdeep)—

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“The surbahar appeared in the early 19th century. It is said that the musicians of the Senia lineage were not supposed to teach the veena or rabab to any outsider. Thus, talented students who did not belong to this bloodline could not learn these styles. According to some, beenkar Umrao Khan of Lucknow, who belonged to Tansen’s tradition, had a large sitar made, in order to teach the [Senia] jor–alap to his favourite students – and named it ‘surbahar’ [‘springtime of notes’]…For a short while, it was common practice for musicians to elaborate the alap of Dhrupad-ang on a surbahar, and then present the gat on a sitar…Because of the wide fingerboard, the string has an exceptional capacity to be stretched, and the resonance and sustain is greater than that of a sitar. Like when playing the rudra veena, the player wears two plectrums, and only inward-picking is done. The accompanying percussion instrument is mostly the pakhawaj…” (Suneera Kasliwal)

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—Surbahar 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]

(Enayat, Imdad, & Wahid Khan with their surbahars)

 

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• Notable performers: Irshad Khan (1963-), Kushal Das (1959-), Budhaditya Mukherjee (1955-), Pushparaj Koshti (1950-), Imrat Khan (1935-2018), Annapurna Devi (1927-2018), Wahid Khan (?-?), Enayet Khan (1894-1938), Imdad Khan (1848-1920)

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—Budhaditya Mukherjee (Jhinjhoti)—

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• Get started with learning raga! •

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—Classifiers—

• Form: 19-string fretted lute, plucked with a wire plectrum
• Origin: adapted from proto-sitars of the Senia lineage around the early 19th century
• Scale length: ~950mm (~37.5”)
• Range: up to ~4 octaves (depending on stringing)
• Sa pitch: Usually around a low G# (~5 semitones below a sitar): with Imdadkhani surbaharyas such as Imrat Khan and Budhaditya Mukherjee tending towards G/G#, and Maihar exponents including Annapurna Devi and Kushal Das preferring the A just above it (although one particular ‘giant surbahar‘ model seems to be rooted all the way down at low F2!) [see my Survey of Sa Tunings for more].

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—Setup—

• Tuning:

(see stringing detail on the Surbahars site)

• More Info •

• Kushal Das: surbahar history:

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—Kushal Das: surbahar history—

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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–