The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Indian classical music. It derives its resonance from sympathetic strings, a long hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber.
Used widely throughout the Indian subcontinent, the sitar became known in the western world through the work of Ravi Shankar beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s after The Kinks' top 10 single "See My Friends" featured a low tuned drone guitar which was widely mistaken to be the instrument.[1] The sitar saw further use in popular music after The Beatles featured the sitar in their compositions, namely "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" and "Within You Without You". Their use of the instrument came as a result of George Harrison's taking lessons on how to play it from Shankar and Shambhu Das.[2] Shortly after, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones used a sitar in "Paint It, Black" and a brief fad began for using the instrument in pop songs.The sitar's curved frets are movable, allowing fine tuning, and raised so that sympathetic strings (tarb, also known as "taarif" or "tarafdaar") can run underneath them. A sitar can have 21, 22, or 23 strings, among them six or seven played strings which run over the frets: the Gandhaar-pancham sitar (used by Vilayat Khan and his disciples) has six playable strings, whereas the Kharaj-pancham sitar, used in the Maihargharana, to which Ravi Shankar belongs, and other gharanas such as Bishnupur, has seven. Three of these (or four on a Ghandar-pancham sitar or "Vilayat Khan" style aka Etawa gharana), called the chikaari, simply provide a drone: the rest are used to play the melody, though the first string (baajtaar) is most used.
The instrument has two bridges; the large bridge (badaa goraa) for the playing and drone strings and the small bridge (chota goraa) for the sympathetic strings. Its timbre results from the way the strings interact with the wide, sloping bridge. As a string reverberates its length changes slightly as its edge touches the bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called jawari. Many musicians rely on instrument makers to adjust this.
Materials used in construction include teak wood or tun wood (Cedrela tuna), which is a variation of mahogany, for the neck and faceplate (tabli), andgourds for the kaddu (the main resonating chamber). The instrument's bridges are made of deer horn, ebony, or very occasionally from camel bone. Synthetic material is now common as well. The sitar may have a secondary resonator, the tumbaa, near the top of its hollow neck.
[edit]Sitar construction styles
Sitar has been derived from the Persian word "Seh-Tar". "Seh" means three in Persian and "Tar" means strings. There are two popular modern styles of sitar, and they are offered in a variety of sub-styles and decoration patterns. The two popular styles are the "gayaki style" sitars (sometimes called "Vilayat Khan style sitars") and the full decorated "instrumental style" sitars (sometimes called "Ravi Shankar style sitars"). The gayaki style sitar is mostly of seasoned toon wood, with very little or total absent carved decorations. It often has a dark polish. The inlay decorations are mostly of mother of pearl (imitation). The number of sympathetic strings is often limited to eleven but may also feature thirteen. Jawari grinding styles are also different as is the thickness of the "tabli" (soundboard).The other type of sitar, the instrumental style, is most often made of seasoned toon wood, but sometimes made of (Burma) teak wood. It is often fitted with a second small tumba (pumpkin or pumpkin like wood replica) on the neck. This style is mostly full decorated, with floral or grape carvings and celluloidinlays with colored (often brown or red and black floral or arabesque patterns. It typically has thirteen sympathetic strings. It is said, that the best Burma teak sitar are made from teak that has been seasoned for generations. Therefore instrument builders are on the look for old Burma teak that was used in old colonial style villas as whole trunk columns for their special sitar constructions. The sources of very old seasoned wood are a highly guarded trade secret and sometimes a mystery.
There exist a variety of additional sub styles and cross mixes os styles in sitar, according to the customers preferences. Most important there are some differences (preferences) in the positioning of sympathetic (Taraf) string pegs (see photo). Amongst all sitar styles there are student styles, beginner models, semi-pro styles, pro-models, master models, and so on. The prices are often determined by the manufacturers name and not by looks alone or used material. Some sitars by certain manufacturers fetch very high collectible prices. Most notable are older Rikhi Ram (Delhi) and older Hiren Roy (Kolkata) sitars depending upon which master built the instrument by hand.
Though not technically a sitar, the electric sitar is a guitar with a special bridge, known as the "buzz bridge", and sympathetic strings, to mimic the sitar. It has 6 strings and lacks movable frets, and is played the same as the guitar, except with a more "exotic" musical style.
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