A sarod.

The sarod or sarode (Hindi: सरोद; Bengali: সরোদ) is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of Scriptures part of the Hindu tradition the Vedas. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in Hindustani (north Indian)classical music. The sitar ( Hindi: सितार Urdu: ستار Persian: سی تار) is a Plucked stringed instrument. The sarod is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound (contrast with the sweet, extremely rich texture of the sitar). The tonal quality somewhat resembles the classical guitar, particularly at the lower notes, though in the higher ranges the sound is less rich than the guitar. It is a fretless instrument like almost all other Indian instruments, since Indian music depends extensively (in some cases almost entirely) on continuous slides between notes, known as meend (glissando). " Glissando " (plural glissandi abbreviated gliss is a glide from one pitch to another

Origins

Tejendra Narayan Majumdar playing a sarod (2008).

The Sarod is believed to be of Persian descent, as the name Sarod means "beautiful sound" in Farsi. Many scholarly and anecdotal accounts also consider the ancestral source of the sarod to be the rubab, a similar instrument originating in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Rubab or Robab ( Rūbāb, Hindi: रुबाब is a Lute -like musical instrument from Afghanistan. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, The sarod is essentially a bass rebab. Bass (pronounced like the word "base" refers to a variety of Musical instruments that can be collectively regarded as bass instruments since they produce ^[1] The rebab was modified by Amir Khusru in the 13th century. Dr Lalmani Misra opines in his Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya that the sarod is an amalgamation of the ancient chitra veena, the medieval rebab and modern sursingar. Dr Lalmani Misra ( August 11, 1924 - July 17, 1979) MA PhD D Mus Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya (Indian Musical Instruments is a book (ISBN 81-263-0727-7 written by Dr Veena (also spelled 'vina' Kannada: ವೀಣ Malayalam: വീണ Tamil: வீணா Telugu: వీణ is a Plucked stringed

Amjad Ali Khan’s ancestor Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash, a musician and horsetrader, who came to India with the Afghan rebab in the mid-1700s and became a court musician to the Maharajah of Rewa (now in Madhya Pradesh). Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is a highly acclaimed Indian Sarod player and Composer. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Rewa ( Hindi:रीवा is a town in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh (abbreviated as MP) ( Hindī: मध्य प्रदेश pronounced, Translation: Middle Province) often It was his descendants, and notably his grandson Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash who became a court musician in Gwalior, who gradually transformed the rabab into the sarod we know today. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Gwalior ( Hindi: ग्वालियर) is a city in Madhya Pradesh in India ^[2]. A parallel, but equally credible theory credits descendants of Madar Khan (1701-1748), and Niyamatullah Khan in particular, with the same innovation circa 1820. It is possible that Ghulam Ali Khan and Niyamatullah Khan came to the similar design propositions either independently or in unacknowledged collaboration. The sarod in its present recognizable form dates back to c. 1820, when it started gaining recognition as a serious instrument in Rewa, Shahjahanpur, Gwalior and Lucknow. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Shahjahanpur is a district and a Municipal board in the Indian state of Uttar Lucknow is also a mansion in New Hampshire Lucknow ( लखनऊ لکھنؤ Lakhnaū) is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh In the twentieth century, the sarod received some finishing touches from Allauddin Khan, the performer-pedagogue from Maihar best known as Ravi Shankar's guru. Allauddin Khan ( Bangla: ওস্তাদ আলাউদ্দীন খান also known as Baba Allauddin Khan) (1862 &ndash 1972 was a Bengali WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Maihar (मैहर is a city and a Municipality in Satna district in the Indian Pandit Ravi Shankar ( রবি শংকর Devanagari: रविशंकर "Pandit" ( Sanskrit, "learned" is honorific born April A guru (गुरु গুরু is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge wisdom and authority in a certain area and uses it to guide others None of the three theories of the origin of the Sarod have credible historic documentation, and are more speculative than concrete theories.

Design

The design of the instrument depends on the school (gharana) of playing. In Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization linking musicians or dancers by lineage and/or apprenticeship and by adherence to a particular There are three distinguishable types, discussed below.

• The conventional sarod is an 18 to 19-stringed lute-like instrument — four to five main strings used for playing the melody, one or two drone strings, two chikari strings and ten to eleven sympathetic strings. A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a Musical instrument that produces Sound by means of Vibrating strings In the Hornbostel-Sachs The design of this early model is generally credited to Niyamatullah Khan of the Lucknow Gharana as well as Ghulam Ali Khan of the Gwalior-Bangash Gharana. Among the contemporary sarod players, this basic design is kept intact by two streams of sarod playing. Amjad Ali Khan and his disciples play this model, as do the followers of Radhika Mohan Maitra. Both Amjad Ali Khan and Buddhadev Dasgupta have introduced minor changes to their respective instruments which have become the design templates for their followers. Both musicians use sarods made of teak wood, with the playing face covered with goat skin. The domestic goat ( Capra aegagrus hircus) is a subspecies of goat Domesticated from the Wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe Buddhadev Dasgupta prefers a polished stainless steel fingerboard for the ease of maintenance while Amjad Ali Khan uses the conventional chrome or nickel-plated cast steel fingerboard. Visually, the two variants are similar, with six pegs in the main pegbox, two rounded chikari pegs and 11 (Amjad) to 15 (Buddhadev) sympathetic strings. The descendants of Niyamatullah Khan (namely Irfan Khan and Ghulfam Khan) also play similar instruments. The followers of Radhika Mohan Maitra still carry the second resonator on their sarods. Amjad Ali khan and his followers rejected the resonator altogether.
• Another type is that designed by Allauddin Khan and his brother Ayet Ali Khan. Allauddin Khan ( Bangla: ওস্তাদ আলাউদ্দীন খান also known as Baba Allauddin Khan) (1862 &ndash 1972 was a Bengali This instrument, referred by David Trasoff (Trasoff, 2000) as the 1934 Maihar Prototype, is larger and longer than the conventional instrument, though the fingerboard is identical to the traditional sarod described above. This instrument has 25 strings in all. These include four main strings, four jod strings (tuned to Ni or Dha, R/r, G/g and Sa respectively), two chikari strings (tuned to Sa of the upper octave) and fifteen tarab strings. In Music, an octave ( is the the use of which is "common in most musical systems The main strings are tuned to Ma ("fa"), Sa ("do"), lower Pa ("so") and lower Sa, giving the instrument a range of three octaves. The Maihar sarod lends itself extremely well to the presentation of alap with the four jod strings providing a backdrop that helps usher in the ambience of the raga. This variant is, however, not onducive to the performance of clean right-hand picking on individual strings.

Sarod strings are made either of steel or phosphor bronze. Steel is an Alloy consisting mostly of Iron, with a Carbon content between 0 Phosphor bronze is an Alloy of Copper with 35 to 10% of Tin and a significant Phosphorus content of up to 1% Most contemporary sarod players use Roslau, Schaff or Precision brand music wire. The strings are plucked with a triangular plectrum (java) made of polished coconut shell, ebony, Delrin (TM) or other materials such as bone. Often called a pick or plec, a plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. The Coconut Palm ( Cocos nucifera) is a member of the Family Arecaceae (palm family Bones are rigid organs that form part of the Endoskeleton of Vertebrates They function to move support and protect the various organs of the body produce

Playing

The lack of frets and the tension of the strings makes it very technically demanding to play, as the strings must be pressed hard against the fingerboard. In Physics String Tension is the magnitude of the pulling force exerted by a string cable chain or similar object on another object

There are two schools of sarod playing. One involves using the tip of one's fingernails to stop the strings; certain strength and stiffness of the fingernails is a prerequisite for accuracy of pitch. The other uses a combination of the nail and the fingertip to stop the strings against the fingerboard. ^[2] The technique which uses the fingernails produces a ringing tone, while the fingertip technique produces a flatter tone.

Well known sarod players

Senior performers: past and present

Ustad Alauddin Khan

Notes

References