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File:Sitar-1927.jpg
Premla Shahane playing a sitar, 1927

The sitar (Urdu/Template:PerB ṣītār, Hindi: िसतार्) is probably the best-known South Asian instrument in the West. A Hindustani classical stringed instrument, it utilizes sympathetic strings along with a gourd resonating chamber to produce a very lush sound. The sitar has been ubiquitous in Hindustani classical music since the Middle Ages.


The MIDI Sitar

The sitar takes the place of 105 on MIDI synthesizers. This digital instrument is fairly accurate to the sound of an authentic sitar.

Etymology and history

Woman with a sitar

The name sitar sanskrit and means "thirty strings". A similar instrument, the setar, is used to this day in Iran and Afghanistan, and the original Persian name is still used. Both instruments are most likely derived from the Turkish tanbûr, which is a long, lute-like instrument with no gourd resonating chamber. Both the tembûr and sehtar were used in pre-Islamic Persia and also used in Turkey today. Alternatively, an older Indian instrument called the rudra veena resembles the sitar in some important respects, most notably in the use of gourd resonators. It is possible that the sitar is actually derived from this instrument, or that the modern sitar is an amalgamation of the two. Dr. Lalmani Misra in his book, Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya traced Sitar to ancient Tri-tantri Veena which came to be popularly known as Jantra during the medieval period.

The sitar shown in this photo at right is not a Persian sitar. They are similar in name only, the Persian sitar being of the "saz" family and the Indian sitar being of the "veena" family. Both the styles of playing as well as the musical are completely different. One is based on the "makams" or middle eastern modes of which there are approx 1,200 known and the other is based on the "ragas" of which about 2,000 known.

Their joint origin is thought to be somewhere around present day Azerbaijan from which the makams were historically located and were picked up by the Arabs when they came north and which flowed out to India south. Let's not confuse these two instruments.

The sitar first became popular in the West when The Beatles used it in many songs, including "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "Across the Universe", "Love You To", "Tomorrow Never Knows", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Within You Without You". Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison was inspired, and later taught, by sitar player Ravi Shankar. The Rolling Stones also made the sitar popular by its use in the song "Paint It, Black".

Sitar Mechanics

An etching of an Indian man playing a sitar, 18th century

A distinctive feature of the sitar are the curved frets, which are movable (allowing fine variation in tuning) and raised (so that resonant, or sympathetic, strings can run underneath the frets, giving a very lush sound). A typical sitar has 18, 19 or 20 strings (depending on the style) — of which 6 (in the Vilayat Khan style) or 7 (in the Ravi Shankar style) are playable strings, which are situated over the frets. Three of these strings (called chikari) provide the drone and the rest are used to play the melody, though most of the notes of the melody are played on the first string (called the baj tar). The sitar also has 11, 12 or 13 sympathetic strings or tarbs (A.K.A. "tarif" or "tarifdar" ) running underneath the frets.

The instrument has 2 bridges; the main bridge (the bada goraj) for the playing and drone strings and a smaller, secondary bridge (the chota goraj) for the sympathetic strings that run beneath the main strings. The sitar may or may not have a secondary resonator, the tumba, near the top of its hollow neck. The sitar's distinctive sound is a result of the way the strings interact with the wide, sloping bridge. This is in contrast to the bridge on a guitar which resembles a knife edge. In a sitar, as a string vibrates, its length changes slightly as its edge touches the bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive, rich tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called "jawari". Adjusting the jawari requires great skill. Many professional musicians will rely on professional instrumental makers to perform this task. For years Ravi Shankar toured the West with his sitar maker so that the tone of his sitar was always perfectly adjusted. Many professional sitarists also travel with 2 bridges—one for daily wear practicing, and a fine tuned one for performing.

The materials used in construction include teak wood or tun wood (Cedrela tuna) for the neck and faceplate, and gourds for the kaddu (the main resonating chamber) and the aforementioned tumba. The instrument's bridges were formerly made of ivory, but today are made of camel bone or horn.

Tuning

The tuning of a sitar varies depending on sitarists school or style. Generally, the main playing string is tuned to C# or D, and the drone strings are tuned to the equivalent of an open major or minor chord in Western music theory. The specific tuning for each raga is determined by tradition and each artist's personal preference. The sympathetic strings are tuned to the notes of the raga being played, although there is slight stylistic variance as to the order of these. The player will usually re-tune the sitar for each raga.

The strings are tuned by turning the pegs that hold the strings. The main playing strings are fine-tuned by sliding a bead fit around each string.

It may be rather difficult to tune a sitar. Not only because of the numerous strings (a typical electric guitar only has six strings) or the lack of geared mechanical tuners (sitar tuning pegs are wood cylinders that are chalked and tightened into a hole like traditional western classical music instruments such as the cello), but also because there are many different tunings, each based on the cadre of traditional and emerging tonal patterns or on the music of eminently influential sitar players.

In one or more of the more common tunings (used by Ravi Shankar among others) the strings are tuned in this fashion: The Chikari, Sa (high) Sa (middle) Pa. The Kharaj strings (bass strings) Sa (low) Pa. Then, Sa and Ma. When playing a Vilayat Khan Sitar (or "Gayaki" Sitar), the bass strings are removed and in their place is a 4th Chikari which is tuned to Ga, when playing the chikari you produce a chord (Sa, Sa, Pa, Ga). The sympathetic strings (tarif) are tuned depending on the raga, although for most purposes, they are tuned: Sa, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, (last three in the upper range). If you were to tune it to rag Kafi for example you use tune as follows: Sa, ni (lower case denotes flat or, more properly, "komal") Sa, Re, ga, Ga (Shuddh ("natural"), considering that in Kafi you will come to Shuddh Ga when descending or "Avarohi"), ma, Pa, Dha, ni, Sa, Re, ga. Whereas, in ragini Yaman Kaylan you will tune the Tarifs to Sa, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga, ma (Yaman Kaylan asks for a sharp, or more properly, "tivra" Ma, but often will touch shuddh ma on the descent or "Avarohi"), Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa, Re, Ga. Again, however, there is a lot of stylistic variance to these tunings. An artist will develop a particular tuning for a particular piece and it may be totally idiosyncratic. There is no guarantee that other musicians will choose the same tuning even if they perform the same raga.

Learning to play

A sitar workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan

Traditional approaches to learning the sitar involve a long period of apprenticeship under the tutelage of a master during which the apprentice would accompany the master with a tambura, providing a droning chord harmony for the sitar's melody. Nowadays it is possible to purchase books and videos to assist home learning.

Learning to play the sitar is a difficult process. The entire 3-octave range of the instrument is achieved by sliding the index finger of the left hand up and down the neck of the sitar over a single melody string, while the mezrab on the index finger of the right hand strikes the string. Thus it demands a very high degree of technical mastery to play even simple melodies with clarity and accuracy. It is also a rather painful process for the beginner until the hard calluses and black grooves on the tips of the index and middle finger, which typify the sitar player, begin to develop. A specialised technique called "Meend" involves pulling the main melody string down over the bottom portion of the sitar's curved frets, with which the sitarist can achieve a 7 semitone range of microtonal notes.

Playing

The dominant hand is used to pluck the string using a metallic plectrum called the mezrab. When playing sitar, the thumb of the plucking hand should stay anchored on the top of the fretboard just above the main gourd. The instrument should be balanced between the player's left foot and right knee. The hands should move freely without having to carry any of the instrument's weight. Generally only the index and middle fingers of the left are used for fingering although a few players (like Anoushka Shankar) occasionally use the third.

See also

External links

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