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Sarod

April 22, 2023

The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments.[1] It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet, overtone-rich texture of the sitar, with sympathetic strings that give it a resonant, reverberant quality. A fretless instrument, it can produce the continuous slides between notes known as meend (glissandi), which are important in Indian music.[2]

A 19th century sarod, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Origins

Historical instruments
 
Iranian style rubab from the 13th century C.E., found in Rayy (near Tehran, Iran).
 
Kushan Empire, 1st to 3rd century. Lute or vina, from the Yusufzai district near Peshawar. Greco Buddhist (Gandhara School). Resembles rubab, sarod and tungna.
 
Mongolian lute, circa 1297, Tomb of Wang Qing, China

The word sarod, which comes from the Persian, is much older than the Indian musical instrument. It can be traced back to sorūd meaning "song", "melody", "hymn" and further to the Persian verb sorūdan, which correspondingly means "to sing", "to play a musical instrument", but also means "to compose".[3]

Alternatively, the shahrud may have given its name to the sarod.[4] The Persian word šāh-rūd is made up of šāh (shah or king) and rūd (string).[5]

Many scholars of Indian classical music believe that the sarod is a combination of the ancient chitravina, the medieval Indian rabab (aka the seniya rabab[6]) and modern sursingar. Some scholars contend that a similar instrument may have existed about two thousand years ago in ancient India during the ages of the Gupta kings. In fact, a Gupta period coin depicts the great king Samudragupta playing a veena, which many believe to be the precursor of the sarod. The present Indian Traces of similar Rabab style instruments can also be found in southern India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, where it is known as the swarbat. The folk rabab, an instrument popular in north India, had a wooden fingerboard, its strings were made of silk, cotton or gut, and it was played with a wooden pick. In history, reference is also made to a Sharadiya Veena from which the name Sarod have been derived. The sarod is also believed to have descended from the Afghan rubab, a similar instrument originating in Central Asia and Afghanistan.[7]

Although the sarod has been referred to as a "bass rubab"[8] its tonal bandwidth is actually considerably greater than that of the rubab, especially in the middle and high registers. Lalmani Misra opines in his Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya that the sarod is a combination of the ancient chitravina, the medieval rubab and modern sursingar. Another instrument, the sur-rabab, is known to exist, which has the characteristics of both the dhrupad rabab/seniya rabab and the sarod. The sur-rabab has the structure of the dhrupad rabab but has a metal fretboard and uses metal strings.

Among the many conflicting and contested histories of the sarod, there is one that attributes its invention to the ancestors of the present-day sarod maestro, Amjad Ali Khan. Amjad Ali Khan's ancestor Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash, a musician and horse trader, came to India with the Afghan rubab in the mid-18th century, and became a court musician to the Maharajah of Rewa (now in Madhya Pradesh). It was his descendants, notably his grandson Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash, a court musician in Gwalior, who changed the rubab into the sarod we know today.[9] A parallel theory credits descendants of Madar Khan, Niyamatullah Khan in particular, with the same innovation around 1820. The sarod in its present form dates back to approximately 1820, when it started gaining recognition as a serious instrument in Rewa, Shahjahanpur, Gwalior and Lucknow. In the 20th century, the sarod was improved significantly by Allauddin Khan and his brother Ayet Ali Khan. They increased the number of chikari (drone) strings and increased the number of tarafdar (sympathetic) strings. However, as is the case with most young, evolving instruments, much work remains to be done in the area of sarod luthiery in order to achieve reliable customization, and precise replication of successful instruments. This reflects the general state of Indian instrument-making in the present day.

Design

 
Sarod Micro tuners
 
A traditional hand crafted coconut shell sarod plectrum, also known as a Javva

The design of the instrument depends on the school (gharana) of playing. There are three distinguishable types:

The conventional sarod is a 17 to 25-stringed lute-like instrument—four to five main strings used for playing the melody, one or two drone strings, two chikari strings and nine to eleven sympathetic strings. 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, and a soundboard made of goat skin stretched across the face of the resonator. 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. Some of the followers of Radhika Mohan Maitra still carry the second resonator on their sarods. Amjad Ali Khan and his followers have rejected the resonator altogether. These instruments are typically tuned to B, which is the traditional setting.

Another type is that designed by Allauddin Khan and his brother Ayet Ali Khan. This instrument, referred to by David Trasoff as the 1934 Maihar Prototype,[10] is larger and longer than the conventional instrument, though the fingerboard is identical to the traditional sarod. 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. 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 for the ambiance of the raga. This variant is, however, not conducive to the performance of clean right-hand picking on individual strings. The instrument is typically tuned to C.

Sarod strings are either made of steel or phosphor bronze. Most contemporary sarod players use German or American-made strings, such as Roslau (Germany), Pyramid (Germany) and Precision (USA). The strings are plucked with a triangular plectrum (java) made of polished coconut shell, ebony, cocobolo wood, horn, cowbone, Delrin or other such materials. Early sarod players used plain wire plectrums, which yielded a soft, ringing tone.

Playing technique

The lack of frets and the tension of the strings make the sarod a very demanding instrument to play, as the strings must be pressed hard against the fingerboard.

There are two approaches to stopping the strings of the sarod. One involves using the tip of one's fingernails to stop the strings, and the other uses a combination of the nail and the fingertip to stop the strings against the fingerboard.[9]

Fingering techniques and how they are taught depends largely on the personal preferences of musicians rather than on the basis of school affiliation. Radhika Mohan Maitra, for example, used the index, middle and ring finger of his left hand to stop the string, just like followers of Allauddin Khan do. Maitra, however, made much more extensive use of the third fingernail for slides and hammers. Amjad Ali Khan, while a member of approximately the same stylistic school as Radhika Mohan, prefers to use just the index and middle fingers of his left hand. Amjad Ali is, however, pictured circa 1960 playing with all three fingers.

Notable sarodiyas

Deceased

  • Mohammad Amir Khan (1873–1934), Court Musician of Darbhanga and Rajshahi

Living

See also

References

  1. ^ "sarod · Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection". omeka1.grinnell.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
  2. ^ "Classical Indian Musician Amjad Ali Khan to Perform March 1 at FAC". Office of News & Media Relations. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
    - "ITC Sangeet Research Academy". www.itcsra.org. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
  3. ^ Heinrich FJ Junker; Bozorg Alavi (1970). Persisch-deutsches Wörterbuch [Persian-German dictionary] (in German). Leipzig/Tehran. p. 420.
  4. ^ McNeil, Adrian (2004). Inventing the Sarod: A Cultural History. London: Seagull Books. p. 27. ISBN 978-81-7046-213-2.
  5. ^ Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor (1913–1936). "Ud". In E.J. Brill (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 2. p. 987. ISBN 9004082654. rud is of Persian origin and the word, like tar, means a string
  6. ^ "The Story of Sursringar". Sursringar.
  7. ^ Miner, Allyn. 1993. Sitar and Sarod in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, International Institute for Traditional Music, Berlin.
  8. ^ Courtney, David. "Sarod". David and Chandrakantha Courtney. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
  9. ^ a b Broughton, Simon. . Archived from the original on November 18, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
  10. ^ Trasoff, 2000

Further reading

  • McNeil, A. (2005). Inventing the Sarod: A Cultural History. Seagull. ISBN 81-7046-213-4.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sarod.

April 22, 2023
sarod, sarod, stringed, instrument, used, hindustani, music, indian, subcontinent, along, with, sitar, among, most, popular, prominent, instruments, known, deep, weighty, introspective, sound, contrast, with, sweet, overtone, rich, texture, sitar, with, sympat. The sarod is a stringed instrument used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent Along with the sitar it is among the most popular and prominent instruments 1 It is known for a deep weighty introspective sound in contrast with the sweet overtone rich texture of the sitar with sympathetic strings that give it a resonant reverberant quality A fretless instrument it can produce the continuous slides between notes known as meend glissandi which are important in Indian music 2 A 19th century sarod at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Contents 1 Origins 2 Design 3 Playing technique 4 Notable sarodiyas 4 1 Deceased 4 2 Living 5 See also 6 References 7 Further readingOrigins EditHistorical instruments Iranian style rubab from the 13th century C E found in Rayy near Tehran Iran Kushan Empire 1st to 3rd century Lute or vina from the Yusufzai district near Peshawar Greco Buddhist Gandhara School Resembles rubab sarod and tungna Mongolian lute circa 1297 Tomb of Wang Qing China The word sarod which comes from the Persian is much older than the Indian musical instrument It can be traced back to sorud meaning song melody hymn and further to the Persian verb sorudan which correspondingly means to sing to play a musical instrument but also means to compose 3 Alternatively the shahrud may have given its name to the sarod 4 The Persian word sah rud is made up of sah shah or king and rud string 5 Many scholars of Indian classical music believe that the sarod is a combination of the ancient chitravina the medieval Indian rabab aka the seniya rabab 6 and modern sursingar Some scholars contend that a similar instrument may have existed about two thousand years ago in ancient India during the ages of the Gupta kings In fact a Gupta period coin depicts the great king Samudragupta playing a veena which many believe to be the precursor of the sarod The present Indian Traces of similar Rabab style instruments can also be found in southern India especially in the states of Tamil Nadu Kerala and Karnataka where it is known as the swarbat The folk rabab an instrument popular in north India had a wooden fingerboard its strings were made of silk cotton or gut and it was played with a wooden pick In history reference is also made to a Sharadiya Veena from which the name Sarod have been derived The sarod is also believed to have descended from the Afghan rubab a similar instrument originating in Central Asia and Afghanistan 7 Although the sarod has been referred to as a bass rubab 8 its tonal bandwidth is actually considerably greater than that of the rubab especially in the middle and high registers Lalmani Misra opines in his Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya that the sarod is a combination of the ancient chitravina the medieval rubab and modern sursingar Another instrument the sur rabab is known to exist which has the characteristics of both the dhrupad rabab seniya rabab and the sarod The sur rabab has the structure of the dhrupad rabab but has a metal fretboard and uses metal strings Among the many conflicting and contested histories of the sarod there is one that attributes its invention to the ancestors of the present day sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan Amjad Ali Khan s ancestor Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash a musician and horse trader came to India with the Afghan rubab in the mid 18th century and became a court musician to the Maharajah of Rewa now in Madhya Pradesh It was his descendants notably his grandson Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash a court musician in Gwalior who changed the rubab into the sarod we know today 9 A parallel theory credits descendants of Madar Khan Niyamatullah Khan in particular with the same innovation around 1820 The sarod in its present form dates back to approximately 1820 when it started gaining recognition as a serious instrument in Rewa Shahjahanpur Gwalior and Lucknow In the 20th century the sarod was improved significantly by Allauddin Khan and his brother Ayet Ali Khan They increased the number of chikari drone strings and increased the number of tarafdar sympathetic strings However as is the case with most young evolving instruments much work remains to be done in the area of sarod luthiery in order to achieve reliable customization and precise replication of successful instruments This reflects the general state of Indian instrument making in the present day Design Edit Sarod Micro tuners A traditional hand crafted coconut shell sarod plectrum also known as a Javva The design of the instrument depends on the school gharana of playing There are three distinguishable types The conventional sarod is a 17 to 25 stringed lute like instrument four to five main strings used for playing the melody one or two drone strings two chikari strings and nine to eleven sympathetic strings 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 and a soundboard made of goat skin stretched across the face of the resonator 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 Some of the followers of Radhika Mohan Maitra still carry the second resonator on their sarods Amjad Ali Khan and his followers have rejected the resonator altogether These instruments are typically tuned to B which is the traditional setting Another type is that designed by Allauddin Khan and his brother Ayet Ali Khan This instrument referred to by David Trasoff as the 1934 Maihar Prototype 10 is larger and longer than the conventional instrument though the fingerboard is identical to the traditional sarod 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 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 for the ambiance of the raga This variant is however not conducive to the performance of clean right hand picking on individual strings The instrument is typically tuned to C Sarod strings are either made of steel or phosphor bronze Most contemporary sarod players use German or American made strings such as Roslau Germany Pyramid Germany and Precision USA The strings are plucked with a triangular plectrum java made of polished coconut shell ebony cocobolo wood horn cowbone Delrin or other such materials Early sarod players used plain wire plectrums which yielded a soft ringing tone Playing technique EditThe lack of frets and the tension of the strings make the sarod a very demanding instrument to play as the strings must be pressed hard against the fingerboard There are two approaches to stopping the strings of the sarod One involves using the tip of one s fingernails to stop the strings and the other uses a combination of the nail and the fingertip to stop the strings against the fingerboard 9 Fingering techniques and how they are taught depends largely on the personal preferences of musicians rather than on the basis of school affiliation Radhika Mohan Maitra for example used the index middle and ring finger of his left hand to stop the string just like followers of Allauddin Khan do Maitra however made much more extensive use of the third fingernail for slides and hammers Amjad Ali Khan while a member of approximately the same stylistic school as Radhika Mohan prefers to use just the index and middle fingers of his left hand Amjad Ali is however pictured circa 1960 playing with all three fingers Notable sarodiyas EditDeceased Edit Mohammad Amir Khan 1873 1934 Court Musician of Darbhanga and Rajshahi Allauddin Khan Allauddin Khan 1862 1882 1972 Hafiz Ali Khan 1888 1972 Ali Akbar Khan 1922 2009 Jotin Bhattacharya 1926 2016 Bahadur Khan 1931 1989 Buddhadev Das Gupta 1933 2018 Dhyanesh Khan 1942 1990 Kalyan Mukherjea 1943 2010 Sakhawat Hussain 1877 1955 Sharan Rani Backliwal 1929 2008 Radhika Mohan Maitra 1917 1981 Vasant Rai 1942 1985 Shahadat Hossain Khan 1958 2020 Living Edit Rajeev Taranath b 1932 Aashish Khan b 1939 Amjad Ali Khan b 1945 Brij Narayan b 1952 Narendra Nath Dhar b 1954 Biswajit Roy Chowdhury b 1956 Vikash Maharaj b 1957 Tejendra Majumdar b 1961 Amaan Ali Khan b 1977 Ayaan Ali Khan b 1979 Abhisek Lahiri b 1983 Abanindra Maitra b 1953 Wajahat Khan Arnab Chakrabarty Soumik Datta Prithwidev Bhattacharyya Abhishek Borkar Debanjan Bhattacharjee Debasmita Bhattacharya Vishal Maharaj b 1986 Rajeeb Chakraborty Prattyush Banerjee Aayush Mohan b 1995 Rupa Neupane A Nepal Apratim MajumdarSee also EditHindustani classical music Music of India Plucked string instrument String instrumentsReferences Edit sarod Grinnell College Musical Instrument Collection omeka1 grinnell edu Retrieved 2019 10 13 Classical Indian Musician Amjad Ali Khan to Perform March 1 at FAC Office of News amp Media Relations Retrieved 2019 10 13 ITC Sangeet Research Academy www itcsra org Retrieved 2019 10 13 Heinrich FJ Junker Bozorg Alavi 1970 Persisch deutsches Worterbuch Persian German dictionary in German Leipzig Tehran p 420 McNeil Adrian 2004 Inventing the Sarod A Cultural History London Seagull Books p 27 ISBN 978 81 7046 213 2 Houtsma Martijn Theodoor 1913 1936 Ud In E J Brill ed Encyclopaedia of Islam Vol 2 p 987 ISBN 9004082654 rud is of Persian origin and the word like tar means a string The Story of Sursringar Sursringar Miner Allyn 1993 Sitar and Sarod in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries International Institute for Traditional Music Berlin Courtney David Sarod David and Chandrakantha Courtney Retrieved 2006 12 02 a b Broughton Simon Tools of the Trade Sarod Archived from the original on November 18 2006 Retrieved 2006 12 02 Trasoff 2000Further reading EditMcNeil A 2005 Inventing the Sarod A Cultural History Seagull ISBN 81 7046 213 4 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sarod Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sarod amp oldid 1149808950, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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