Sitar: The Instrument That Took Indian Classical Music to the World

1.1 What is the sitar?

The sitar is a plucked string instrument. It is the best-known instrument of Hindustani classical music, the classical music of North India.

It took its present form in the late-Mughal courts, between 1707 and 1858.

1.2 What are its main parts?

• The tumba is the big round resonator. It is made from a dried gourd or pumpkin.
• A second, smaller gourd sits at the top of the neck. It adds balance and some volume.
• The frets are curved and movable. They let the player tune finely.
• The strings run along a long neck, over a large bridge.

1.3 Does the sitar really have three strings?

Early sitars were long-necked lutes with three strings. A modern sitar has many more, so the old count is only history.

2.1 Which strings does the player pluck?

A sitar has 7 plucked strings. Three are chikari strings. They give a drone and a rhythm. The other four carry the melody.

2.2 What are sympathetic strings?

Under the main strings runs a second set, called taraf or sympathetic strings. The player does not pluck them.

They ring by themselves, through resonance, when the main strings sound. They are tuned to the notes of the raga. That gives the sitar its shimmery sound.

Sources count about 11 taraf strings, and some say 11 to 13. They were added late, around the end of the 19th century.

2.3 How many strings are there in all?

Sources disagree. Counts range from 18 to 23. So an exam answer should not depend on one total.

3.1 Did Amir Khusrau invent the sitar?

A popular story says the poet Amir Khusrau invented the sitar in the 13th century. The evidence does not support it.

His own writings name the barbat, rubab and tambur. They do not name the sitar. One scholar searched them and could not find the word.

3.2 Where is the sitar first recorded?

The first written mention is in a diary by Dargah Quli Khan. He lived in Delhi from 1737 to 1741.

The name is not firmly in use before the early 1700s.

3.3 Why did the legend spread?

Guidebooks and textbooks helped spread the story. A popular tale is not the same as a record.

4.1 What are gats?

A gat is a fixed composition played on the sitar. Two kinds are named after the musicians behind them.

• Masitkhani gats are slow (vilambit) and set in Teental. Masit Khan created this framework.
• Razakhani gats are fast (drut). Ghulam Raza Khan, a leading student of Masit Khan, is credited with them.

4.2 What is a gharana?

A gharana is a school or lineage of playing. Two matter most for the sitar.

Imdadkhani and Etawah are two names for one gharana.

4.3 Who were the Imdadkhani masters?

Imdad Khan played for Queen Victoria. He was the first sitarist to be recorded. He taught the sitar and surbahar to his sons.

Vilayat Khan was born on 28 August 1927 in Gauripur, now in Bangladesh. He brought gayaki ang, the singing style, to the sitar.

4.4 Who were the Maihar masters?

Allauddin Khan founded the Maihar gharana. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1958.

His pupil Nikhil Banerjee (1931 to 1986) won the Padma Shri in 1968 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1974. He received the Padma Bhushan after his death.

4.5 What is the surbahar?

The surbahar is a bass sitar with a much deeper sound. Imrat Khan, son of Enayat Khan, was its best-known master.

5.1 Who was Ravi Shankar?

Ravi Shankar began as a dancer in his brother Uday Shankar’s troupe. He then took up the sitar, in the Maihar school of Allauddin Khan.

He received the Padma Bhushan in 1967 and the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour. He won several Grammy awards. Sources give different counts, so avoid “five Grammys”.

5.2 How did the sitar reach the West?

George Harrison of the Beatles flew to Bombay on 14 September 1966 for lessons with Ravi Shankar. Shankar is credited with popularising the sitar in America.

He played at the Monterey Pop Festival, held from 16 to 18 June 1967.

5.3 What was the Concert for Bangladesh?

It was held on 1 August 1971 at Madison Square Garden in New York. It was Ravi Shankar’s idea. That weekend raised about $240,000, for UNICEF.

It pioneered the all-star charity concert.

His daughter Anoushka Shankar is also a Grammy-nominated sitarist.

6.1 Which facts do students mix up?

• The sitar has 7 plucked strings. The sympathetic strings are extra, and the total count varies.
• Masitkhani is slow. Razakhani is fast.
• Imdadkhani (Vilayat Khan) and Maihar (Ravi Shankar) are different gharanas.
• Harrison’s lessons began in 1966.

6.2 Which claims should you avoid?

Do not state that Amir Khusrau invented the sitar. Do not say Ravi Shankar won five Grammys. Do not call the Monterey Pop Festival a July event.