Loading... Please wait...

Due to recent currency fluctuations the prices of the products can be changed at any time

Product Description

At present the sitar is the most popular instrument in Hindustani music. The structure and tonal quality of the modern sitar is a result of several years of hard work and devotion put in by artists and craftsmen. Craftsmen of Calcutta need special mention for their contribution to the making of a structurally perfect instrument. The basic technical and physical principles of the sitar are just like those of the veena, but the sitar is easier to handle and is more portable. For centuries, the sitar has undergone a sea of transformation, and has improved beyond recognition. The twentieth century can be called the golden era of the sitar. Stalwarts like Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan, Nikhil Banerjee, Uma Shankar Misra, Abdul Haleem Jaffar Khan, Rais Khan and many others have carved a special niche for the instrument in the world of music. More than three hypotheses are prevalent among the musicologists regarding the origin of the sitar. Since none of these has been unanimously accepted, there has been a lot of confusion regarding its origin. Actually the subject needs thorough research, and before reaching any conclusion, all the points should be taken into consideration. The problem began when some people started giving credit of the sitar's 'invention' to the thirteenth century poet, Ameer Khusarau, of Allauddin Khilji's court. B.C. Deva says in one of his essays on organology, 'The problem is "acute" especially in the case of the sitar. No other lute has raised so much discussion with so little foundation. Perhaps the legend that the instrument was "invented" by Ameer Khusarau, was started by Captain Willard and Karam Imam. But recent studies have more than certainly established that Ameer Khusarau was not its "inventor". One wonders whether he was even aware of its existence?' It is a fact that Ameer Khusarau has not mentioned the name of sitar as a musical instrument in any of his works. Scholars and researchers unanimously support this point, but still this 'story' is so deep-rooted among the common folk that they would not believe otherwise. Some scholars who do not agree with the Khusarau hypothesis have tried to link it with the tritantriveena, which was called jantra by the common people, and was popular among the musicians of fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Tritantri means an instrument which has three strings (a variety of veena with three strings as described by Sharangadeva). Sehtar, in Persian also means an instrument with three strings (Seh = three and tar = strings). Prof. Lal Mani Misra proposes that when the Muslims came to India, they saw the tritantri veena and found it hard to pronounce tri. Thus they gave it a Persian name, sehtar, which gradually became sitar.

Mulism invasions in India starting from the early eighth century to fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, from the north- western front, exposed Indians to the music, literature and social customs of Turkish, Persian and central Asian cultures. Around this time the instrument called tambur or tanbur appeared on the Indian music scenario. Ameer Khusarau described the tambur as having four strings, two of silk and two of metal. InAin-i-Akbari, four tambur players are included among the thirty-six listed musicians of the court of Akbar. A variety of tanbur with three strings instead of four is termed as seh-tar.

Construction

Name: Indian Sitar With Hard Case
Brand: Indian
Price: 40000.00 PKR
Availability: InStock

The Sitar is one of the most popular melody instruments in classic North Indian musical tradition. Together with the surbahar and the tanpura it belongs to the family of the long-necked lutes. Its sound box is made of a pumpkin while the sound board and neck are made of timber (most common is toon wood, an Indian subspecies of teak wood). Two curved bridges made of bone or horn (or plastic nowadays) have steel and bronze strings running over them. The frets are tied movable to the neck and are made of nickel silver. Most sitars are decorated with inlays of celluloid and lavish carvings.

Styles

Modern sitars can be classified in two categories according to their structure, design and setup - each used to play a different style of music.

RAVI SHANKAR STYLE SITAR / Kharaj Pancham

Instruments in the 'Ravi Shankar style', also called kharaj pancham sitars, have two sound boxes and rich ornamentation. They are usually equipped with 13 sympathetic strings, three drone strings (chikari) and four melody strings with a range of four octaves.

VILAYAT KHAN STYLE SITAR / Gandhar Pancham

Sitars in the 'Vilayat Khan style', also called gandhar pancham sitars, have only one sound-box and a rather chaste ornamentation. They are mostly equipped with 11 sympathetic strings, four drone strings (chikari) and two melody strings with a range of three octaves.

INDIA INSTRUMENTS offers sitars from leading Indian instrument makers. Our sitars are hand-made individual pieces rather than industrially mass-produced articles. You can choose from a large variety of different models and sound philosophies. We also provide custom-made sitars according to your individual specifications, e.g. left-handed sitars.

To start playing, beginners can obtain fully decorated standard sitars for 450.- Euros or brand-named sitars with simple decoration for 690.- Euros.

Our full deco sitars for 990,- Euros are tailor-made for committed hobby musicians as well as for professionals. These sitars are finished with greater care, better materials, more lavish decoration and better sound than the cheaper instruments.

For the higher demands to tonal quality, reliability, design, and precision we recommend our full deco deluxe instruments for 1290.- Euros.

Sitars in Vilayat Khan style with their plain decoration are available from 790.- Euros onwards.

A category of its own are the sitars made by Hiren Roy. Here, the best of materials adorned with elegant ornamentation and a high functionality are made into master pieces of traditional instrument making with topmost sound quality.