Archive for Instruments
Surbahar
Possibly invented by Umrao Khan, beenker of Lucknow, the instument, a variety of sitar was actually developed by Ghulam Mohammad of Banda around 1830 and his son Sajjad Ahmed both accomplished players of sitar and surbahar in the nineteenth century. Compared to the sitar the instrument is larger with a …
Sarangi
Sarangi is sometimes called the Indian violin but shaped differently and larger in size. Sarangi has been used for long time as the main accompaniment in North Indian vocal music. It can particularly play the sedulous ape to North Indian classical music as it can emit tonal sounds akin to …
Santoor
A variety of harp something like the swaramandal originating from Kashmir which has been innovated and developed to become a solo playing concert instrument replacing swaramandal. The most outstanding exponents of santoor are now Shiv Kumar Sharma, Omprakash Chaurasia and Bhajan Sopori of whom Shiv Kumar Sharma is now based …
Rabab (Rebab)
This is a music instrument of Persian or Afghan origin of the same name but adopted during Mughal times in the reign of Emperor Akbar by Tansen. The rabab has no frets unlike the sitar but has four strings, one or two of brass and two of gut with sympathetic …
Esraj (Israj)
It is a stringed instrument akin to the dilruba sounding like sarangi with a sharper but mellower tone. It has frets but is played with a bow and has also sympathetic strings as in sitar. The tonal quality of this stringed instrument is closer to the human voice compared even …
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Noorjahan was an outstanding singer who enriched our lives, and Subcontinent's music with her expressive voice }