A Deeper Sitar

“What?” you might be asking, “this is a surbahar? It looks like a regular sitar! Cheaters! I was promised a new instrument not an old one! Quacks! I want my money back!” But fear not, gentle reader. This is, in fact, a surbahar, despite all evidence to the contrary. This instrument, which is also sometimes known as the bass sitar to gross slanderers, is widely believed to have been invented in around 1825, as an attempt to make a sitar which could play deeper notes like the veena

Many claim to have invented this extremely distinguished instrument, with the Wikipedia article alone listing at least three claimants. Leaving aside the issue of whoever invented it, let’s discuss the instrument itself. Made out of high quality toon wood, the surbahar has a significantly wider neck than the sitar, despite its being closely related to it. It also has a much larger resonator (or tumba), which helps make its voice deeper. You can see some of these features below too.

The surbahar experienced a brief burst of popularity soon after its creation, as its resemblance to both the veena and the sitar allowed people to play veena compositions on it as well as those of the sitar. Many began to play it alongside with the sitar, with musicians presenting complex dhrupad compositions on the surbahar and then present the rest of the performance on the sitar. The sitar, however, was not one to allow itself to be supplanted. The surbahar fell out of fashion in the mid-twentieth century due to the modern sitar acquiring its present shape, which allowed it to play most of the compositions which used to be specific to the surbahar. As a result, musicians stopped learning it and currently, only a few play it.

The Forgotten Forefather

When it comes to Pakistani classical music, few mention the pakhavaj. Now, of course, all of you must be clamouring to know what exactly a pakhawaj is, but, patience, please. We need to rant first. So, coming back to our original topic, the tabla, the dhol, even the dholak; all of these are much more popular and famous than this poor, neglected instrument. Few play it, and it is often confused with the similiar-looking dhol. However, this oft-ignored, humble instrument is more than it appears.

Descended from the South Indian drum, the mridangam (quite a strange name, if we may say so ourselves, though we might be rather biased) , the pakhawaj, which is a double-sided drum, greatly resembles the tabla, which appears to be descended from it. In fact, according to legend, the tabla was first made when an enterprising musician cut a pakhawaj in half! Not only is it tuned like the tabla, it is also constructed very much like it, with its sides being made out of goat skin, while its body is made out of wood, which gives it a rather mellow sound.

The resemblance to the tabla is really uncanny, as it even shares most of the tabla’s bols (which resemble tabla strokes) with it! On the other hand, the pakhawaj is played in a quite distinct manner as opposed to the tabla, with players normallly keeping the drum in front of them in their lap. It is this strange mix of similiarities and differences which make the pakhawaj so appealing to us, as it is at once new and familiar. You can see a rather good comparison of the two below, if you are interested.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.