The Instrument with a Hundred Voices

No-one is quite sure what the sarangi’s name is meant to mean. Some argue that it comes from the Persian for ‘three strings’, while others claim that it means ‘a hundred colours’, a reference to its incredible musical range. Whatever it means, one cannot deny that that very name is now synonymous with Pakistani classical music, despite the instrument’s starting out as a simple folk instrument, very much like the humble ektara.

The sarangi first achieved fame in the Mughal era, when classical music was flourishing due to the patronage of the Mughals. Even though no-one is not quite sure of when exactly this happened, we do know that the sarangi soon became a staple of classical music performances, filling in the very role the violin filled in Western classical music.

However, the sarangi’s popularity began to fade soon after the arrival of the harmonium. This new arrival was both easier to learn and play, leading to the sarangi’s being neglected in its favour, even though the harmonium cannot render the ‘meend’ (slide between notes) which is so essential to classical music, unlike the sarangi. Although we at Save the Sitar recognize the harmonium as an incredibly versatile and convenient instrument, we firmly believe that it should not take the sarangi’s rightful place. It is urgently required that the sarangi be preserved in Pakistan so that generations to come may enjoy and appreciate it.

Picture courtesy Wikimedia Commons

A One-Stringed Wonder

Hmm, well, it has a rather curious name, to be sure. Most instruments have names whose etymologies are extremely hard to trace, leading to a delightful (well, only for those who are interested in such things) research spree as one races from one obscure source to the other. The ektara, on the other hand, has a rather suspiscously straightforward name (ek in Urdu means one, while tara means string, so it literally means one string). But surely no-one could play an instrument with only one string, one might believe. Well, this instrument can actually be found in a wide variety of incarnations all across the Subcontinent, from the Bengali zither used widely by the Bauls of Bengal to the bowed variant shown above. It has long had been used typically in rather rural or isolated areas, as more sophisticated instruments, like the hundred-stringed surmandal, are found in the city.

The ektara is played through varying the pressure on its only string so as to create a melody, while the musician also uses a bow, much like a violinist or sarangi player. However, unlike the violin or the sarangi, the notes produced all depend upon one string, requiring, at least in our opinion, a great deal more of skill (in this matter at least) on the part of the musician. Most violinists are also forced to vary the pressure on the strings like this, but to a much lesser degree due to their greater choice of strings. This folk instrument really has to be seen to be believed, so how about you check it out here!