Sitar

The sitar is often referred as a plucked stringed instrument. The Sitar has delicate strings along with a gourd reverberating hollow generating a rich sound. The great poet, musician and statesman, Amir Khusrau is generally accredited for conceiving Sitar during Khilji period. Indian Instrument Sitar has got its name from a Persian term 'Seh-tar' that means 'three strings'.

From the period of middle ages, Sitar has always been omnipresent in Hindustani classical music. Even today, no composition of Hindustani music is complete without the presence of Sitar. The musical instrument of Sitar is used throughout the stretch of Indian lands. The body of the Sitar is made out of Cadrela Tuna (teak wood) and the main resonator is carved out of a pumpkin.

The Sitar comprises a finger-board that is around three feet long and three inches wide. This void and concave finger-board is covered with a slight piece of wood. There are about sixteen to twenty-two curved frets, made of brass or silver that are attached to the finger-board by char pieces. To the main strings under the frets, there are around eleven to twelve delicate strings (tarab) that run almost parallel.

All of these Tarabs are tenable to small pegs (or wedges) that are set at the surface of the finger-board. These strings are adjusted to produce the desired scale of the tune. Sitar can be played by the fingers, but there is always a scope of injury in it. To make the play safer, Sitar is played by using a wire plectrum (Mizrab) that is usually worn on the forefinger of the right hand.

Sitar can handle all the styles of instrumental music including alap, jod, meend etc. in a proper manner. The musical instrument of Sitar has occupied a prominent place in the terms of Indian music. Famous Sitar players like Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan have brought this classical instrument on the panorama of the World.