The Sitar is a wonderful instrument hand crafted from the finest gourds. It is virtually unchanged through out the centuries.Most Sitars usually have 19 frets and six or seven main strings and thirteen sympathetic strings. They can have an extra gourd which is another sounding board. The music is as old as Sanskrit and there or songs for different hours of the day. The Raga the "soul" of Indian music, is according to ancient authorities, "a combination of notes, illustrated by melodic movements, which is capable of producing pleasant sensations and a particular form of sound in which notes and melodic movements appear like ornaments and enchant the mind."
I learned the Sitar from a wonderful person = Guru Eric Cherry. Although he holds a PHD in music and is a college professor it never could be said he fit that "Mold". At an early age he played in a rock band and from there studied music at some of our most hallowed institutions. He subsequently moved to India and studied with Ustad Allauddin Khan whose father was Ali Akbar Khan whose sister married Ravi Shankar. He played everyday for 8 hours by the banks of the Ganges, slept and studied with his teacher, quite a wonderful life ! Subsequently he moved to Africa where he became adept in many African instruments and has written a definitive work on African drums. |