The sarod is a melodic instrument
from the northern Indian music tradition. It is a fretless, steel stringed lute
that has skin covered (traditionally goat-skin) resonating chamber. Sarods vary
in length, size, and number of strings dependent upon if the musicians ascribe
to the playing style of Ghulam Ali Khan or Allauddin Khan. The sarod has five
to seven strings on the front and nine to eleven strings on the back. The front
strings are melody and drone strings that are plucked with a plectrum made of
polished coconut shell. The strings are pressed with the fingernail to aid in
the metallic timbre of the instrument. The strings on the back are sympathetic
strings that sound when different overtones sound. These strings are rarely
plucked themselves. Sarod players constantly glide their fingernails across
strings bending pitches.
The
sarod descends from the rebab, a fretted, stringed instrument, when Pashtun
invaders came to India in the 18th century. India is known to invent
instruments and sursringar was a fretless version of the rebab that added a
metal fingerboard which eventually morphed into the modern day sarod. Ghulam
Ali Khan and Allauddin Khan are inventors that are credited with the modern day
sarod, both claiming to be the true inventor.
This is the sursringar, the predecessor to the sarod. It is fretless
and has a metal finger board like the sarod but is much larger and has no sympathetic.
Video of a Divya Music school academy Guru giving a lesson
over skype. Using play and repeat as well as solfege to instruct student.
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is a sarod master and founder of the
Ali Akbar College of Music.
Sarod master Amjad Ali Khan.
Performance of Amaan & Ayaan Ali Khan (sons of Amjad Ali
Khan) and classical violinist Elmira Darvarova play as part of a collaborative
project of western and Indian music.
"Sarod." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Aug. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.
Kippen, James. “Yearbook for Traditional Music.” Yearbook
for Traditional Music, vol. 38, 2006, pp. 133–135.
www.jstor.org/stable/20464976.
The Sarod has that such a unique sound. I enjoy the video of Amjad Ali Khan a master of the Sarod playing. Just like with all fretless instruments the skill level and ear the player has to have to play the instrument well is impressive.
ReplyDeleteI find it incredible that the strings are not rarely plucked yet the sound is so definite. Also, the amount of strings on this instrument is incredible. I love the sound the instruments produce in this culture.
ReplyDeleteSpecifically in the fourth video, Ali Akbar Khan does a fantastic job of keeping his melodic lines extremely interesting. on numerous occasions he shows complete mastery of the pitch through sliding and bending techniques. The fretless aspect of this instrument makes it a little less shimmery than the rest of the instruments in this genre.
ReplyDeleteI love the melodic possibilities of the Sarod. The lack of frets gives it many more possibilities than an instrument like our guitar, and allows the player to be more virtuosic using techniques like glissando and vibrato.
ReplyDelete