Themes > Arts > Music > Musical Instruments > Musical Instruments of South Asia > Sarangi


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At first a rather coarse affair, the sarangi has become through the ages a sophisticated bowed instrument whose imitative capacity to reproduce the sound and texture of the voice is without comparison. Hence its use for accompanying singers, which reminds us of the role played by the mediaeval fiddle in Europe during the middle ages. Its actual shape and structure probably date back to the 14th Century and its mentioned in a 16th Century text. Successive improvements came later.
Its technique is unique in the fact that the back of the nails glide along the three gut strings placed 1 centimeter above the neck, which allows all types of phrases characteristic of Hindustani music: meend, which are glissandos prevalent in dhrupad, and gamakas, which are oscillations made around the notes and widely used in khyal.

(Talc powder is used in order to ease the gliding of the palm on the side of the neck).
The gliding of the nails on the strings gives in the slow tempi a special flavour and much precision in the production of a continuous sound and it also enables the performer to display great virtuosity in rapid tempi. The bow is rather broad and tightly held palm upwards, the middle and ring fingers being placed between the hair and the stick. The sarangi is made of a single block of "tun" wood carved out by hand and has a compact and asymmetrical shape. The body or resonator is covered with goat skin on which is placed an ivory bridge. The neck, which is a continuation of the body, becomes slightly narrower at the tops and ends with a peg-box.