Sarangi

What it means

The sarangi is a short-necked bowed instrument from North India and Pakistan. Its body is carved from a single block of wood, covered with skin, and carries a handful of melody strings alongside a large number of sympathetic strings that resonate but are not bowed.

It is not played by pressing the strings down with the fingertips but by sliding the fingernails, or the sides of the nails, along the strings.

In the notation

In classical Indian music the sarangi is generally played from orally transmitted ragas rather than from written notation; fixed Western notation plays little role in its repertoire.

Musical use

Traditionally, the sarangi served mainly to accompany vocal music, especially the classical khyal and thumri styles of North India, since its sound is considered exceptionally close to the human voice and can trace glides, ornaments, and microtonal shadings in real time. Since the twentieth century it has increasingly also been used as a solo concert instrument.

The many sympathetic strings resonate with the bowed melody tones and produce a dense, overtone-rich wash of sound without ever being bowed themselves.

The sarangi should be distinguished from the esraj and the dilruba, related North Indian bowed instruments with frets and a slimmer body, which are technically simpler to play but produce a less nuanced sound.

Performance practice

Start by practicing an even bow stroke across several strings at once, since the sarangi has no fingerboard in the Western sense. Listen deliberately for the ring of the sympathetic strings and use it rather than trying to suppress it.