The SAROD

"The Sarod originated from the Arabic instrument, the rebab. Around 1300 AD it was named the Sah-roda; a bowed, gut instrument introduced to the Mughal court of North India. Modifications and changes to the Sarod continued until the end of the nineteenth century since when it has remained constant; wire strings plucked with a coconut or ivory plectrum.

The body of the Sarod is carved from one piece of teak or mahogany wood and is approximately 1.2m in length varying slightly when custom made for a specific performer. The bridge is supported on a soundboard of stretched leather, which is extremely sensitive to vibration and temperature change. The fingerboard is metal and fretless and the full resonance of the note is produced by pressing the string onto the fingerboard using the fingernails of the left hand. Not having frets allows for both precise individual notes and a variety of intonations through glissando.

Of the 25 strings, 4 are used for melody, 2 for rhythm, 4 tuned to the dominant note of the raga and the remaining 15 are sympathetic vibrating strings tuned to the micro notes of the raga. The range and sonority of the Sarod makes it one of the most beautiful of North Indian instruments, its complexity allowing for an extraordinary diversity of sound and mood.

Manipulating the raga's complex sets of rules in thousands of possible combinations is like painting for Sridhar. "Performing a raga is like having an open canvas on which the painter puts different colours," he says. "Gradually the colours make an image and create a mood. At a certain point, the painter forgets that he is painting and begins unconsciously to choose the right colours. The painter and the canvas become one."

"In my concerts you hear from the heart, you leave the intellect out; you just surrender. At the moment of surrender the energy passes; if there is no surrender, the energy cannot pass. There is an art to listening."

-K. Sridhar


Sridhar's FULL CD:
http://usoc.snu.ac.kr/india/nadan/nadan.htm
click on the titles of ragas...and...good travel!

Claudio

anatomy of the Sarod

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

The first Akbar Khan's album published in Occident (1955)

http://usoc.snu.ac.kr/india/tala-raga/raga/rag-bhairavi-intro.mp3

http://usoc.snu.ac.kr/india/tala-raga/raga/rag-bhairavi.mp3

http://usoc.snu.ac.kr/india/tala-raga/raga/rag-pilu-intro.mp3

http://usoc.snu.ac.kr/india/tala-raga/raga/rag-pilu.mp3


Ali Akbar Kahn: sarod
Chatur Lal: tabla



photo: Ali Akbar Khan at 18

Amjad Ali Khan and Sons

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

thanks guys for all those greats stuffs

sarod is very expressive... if I were born in Turkey I would have learnt this instrument, but I was born in France so I play 'oud and I'm going, right now ! with an idea of India floatting in my mind...