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Sitar

The sitar is one of the most popular instruments in India, originating from the ancient veena instrument and developed by Amir Khusro during the 13^th century. The sitar's characteristic features are its gourd-like shape with a long neck decorated with frets, and the round, hollow resonator at the bottom; most of the sitar is made with Tun wood and the resonator made of dry pumpkin. It is played by plucking the strings back and forth with a triangular plectrum (called a mizrab) that is placed on the index finger of the sitar player.

The sitar is made up of 18-20 strings, both main and sympathetic. The sound of the sitar has become synonymous with Indian classical music in Western circles, with a surge in popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s, even being used by bands such as the Beatles, the Doors and the Rolling Stones.

There are many schools of music, or ‘gharanas' of sitar, much like most other South Asian artistic disciplines – fun fact: SAA-uk's founder, Dharambir Singh MBE is a prolific sitar player and exponent of the Vilayatkhani/Imdadkhani gharana of sitar; read more on our Gharanas page here!

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