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Indian fusion music cds by Soolaba - sitar history, veena, Ravi Shankar, misrab, sitar tuning, tabla, flute, and Indian chants to soothe the soul. free sitar samples, sitar info, links |
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The Sitar THE SITAR is a classical instrument of northern INDIA which
has 18 to 20 strings, 20 frets and has an intriguing sound which soothes
melodic ears and expands the thinking mind. Basically a hollowed out pumpkin
with a neck, it is a medieval instrument which was popularized in the 60s by
George Harrison (Beatles) and others. |
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TRADITIONALLY, the instrument is taught using the old indian gurukul system, where a student lives with his teacher or guru for the duration of their training. There is no written classical Indian music. The ragas are passed down aurally and the artist improvises upon them. There is a proverb that says a student of the sitar must spend 20 years learning, twenty years performing, and twenty years teaching the instrument to truly appreciate it. With modern technology, and westerner's fascination with the instrument, RAVI SHANKAR (pictured below) has created a breed of "self-teaching" sitarists who purchase books and videos about the instrument. |
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TO PLAY THE SITAR |
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The Tabla |
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History The TABLA developed as a hybridized drum, influenced by all of these varieties, in particular, the mrdangm and the puskara. The cave temples of Badari in Bombay (6th century) contain depictions of the puskara. Musicians often placed the puskara's smaller verticle drum (called 'alinga'), on their lap and played more than one drum at a time. Numerious features of the tabla are found in the design and technology of these earlier drums. The name 'tabla' is probably derived from the Arabic word meaning 'drum' the 'tabl'. These invaders undoubtedly influenced the culture and structure of the tabla, indeed, a popular notion is that AMIR KHURSURO (13th century) invented the tabla by splitting the Pakawaj into two drums. However, the earliest depictions and literature describing the tabla as we recognize it today come from the 18th century. Of the six styles of tabla presently played in India, world-famous tablists USTAD ALLA RAKHA and his son ZAKIR HUSSAIN, introduced to the west by Pandit Ravi Shankar, represent the Punjab tradition. |
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Description The tabla skin's main feature, the black patch or SHIYAHI, gives the tabla a perfect tunable pitch. A skilled tabla maker assures the harmonics become properly adjusted during the process of applying concentric layers of black paste (sticky rice with powdered iron and carbon ) to the membrane, by monitoring the tone of the drum at each stage, and adjusting the weight of each layer accordingly. When complete, the shiyahi (or gob) gives the drum a true harmonic series and a unique surface on which to create sounds, unavailable to drums with an unmodified membrane. Named by the sounds they make, the different strokes (BOL)s and their placement on the membrane emphasize different harmonic modes. There are six major bols produced on the dayan : NA (the fundamental), TIN (the harmonic overtone), TAK (damped stroke), TET, TE and TE-RE. The bayan has four bols: GE and GA (which change pitch as pressure is applied by the palm), and KA and KAT (damped stroke). Played together, bols such as DHA, DHI & DHIN are created. |