The sitar (pronounced /ˈsɪtɑːr/ or /sɪˈtɑːr/) is a stringed instrument that is played by plucking its strings. It comes from the Indian subcontinent and is used in Hindustani classical music. The sitar was created in the 18th century and reached its current form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, a person from the Mughal Empire in the 18th century, is believed by modern scholars to have invented the sitar. Most historians say he developed the sitar from the setar, an instrument from Iran that originated during the Abbasid or Safavid periods.

The sitar is widely used across the Indian subcontinent. It became well-known worldwide because of the music of Ravi Shankar, who started sharing his work in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During the mid-to-late 1960s, the rise of psychedelic culture led to the sitar being used in Western popular music. The instrument appeared in songs by bands such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Metallica, and others.

Etymology

The word sitar comes from the Persian word sehtar, which means "three-stringed."

According to Curt Sachs, the Persians named their lutes by combining the word tar, meaning "string," with a word that shows the number of strings.

• Du + tar is the 2-stringed dutār,
• se + tar is the 3-stringed setār,
• čar + tar is for a tar with 4 strings,
• panč + tār is for a tar with 5 strings.

History

Some people believed that Amir Khusrow, a famous Sufi poet and inventor, created the sitar in the 13th century. However, scholars no longer support this idea. There is no record from that time that mentions the word "sitar." A statement from a 19th-century book by Captain N. Augustus Willard might have led to confusion between Amir Khusrau and another person named Khusrau Khan, who lived in the 18th century.

The earliest written record of the sitar is from 1739 AD. This record is from a book called Muraqqa-i-Dehli by Dargah Quli Khan, who lived during the time of Muhammad Shah Rangila. Historians say that an 18th-century Mughal court figure named Khusrau Khan created the sitar by changing a small Persian three-stringed instrument called the setar. Over time, the sitar changed. Its neck became wider. The bowl, which was once made of wood, was replaced with a gourd. Metal frets and a bone nut were added. Masid Khan added two more strings, and Allauddin Khan created the modern seven-string sitar. Imdad Khan was the first to add sympathetic strings. The first music written specifically for the sitar appeared in the mid-1700s. This music is credited to Firoz Khan, who may have been the son or nephew of Khusrau Khan.

Another idea, which is not accepted by scholars, suggests that the sitar came from Indian instruments like the veena before Islam arrived in India. Supporters of this idea point to temple carvings from the 9th and 10th centuries that show instruments similar to the sitar. However, researcher Samidha Vedabala notes that these carvings do not clearly show a sitar. The word "sitar" is not found in any old texts from that time. Allyn Miner says the evidence for this idea is too weak to draw any conclusions. He adds that this idea is an old, outdated belief from the late 19th century. Alastair Dick says there is no historical or musical proof that the sitar's name was changed from an existing Hindu instrument. Some scholars argue that the veena origin theory is based on the number of strings and assumes the sitar came from a known Indian instrument, but there is no evidence of long-necked lutes in India before Muslim rule.

Physical description

A sitar can have 18, 19, 20, or 21 strings. Six or seven of these strings are played and run over curved, raised frets. The other strings are called sympathetic strings (also known as tarb, taarif, or tarafdaar) and run underneath the frets. These sympathetic strings vibrate along with the played strings, creating sound. The frets, called pardā or thaat, can be moved to allow for precise tuning. The played strings are attached to tuning pegs near the head of the instrument, while the sympathetic strings pass through small holes in the fretboard and connect to smaller tuning pegs along the neck.

The sitar has two bridges: a large bridge (badaa goraa) for the playing and drone strings, and a small bridge (chota goraa) for the sympathetic strings. The instrument’s sound quality comes from how the strings interact with the wide, rounded bridge. When a string vibrates, its length changes slightly as it moves along the rounded bridge, creating overtones that give the sitar its unique sound. The process of shaping the bridge to maintain this sound is called jawari. Many musicians depend on instrument makers to adjust this.

The sitar is made from materials such as teak wood or tun wood (a type of mahogany) for the neck and faceplate (tabli), and calabash gourds for the resonating chambers. The bridges are often made of deer horn, ebony, or, rarely, camel bone. Synthetic materials are now also commonly used.

Construction styles

There are two popular modern styles of sitar: the fully decorated "instrumental style" (sometimes called the "Ravi Shankar style") and the "gayaki" style (sometimes called the "Vilayat Khan" style).

The instrumental style sitar is most often made of seasoned toon wood, but sometimes made of teak. It is often fitted with a second resonator, a small tumba (pumpkin or pumpkin-like wood replica) on the neck. This style is usually fully decorated, with floral or grape carvings and celluloid inlays with colored (often brown or red) and black floral or arabesque patterns. It typically has 13 sympathetic strings. The best teak sitars are made from teak that has been seasoned for many years. The sources of very old seasoned wood are guarded trade secrets. Therefore, instrument builders look for old teak that was used in old colonial-style villas as whole trunk columns for their special sitar constructions.

There are various additional sub-styles and cross mixes of styles in sitars, according to customer preferences. Most importantly, there are some differences in preferences for the positioning of sympathetic (taraf) string pegs.

Among all sitar styles, there are student styles, beginner models, semi-pro styles, pro models, master models, and so on. Prices are often determined by the manufacturer's name and not by looks alone or materials used. Some sitars by certain manufacturers fetch very high collectible prices. Most notable are older Rikhi Ram (Delhi) and older Hiren Roy (Kolkata) sitars, depending upon which master built the instrument. Nikhil Banerjee had a small extra bridge fixed at the top of the sitar fingerboard for sustain.

Tuning of sitar

How a sitar is tuned depends on the musician's school, style, tradition, and personal choices. The main string used for playing is usually tuned a perfect fourth above the tonic, while the second string is tuned to the tonic. In the Indian solfège system, the tonic is called ṣaḍja, ṣaḍaj, or the shorter form sa, or khaṛaj, a dialectal version of ṣaḍaj. It is not referred to as vād. The perfect fifth, to which one or more drone strings are tuned, is called pañcam, not samvād.

A musician must retune the sitar for each raga. Strings are adjusted using tuning pegs, and the main playing strings can be finely tuned by sliding a bead threaded on each string, located just below the bridge.

In some common tunings, such as the "Kharaj Pancham" sitar used by Ravi Shankar and others, the strings are arranged as follows:

• Chikari strings: Sa (high), Sa (middle), and Pa.
• Kharaj (bass) strings: Sa (low) and Pa (low).
• Jod and baaj strings: Sa and Ma.

There are many differences in how tunings are applied. Like most Indian stringed instruments, the sitar has no single standard tuning. Instead, tunings vary based on teaching traditions (gharana) and the specific piece being played.

Playing

The instrument rests on the player's left foot and right knee. The hands move freely because they do not need to hold the instrument's weight. The player plucks the string using a metal pick called a mizraab. The thumb stays in place on the top of the fretboard, just above the main gourd. Usually, the index and middle fingers are used to press the strings, though some players may use the third finger. A special technique called "meend" involves pulling the main melody string down over the curved frets. This allows the player to produce seven different notes. Vilayat Khan developed this into a method that mimics the vocal style's melisma, known as gayaki ang. Sometimes, the sitar is played with a bow. Its sound is similar to the sarangi but has a rougher tone. Skilled players use techniques like Kan, Krintan, Murki, and Zamzama to add charm. They also use special mizraab patterns, such as in Misrabani.

World music influence

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ravi Shankar and his tabla player, Alla Rakha, helped introduce Indian classical music to Western audiences.

In the 1960s, George Harrison of The Beatles used the sitar in songs like "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," "Love You To," and "Within You Without You," recorded between 1965 and 1967. David Crosby supported Shankar’s work, which encouraged Harrison to try the instrument. The Beatles’ use of the sitar helped Western young people learn about Indian classical music. In 1966, Harrison began learning from Shankar and his student, Shambhu Das. That same year, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones used a sitar on "Paint It Black," and Dave Mason of Traffic played it on songs like "Paper Sun" and "Hole in My Shoe." These examples showed a growing trend of using the sitar in pop music, which Shankar called "the great sitar explosion." In 1967, he told KRLA Beat: "Many young people started listening to the sitar after George Harrison, one of the Beatles, became my student… It is now the 'in' thing."

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin said he loved Indian music and had a sitar before George Harrison. He explained that he visited India in the late 1960s to experience the music firsthand. Robbie Krieger of The Doors used Indian musical styles, such as ragas, in his guitar playing on "The End" (1967). This song had sounds similar to the sitar or veena, a traditional Indian instrument. Some pop songs used the electric sitar, a guitar-like instrument that looks and sounds different from the traditional acoustic sitar.

In 1965, The Kinks’ song "See My Friends" used a "low-tuned drone guitar," which many people thought was a sitar. Crosby’s band, The Byrds, also used Indian musical elements in songs like "Eight Miles High" and "Why" (1966), using only Western instruments. Psychedelic music bands often used new recording effects and borrowed ideas from Indian music, such as ragas and drones. The Electric Prunes used the Vox Wah-wah pedal in early advertisements, showing how it could make a guitar sound like a sitar.

In 1966, Shawn Phillips played the sitar on Donovan’s album Sunshine Superman. He also played it on one song from Donovan’s 1967 album Mellow Yellow.

In the late 1970s, Pakistan International Airlines used the sitar in their in-flight music to remind passengers of their homeland.

In the 1970s, Steve Howe of the band Yes used a Danelectro sitar guitar on their album Close to the Edge and on the song "To Be Over" from Relayer (1974). Deepak Khazanchi played the sitar and tanpura on the song "It Can Happen" from Yes’ 1983 album 90125.

In 1985, Paul Young’s cover of "Everytime You Go Away" by Hall & Oates included an electric sitar played by John Turnbull.

Sitar gharanas

A gharana is a way of organizing people in the Indian subcontinent, connecting musicians or dancers through family relationships or by learning from a teacher. Some well-known examples are:

• Imdadkhani gharana
• Maihar gharana
• Bishnupur gharana