# Sarangi > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sarangi > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Sarangi.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarangi > Source revision: 1348968839 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Bowed, short-necked string instrument from South Asia For the Nepali instrument, see [Sarangi (Nepali)](/source/Sarangi_(Nepali)). For the village in Iran, see [Sarangi, Iran](/source/Sarangi%2C_Iran). This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 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(August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Sarangi Classification Chordophone Related instruments Sarinda Taus Dilruba/Esraj Dhantara Nepali Sarangi The **sarangi** is a [bowed](/source/Bow_(music)), short-necked [three-stringed instrument](/source/String_instrument) played in traditional music from India.[1] It is said to resemble the sound of the human voice through its ability to imitate vocal ornaments such as *[Gamaks](/source/Gamak) or Gamakam* (shakes) and *[meends](/source/Meend)* (sliding movements).[1] The [Nepali sarangi](/source/Sarangi_(Nepali)) is similar, but is a four-stringed, simpler [folk instrument](/source/Folk_instrument).[1] ## Playing Surjeet Singh tuning his sarangi The repertoire of *sarangi* players is traditionally related to vocal music. Nevertheless, a concert with a solo sarangi as the main item will sometimes include a full-scale *[raga](/source/Raga)* presentation with an extensive *alap* (the unmeasured improvisatory development of the raga).In increasing intensity (*alap* to *jor* to *jhala*) and several compositions in increasing tempo called *bandish*. As such, it could be seen as being on a par with other instrumental styles such as [sitar](/source/Sitar), [sarod](/source/Sarod), and [bansuri](/source/Bansuri).[1] It is rare to find a sarangi player who does not know the words of many classical compositions.[1] The words are usually mentally present during the performance, and a performance almost always adheres to the conventions of vocal performances including the organisational structure, the types of elaboration, the tempo, the relationship between sound and silence, and the presentation of *[khyal](/source/Khyal)* and *[thumri](/source/Thumri)* compositions. The vocal quality of sarangi is in a separate category from, for instance, the so-called *gayaki-ang* of [sitar](/source/Sitar) which attempts to imitate the nuances of *khyal* while overall conforming to the structures and usually keeping to the *gat* compositions of instrumental music. (A *gat* is a composition set to a cyclic rhythm.) The [Nepali sarangi](/source/Sarangi_(Nepali)) is a traditional stringed musical instrument of [Nepal](/source/Nepal), commonly played by the Gaine or [Gandarbha](/source/Gandarbha) ethnic group; the form and repertoire of the instrument in Nepal is more folk oriented than in India, and it is particularly associated with Gandarbha people.[1] ## Structure A sarangi laid flat Carved from a single block of *tun* ([red cedar](/source/Toona_ciliata)) wood, the sarangi has a box-like shape with three hollow chambers: *pet* ('stomach'), *chaati* ('chest') and *magaj* ('brain').[1]It is usually around 2 feet (0.61 m) long and around 6 inches (150 mm) wide, though it can vary as there are smaller as well as larger variant sarangis as well. The smaller ones are more stable in hand. The lower resonance chamber or *pet* is covered with [parchment](/source/Parchment) made out of goat skin on which a strip of thick leather is placed around the waist (and nailed on the back of the chamber) which supports the elephant-shaped bridge that is usually made of camel or buffalo bone. (Originally, it was made of ivory or [Barasingha](/source/Barasingha) bone but now that is rare due to the ban in India). The bridge in turn supports the huge pressure of approximately 35–37 [sympathetic steel or brass strings](/source/Sympathetic_string) and three main gut strings that pass through it. The three main playing strings – the comparatively thicker gut strings – are bowed with a heavy horsehair bow and stopped not with the fingertips but with the [nails](/source/Nail_(anatomy)), cuticles, and surrounding flesh. [Talcum powder](/source/Talcum_powder) is applied to the fingers as a lubricant. The neck has ivory or bone platforms on which the fingers slide. The remaining strings are sympathetic, or *tarabs*, numbering up to around 35–37, divided into four choirs having two sets of pegs, one on the right and one on the top. On the inside is a [chromatically](/source/Chromatic) tuned row of 15 *tarabs* and on the right a [diatonic](/source/Diatonic) row of nine *tarabs* each encompassing a full [octave](/source/Octave), plus one to three extra surrounding notes above or below the octave. Both these sets of *tarabs* pass from the main bridge to the right side set of pegs through small holes in the *chaati* supported by hollow ivory/bone beads. Between these inner *tarabs* and on either side of the main playing strings lie two more sets of longer *tarabs*, with five to six strings on the right set and six to seven strings on the left set. They pass from the main bridge over to two small, flat, wide, table-like bridges through the additional bridge towards the second peg set on top of the instrument. These are tuned to the important tones (*[swaras](/source/Swara)*) of the raga. A properly tuned sarangi will hum and cry and will sound like melodious meowing, with tones played on any of the main strings eliciting echo-like resonances. A few sarangis use strings manufactured from the intestines of goats. ## Decline Around the 20th century, the harmonium and violin began to be used as alternatives to the sarangi due to their comparative ease of handling.[1] In Pakistan specifically, since the 1980s, the decline in sarangi playing has also been attributed to the deaths of several masters (in the larger context of the relationship between [Islam and music](/source/Islam_and_music)) and [extreme religious radicalization under the reign](/source/Islamisation_in_Pakistan) of [Zia-ul-Haq](/source/Zia-ul-Haq).[2] ## Notable performers ### Sarangi players in India - [Abdul Latif Khan](/source/Abdul_Latif_Khan) (1934–2002) - [Aruna Narayan](/source/Aruna_Narayan) (born 1959) - [Ashique Ali Khan](/source/Ashique_Ali_Khan) (1948–1999) - [Bharat Bhushan Goswami](/source/Bharat_Bhushan_Goswami) (b. 1955) - [Bundu Khan](/source/Bundu_Khan) (1880–1955) - [Dhruba Ghosh](/source/Dhruba_Ghosh) (1957–2017) - [Ghulam Ali](/source/Ghulam_Ali_(singer)) (Sarangi) (b. 1975) - [Harsh Narayan](/source/Harsh_Narayan) (b. 1985) - [Manonmani](/source/Manonmani) (b. 2000) - [Ramesh Mishra](/source/Ramesh_Mishra) (1948–2017) - [Ram Narayan](/source/Ram_Narayan) (b. 1927-2024) - [Sabir Khan](/source/Sabir_Khan_(musician)) (Sarangi) (b. 1978) - [Sabri Khan](/source/Sabri_Khan) (1927–2015) - [Siddiqui Ahmed Khan](/source/Siddiqui_Ahmed_Khan) (1914–) - [Suhail Yusuf Khan](/source/Suhail_Yusuf_Khan) (b. 1988) - [Sultan Khan](/source/Sultan_Khan_(musician)) (1940–2011) - [Ustad Faiyaz Khan](/source/Ustad_Faiyaz_Khan_(Karnataka_singer)) (born 1968) - [Moinuddin Khan (musician)](/source/Moinuddin_Khan_(musician)) (died 2015) ### Sarangi players in Pakistan - [Allah Rakha](/source/Allah_Rakha_(sarangi)) (1932–2000) - [Bundu Khan](/source/Bundu_Khan) (1880–1955) - [Nathu Khan](/source/Nathu_Khan) (1920–1971) ### Other sarangi players - Yuji Nakagawa, Sarangi – a Japanese citizen who learnt to play the instrument in India under the tutelage of Dhruba Ghosh ## See also - [Esraj](/source/Esraj) - [Sarinda](/source/Sarinda_(instrument)) - [Hindustani music](/source/Hindustani_music) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:0_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:0_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:0_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-:0_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-:0_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-:0_1-7) *Sound of Mughal-era sarangi instrument fading away in Pakistan*. National Centre for the Performing Arts. 1987. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Sound of Mughal-era sarangi instrument fading away in Pakistan"](http://tribune.com.pk/story/2351548/sound-of-mughal-era-sarangi-instrument-fading-away-in-pakistan). *The Express Tribune*. The Express Tribune. 2026-01-10. Retrieved 2022-04-08.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: url-status ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_url-status)) ## Further reading - Bor, Joep, 1987: "The Voice of the Sarangi", comprising *National Centre for the Performing Arts Quarterly Journal* 15 (3–4), December 1986 and March 1987 (special combined issue), Bombay: NCPA - Magriel, Nicolas (2021). *Sāraṅgī style in Hindustani music*. London: iMerc. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1905351398](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1905351398). - Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt, 1997: “The Indian Sarangi: Sound of Affect, Site of Contest”, Yearbook for Traditional Music, pp. 1–38 - Sorrell, Neil (with Ram Narayan), 1980: *Indian Music in Performance*, Bolton: Manchester University Press ## External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Sarangis](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sarangis). - [Resham Firiri](http://www.ibiblio.org/musicnepal/2.mp3) A popular Nepali folk music with a Sarangi and *[madal](/source/Madal)*. - [sarangi.info](http://sarangi.info) – downloadable sarangi and vocal music, including the integral of two important books, *The Voice of the Sarangi* by Joep Bor and *Indian Music in Performance and Practice* by Ram Narayan and Neil Sorrell. - [Growing into Music](http://www.growingintomusic.co.uk) – includes several films by Nicolas Magriel on Indian musical enculturation including films about the sarangi players, [Farooq Latif Khan](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Farooq_Latif_Khan&action=edit&redlink=1) (b. 1975), [Sarwar Hussain Khan](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarwar_Hussain_Khan&action=edit&redlink=1) (b. 1981), [Mohammed Ali Khan, Sarangi](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mohammed_Ali_Khan,_Sarangi&action=edit&redlink=1) (d. 2002), [Ghulam Sabir Qadri](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ghulam_Sabir_Qadri&action=edit&redlink=1) (1922–), Vidya Sahai Mishra (d. 2019), [Siddiqui Ahmed Khan](/source/Siddiqui_Ahmed_Khan) (1914–), [Ghulam Sabir Khan](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ghulam_Sabir_Khan&action=edit&redlink=1) (b. 1948), [Murad Ali](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murad_Ali&action=edit&redlink=1) (b. 1977), [Faiyaz Khan (Varanasi)](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Faiyaz_Khan_(Varanasi)&action=edit&redlink=1), [Zakan Khan (Varanasi)](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zakan_Khan_(Varanasi)&action=edit&redlink=1) and [Kanhaiyalal Mishra (Varanasi)](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kanhaiyalal_Mishra_(Varanasi)&action=edit&redlink=1). - [Sarangi, Gujarat, 19th century](http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/indi/ho_89.4.200.htm) - [Sarangi, ca. 1900](http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/indi/ho_1982.143.2.htm) - [Sarangi, North India, late 19th century](http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/indi/ho_46.34.43.htm) v t e Indian musical instruments Wind (sushir) Bansuri Harmonium Karnay Kombu Kuzhal Nadaswaram Nafir Pungi Shankha Shehnai Shruti box Sringa Tharai Venu Plucked stringed (tat) Dotara Ektara Gottuvadhyam Pena Rudra veena Santoor Saraswati veena Sarod Seni Rebab Sitar Surbahar Swarabat Swarmandal Tanpura Electronic tanpura Veena Vichitra veena Yazh Bowed stringed (vitat) Dilruba Esraj Sarangi Sarinda Taus Violin Membranous percussion (avanaddh) Anandalahari Chande Chenda Damaru Dhaak Duggi Dhol Dholak Dholki Edakka Kanjira Khamak Khol Madal Mardala Mizhav Mridangam Nagada Pakhawaj Parai Sambal Tabla Jori (instrument) Tavil Udukai Non-membranous percussion (ghan) Chimta Ghatam Ghungroo Jal tarang Kartal Khanjani Khartal Manjira Morsing Other Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya Indian classical music Music of India Jivari Historical/possibly extinct Ālāpiṇī vīṇā Eka-tantri vina Kinnari vina Pinaka vina v t e Musical instruments of Nepal String Plucked Arbajo Ektara Tungna Bowed Dakkari Piwancha Sarangi (Nepal) Wind Flutes Bansuri Oboes Shehnai Pung (पुङ सिङ) Pan pipes Chongwari चोङ्वारी Trumpet Kangling Karnal Ransingha Shanka conch shell Sringa Bagpipe Mashak Percussion Drums Chyabrung Damaha Damaru Damphu Dhaa Dhimay Dholak Dhyāngro Khanjari Khin Madal Naqareh Tabla Tyampko (ट्याम्को) Cymbals Chimtaa Jhyali Jhyamta Tube zither drum/gong Yalamber Baja Bells Ghanta Others Binayo (jaw harp) Murchunga (jaw harp) Pipirma Urni Extinct Piwancha Ensembles Panche baja Authority control databases International GND National United States Czech Republic Latvia Israel Other MusicBrainz instrument --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sarangi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarangi) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarangi?action=history)). 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