Sarangi

The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. It is said to come closer than any other instrument to the human voice, able to imitate vocal ornaments such as gamaks (shakes) and meends (slides). One explanation links its name to the bow of the god Vishnu, since it too is played with a bow.

According to some musicians, the word comes from the Persian 'seh' (three) and 'rangi' (coloured), referring to its three melody strings.

The most common folk explanation, however, is that sarangi comes from 'sau rang' (a hundred colours), referring to how well it adapts to many styles of vocal music, how flexibly it can be tuned, and the wide palette of tone colour and emotion it can produce.