Sitar

The sitar is an Indian string instrument, most widespread in northern India and Pakistan. Its invention is traced to the 12th century, around Delhi. It became famous worldwide through the work of the great Indian musician Ravi Shankar. In the 1960s Western pop music took up the sitar, which was heard in songs by the Beatles, the Doors, the Rolling Stones and others.

A sitar has 21, 22 or 23 metal strings. Only 6 or 7 are played, those that run over the main bridge; the rest run beneath it and act as sympathetic strings. In the Gandhar Pancham sitar, the bass string (kharaj) is replaced by a fourth drone string (chikari). Each instrument has two bridges, a large one (bada gora) and a small one (chota gora). The tone comes from the way the strings touch these sloping bridges: as a string vibrates, its length changes slightly and it brushes the bridge, producing very high overtones. The sitar resonates through its strings, its hollow neck and its gourd sound chamber, and may have a second gourd near the top of the neck.

The instrument rests between the player's left foot and right knee, so the hands move freely without carrying its weight. The strings are plucked with a wire plectrum worn on the finger, called a mizrab. The thumb rests on the top of the neck, above the main sound chamber. Usually only the index and middle fingers are used to bend the strings.