Saraswati Veena, indian music instrument

The instrument. The sitar is a very special lute consisting of a calabash sounding board and a long hollow hollow handle in hollow wood, equipped with about twenty curved and removable metal frets. On the soundboard, two flat easels take advantage of the vibration of the strings to create a kind of harmonic sizzle and create a luminous sound quite characteristic. Ravi shankar, the smuggler. In any case, ravi shankar was one of the first to broadcast indian classical music on major international stages, to explain it and to share it with the public and western musicians. When, in 18 june 1967, in front of an audience of 200, 000 spectators, ravi shankar gave a four-hour concert on the stage of the monterey international pop festival, the sitar became in his hands the emblem of indian music for a whole generation of westerners. Two years earlier, george harrison incorporated it into the beatles aesthetic and played it on "norwegian wood", helping to raise awareness of indian aesthetics. But at the same time, the master of sitar also exerted a real fascination on musicians as different as yehudi menuhin, philip glass or john coltrane. The prestigious collaborations follow, ravi shankar composes film scores, concertos for sitar and orchestra, ensemble music, paving the way for all kinds of experiments now conducted by both western and indian sitarists. Source: sitar, north inde musical emblem. A proposal by vincent zanetti for the show "versus" on espace 2. Web director: lara donnet. Rts culture - december 2017.

Ref. : FWYXEXC2