Stylistic evolution of Sitar
Research into the history of the instrument suggests that, like several other solo instruments of today, the sitar started as an accompanying instrument to qawwali performances. The left hand rested on a particular svara or note, while the right hand played the bols (strokes) like dirdir, and dara dara in quick succession, to fill the silences/gaps between the melodic phrases sung by the performing vocal musician. This style was known as poorak (filler) baj (idiom).
As musicians discovered the melodic potential of the instrument, the sitar emerged as a solo instrument, and pre-composed gats or melodic-rhythmic melodies were introduced in its repertoire. Gradually, bols of the pakhawaj (the barrel drum) were incorporated into the sitar idiom. The melody was played essentially with the left hand while the right hand was used to execute the bols creating rhythmic patterns inspired by the percussion idiom.
During the next stage of development, small fikre (Persian for strings of phrases, or episodes) were introduced to aid improvizations around gats. With this feature, a melody executed with the left hand became slightly more significant, though it still remained subsidiary to the rhythmic patterns created with the right hand used to deliver the strokes.
Gradually, as the instrument evolved acoustically, small meends (melodic execution by deflecting the strings on the same fret) were introduced to embellish the melody. As a result, the importance of the left hand increased further. However, the acoustic sustain available on the sitar was still inadequate for doing full justice to the alap (the free-flowing, non-rhythmic prelude) which was, until the middle of the 19th century, of simple melodic construction, and was executed primarily by moving the fingers of the left hand along the frets, aided by bols executed by the right hand.
Around this time, it is believed, that the great masters of the rudra veena or been, who wanted to keep their art within the family, developed a magnified bass-sitar called the surbahar for imparting the skills of presenting the alap presented traditionally on the rudra veena, to “outsiders”. The surbahar combines the acoustic features of the rudra veena with the playing technique of the sitar. Thus emerged the practice, amongst leading sitarists, of performing the elaborate dhrupad-inspired rudra veena style alap on the surbahar and post-dhrupad compositions on the sitar.
The idiom of the sitar flowered with the durable success of the compositions of fixed stroke format – one for vilambit or slow tempo rendition, and another for drut or fast tempo rendition in teental (16 beats). The vilambit gat format stabilized around the compositions of the famous musician Masit Khan, and came to be known as Masitkhani gats. The drut gats are attributed to the versatile sitar player Ghulam Raza Khan, and hence called Razakhani gats.
The Razakhani gats were adapted primarily from the bandish-ki-thumri form of vocal music, during the reign of Emperor Mohammad Shah II, an eminent patron of classical music. The bandish-ki-thumri was a vocal form composed for accompanying the movements and expressions in kathak dance. Due to their dance-related origins, they were originally composed in the lighter, romantic ragas such as Khamaj, Kafi, Pilu and Zila, among others. Hence their nomenclature is Razakhani gats. In later years, the Razakhani stroke format was used for fast-tempo compositions in all ragas.
In the 20th century, several formats other than the Masitkhani and Razakhani, and composed in talas other than teental, were developed for vilambit and drut rendition on the sitar. They were inspired by a variety of other sources in vocal and existing instrumental music. The dominant influence, at this stage, was of the khayal, by now the dominant genre of mainstream vocal music. Despite these developments, the Masitkhani and Razakhani formats in teental have remained the essential core of the sitar idiom.
Also during the 20th century, with further improvements in the acoustic capabilities of the instrument, the sitar was able to take over the elaborate three-tier rudra veena style alap from the surbahar. Thus emerged the present raga-presentation format on the sitar, consisting of the alap-jod solo, followed by percussion-accompanied vilambit and drut gats, and ending with the climactic jhala.
As musicians discovered the melodic potential of the instrument, the sitar emerged as a solo instrument, and pre-composed gats or melodic-rhythmic melodies were introduced in its repertoire. Gradually, bols of the pakhawaj (the barrel drum) were incorporated into the sitar idiom. The melody was played essentially with the left hand while the right hand was used to execute the bols creating rhythmic patterns inspired by the percussion idiom.
During the next stage of development, small fikre (Persian for strings of phrases, or episodes) were introduced to aid improvizations around gats. With this feature, a melody executed with the left hand became slightly more significant, though it still remained subsidiary to the rhythmic patterns created with the right hand used to deliver the strokes.
Gradually, as the instrument evolved acoustically, small meends (melodic execution by deflecting the strings on the same fret) were introduced to embellish the melody. As a result, the importance of the left hand increased further. However, the acoustic sustain available on the sitar was still inadequate for doing full justice to the alap (the free-flowing, non-rhythmic prelude) which was, until the middle of the 19th century, of simple melodic construction, and was executed primarily by moving the fingers of the left hand along the frets, aided by bols executed by the right hand.
Around this time, it is believed, that the great masters of the rudra veena or been, who wanted to keep their art within the family, developed a magnified bass-sitar called the surbahar for imparting the skills of presenting the alap presented traditionally on the rudra veena, to “outsiders”. The surbahar combines the acoustic features of the rudra veena with the playing technique of the sitar. Thus emerged the practice, amongst leading sitarists, of performing the elaborate dhrupad-inspired rudra veena style alap on the surbahar and post-dhrupad compositions on the sitar.
The idiom of the sitar flowered with the durable success of the compositions of fixed stroke format – one for vilambit or slow tempo rendition, and another for drut or fast tempo rendition in teental (16 beats). The vilambit gat format stabilized around the compositions of the famous musician Masit Khan, and came to be known as Masitkhani gats. The drut gats are attributed to the versatile sitar player Ghulam Raza Khan, and hence called Razakhani gats.
The Razakhani gats were adapted primarily from the bandish-ki-thumri form of vocal music, during the reign of Emperor Mohammad Shah II, an eminent patron of classical music. The bandish-ki-thumri was a vocal form composed for accompanying the movements and expressions in kathak dance. Due to their dance-related origins, they were originally composed in the lighter, romantic ragas such as Khamaj, Kafi, Pilu and Zila, among others. Hence their nomenclature is Razakhani gats. In later years, the Razakhani stroke format was used for fast-tempo compositions in all ragas.
In the 20th century, several formats other than the Masitkhani and Razakhani, and composed in talas other than teental, were developed for vilambit and drut rendition on the sitar. They were inspired by a variety of other sources in vocal and existing instrumental music. The dominant influence, at this stage, was of the khayal, by now the dominant genre of mainstream vocal music. Despite these developments, the Masitkhani and Razakhani formats in teental have remained the essential core of the sitar idiom.
Also during the 20th century, with further improvements in the acoustic capabilities of the instrument, the sitar was able to take over the elaborate three-tier rudra veena style alap from the surbahar. Thus emerged the present raga-presentation format on the sitar, consisting of the alap-jod solo, followed by percussion-accompanied vilambit and drut gats, and ending with the climactic jhala.
A note by Pt. Arvind Parikh
Strictly Copyrighted By Ramprapanna Bhattacharya.
Copyright © 2008. Ramprapanna Bhattacharya. All rights reserved; Unauthorised reproduction is prohibited
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