The Sarangi

In the plethora of musical instruments there is the sound of a few that move me the most. Maybe it's because of the sadness and loneliness in my life that the melancholy and soulful music of the violin, cello and sarangi are the ones that strike a deep chord in my heart. Some day I wish to learn to play any one of the instrument. You all may know about the violin and cello but let me introduce you to the Sarangi.

The sarangi is the most prominent bowed musical instrument of North Indian Classical music. It comes from the large family of folk fiddles. In Indian classical music the importance of a musical instrument is based on how close it sounds to the human voice and the Sarangi comes on the top in this regard. Most composition are based on ancient Ragas. I am not in the position to comment anything else about the instrument except for the fact that it produces the most haunting sound ever. I will let the music do the talking. You can listen to the Sarangi here or through the player in the sidebar (it is the last song in the list). One of my favourite sarangi player is Ustad Sultan Khan. 

                                        

The video is of a performance by Pandit Ram Narayan, on of the greatest master of the Sarangi.

Video Credit: Pixaninny