Indian Classical Sarod Music

General Music Discussion
#1

After reading The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick and experimenting with single-string lead playing I decided to check out some Indian sitar music. It’s been a pretty eye-opening experience in a lot of ways and I’ve been enjoying the exploration. It comes across somewhat slow, meandering and aimless at first but it’s actually a highly systemized style of music despite being largely improvised. I started out looking at sitar music, but I discovered that Sitar is a finger-instrument whereas the Sarod is picked.

There are a wide variety of scales/modes used, some similar to common modes in Western music, and some that are very exotic and alien to my ears. The thing that stands out the most to me are the rhythmic approaches and also the importance of note inflection and articulation.

Needless to say, there are some utterly monster players out there in this style. Sarod mechanics appear similar to gypsy players–they all seem to use a posture that enforces DWPS forearm motions and some corsspicking too. There are some deadly fast pickers in the style.

On a mechanical level I’m not sure how much “new” stuff you’d learn in terms of picking technique. What really interests me are the rhythmic patterns, the use of space, the theory behind their improv styles and of course the way they can squeeze so much juice out of each note. A nice change of pace from the usual “just listen to the blues, man” advice that usually gets doled out.

Some really hot picking here, especially towards the end. Great Code-approved angles too.

Another selection:

This gal can really play too and her slower intro is pretty evocative.

If there are any ripping Sarod players who have crossed over into guitar playing I’d be curious to check them out.

The lead player is a flutist here but I really like the scale here, reminds me of Lydian. And the synchronization between him and the tabala player during certain passages towards the end blew my mind and I honestly can’t tell if that sort of thing is rehearsed in advance or if they just have great non-verbal communication/intuition for this sort of thing:

5 Likes
#2

Now you’re in my area :wink:

I’ve been playing sitar for around 3 years or so. It’s a lot of fun! The tradition of Indian music is far more challenging for me to get my head around than actually playing it! At some point I’d love to get some of the famous ragas and tab them out for 6 string guitar, that could lead to some very interesting sounds. I’ve got an old Ravi Shankar book from the 60s (given to me, I’m not that old!) that has a few written out in standard notation, so maybe it’s time to start on this project!

Sarod is an interesting one. It seems sarod players use quite similar technique to standard plectrum guitar but I’ve never examined it that closely. Would certainly be interesting to see the technique used. Since we’ve had mandolin, maybe Troy would like to go totally left field with this one! Haha!

I went to a talk in London by this guy last year, amazing musician. One of the sarod kings for sure. Both his sons are also very good!

6 Likes
#3

Awesome posts guys. I want a sarod now. And that chic playing it. The sarod kinda reminds me of a fretless banjo in tone.

:bear:

#4

That’s badass, @TheCount! Thanks for sharing. I’ll have to see if there are any cool concerts, festivals or clinics going on in my area down the pipeline–we have a pretty large Indian population in Vancouver and surrounding areas here.

I’d also be very interested in a Code Analysis of Sarod players with a look into the improvisation mindset used, similar to Martin Miller’s talk perhaps.

Found some other interesting clips that might be of interest to Indian Classical newbies like myself. This guy is a relatively newer player who claims a lot of influence from western musicians and seems to get a lot of flak from YouTube purists for it. Here he tries to demonstrate the raga concept in western terms.

There’s also this clip of Ravi Shankar who also uses western terms. He was an incredible musical force with lots of knowledge.

A great discussion between a classical guitarist and a sitarist on some of the fundamental differences in style and execution between the two styles of classical music. Great demonstrations, again the sitarist puts things in western terms.

Aaaaand one last video. Great Sarod demonstration+breakdown.

2 Likes
#5

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Definitely worth attending a show. This stuff is WAY better live I find.

Niladri Kumar is one of the most technically accomplished sitar players probably ever. His ability is other worldly. I saw him live last year and after a few lines the entire concert hall said ‘wow’ in unison. A true marvel!

Also he has an electric sitar and does mad shredding on it.

The rockstar of the Indian music world.

Roopa Panesar who you posted is also great, sadly I missed her show when she was near me, but maybe next time.

I’d certainly be interesting in a conversation on their approach to improvisation. Though I get it a lot in my sitar lessons, everyone has a different approach and it’s such a HUGE topic you could do 20 interviews with different Indian musicians and only scratch the surface.

3 Likes