Sarangi

The **sarangi** is musical instrument.  It has strings and a short neck. The musician plays it using a bow. It is played in traditional Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music in India. It is also common in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Nepal has a different musical instrument that is also called sarangi. The instrument is also called 'Shatarangi' because of the flexibility of the sound, the many musical styles, and the many tones and emotions it can make.

## History

The sarangi is named after the bow of Lord Vishnu. The word _sarangi_ is a combination of two words: _seh_ ('three' in Persian) and _rangi_ ('coloured' in Persian) or Persian _sad-rangi_, _sad_ for 'hundred' in Persian ('hundred coloured) corrupted as _sarangi_. The term _seh-rangi_ represents the three melody strings. However, the most common folk etymology is that _sarangi_ is derived from _sol rang_ (means 'a hundred colours'). The name Solrong indicating its adaptability to many styles of vocal music, its flexible tunability, and its ability to produce a large palette of tonal colour and emotional nuance.

The Nepali Sarangi is also a traditional stringed musical instrument of Nepal, commonly played by the Gaine or Gandarbha ethnic group. In Nepal, Sarangi is viewed as an iconic musical instrument to identify the Gandarbha people.

## Description

The sarangi is an instrument used mainly in North Indian music by the archer or the bow. The instrument became popular in the mid-seventeenth century as a percussion instrument in folk music. It still maintains its status. The instrument also plays an important role in accompanying the harmonium.

It has a mysterious ability to mimic the tone and timbre of a human voice, along with emotional expression.

## References

- Bor, Joep, 1987: "The Voice of the Sarangi", comprising National Centre for the Performing Arts Quarterly Journal 15 (3–4), December 1986 and March 1987 (special combined issue), Bombay: NCPA
- Magriel, Nicolas, 1991 Sarangi Style in North Indian Music (published Ph.D. thesis), London: University of London, available on amazon.com
- Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt, 1997: “The Indian Sarangi: Sound of Affect, Site of Contest”, Yearbook for Traditional Music, pp. 1–38
- Sorrell, Neil (with Ram Narayan), 1980: Indian Music in Performance, Bolton: Manchester University Press

## Other websites

- [Resham Firiri A popular Nepali folk music with a Sarangi and _madal_.
- sarangi.info – downloadable sarangi and vocal music, including the integral of two important books, _The Voice of the Sarangi_ by Joep Bor and _Indian Music in Performance and Practice_ by Ram Narayan and Neil Sorrell.
- Growing into Music – includes several films by Nicolas Magriel on Indian musical enculturation including films about the sarangi players, Farooq Latif Khan (born 1975), Sarwar Hussain Khan (born 1981), Mohammed Ali Khan, Sarangi (d. 2002), Ghulam Sabir Qadri (1922-), Vidya Sahai Mishra (d. 2019), Siddiqui Ahmed Khan (1914-), Ghulam Sabir Khan (born 1948), Murad Ali (born 1977), Faiyaz Khan (Varanasi), Zakan Khan (Varanasi) and Kanhaiyalal Mishra (Varanasi).
- Sarangi, Gujarat, 19th century
- Sarangi, ca. 1900
- Sarangi, North India, late 19th century

## Infobox (instrument)

- **name**: Sarangi
- **image**: The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - Sarangi.jpg
- **classification**: *Chordophone
- **related**: * Sarinda
* Taus (instrument), Taus
* Dilruba/Esraj
*Dhantara