Sarangi
The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from India – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the "serja") – also in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is said to most resemble the sound of the human voice through its ability to imitate vocal ornaments such as "gamaks" (shakes) and "meends" (sliding movements). The sarangi (Nepali) is a different instrument, traditional to Nepal. History. Sarangi derives its name from the bow of Lord Vishnu and probably as it is played with a bow it is named sarangi. According to some  musicians, 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" ('a hundred colours') 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 repertoire of "sarangi" players is traditionally very closely related to vocal music. Nevertheless, a  concert with a solo "sarangi" as the main item will sometimes include a full-scale "raag" presentation with an extensive "alap" (the unmeasured improvisatory development of the raga) in increasing intensity ("alap" to "jor" to "jhala") and several compositions in increasing tempo called "bandish". As such, it could be seen as being on a par with other instrumental styles such as sitar, sarod, and bansuri. It is rare to find a "sarangi" player who does not know the words of many classical compositions. The words are usually mentally present during the performance, and a performance almost always adheres to the  conventions of vocal performances including the organisational structure, the types of elaboration, the tempo, the relationship between sound and silence, and the presentation of "khyal" and "thumri" compositions. The vocal quality of "sarangi" is in a separate category from, for instance, the so-called "gayaki-ang" of sitar which attempts to imitate the nuances of "khyal" while overall conforming to the structures and usually keeping to the "gat" compositions of instrumental music. (A "gat" is a composition set to a cyclic rhythm.) The Nepali Sarangi is also a traditional stringed musical instrument of Nepal, commonly played by the Gaine or  Gandarbha ethnic group but the form and repertoire of "sarangi" is more towards the folk music as compared to the heavy and classical form of the repertoire in India. In Nepal, Sarangi is viewed as an iconic musical instrument to identify the Gandarbha people. Structure. Carved from a single block of "tun" (red cedar) wood, the "sarangi" has a box-like shape with three hollow chambers: "pet" ('stomach'), "chaati" ('chest') and "magaj" ('brain'). It is usually around long and around wide, though it can vary as there are smaller as well as larger variant "sarangis" as well. The lower resonance  chamber or "pet" is covered with parchment made out of goat skin on which a strip of thick leather is placed around the waist (and nailed on the back of the chamber) which supports the elephant-shaped bridge that is usually made of camel or buffalo bone. (Originally, it was made of ivory or Barasingha bone but now that is rare due to the ban in India). The bridge in turn supports the huge pressure of approximately 35–37 sympathetic steel or brass strings and three main gut strings that pass through it. The three main playing strings – the comparatively thicker  gut strings – are bowed with a heavy horsehair bow and stopped not with the fingertips but with the nails, cuticles, and surrounding flesh. Talcum powder is applied to the fingers as a lubricant. The neck has ivory or bone platforms on which the fingers slide. The remaining strings are resonance strings or "tarabs", numbering up to around 35–37, divided into four choirs having two sets of pegs, one on the right and one on the top. On the inside is a chromatically tuned row of 15 "tarabs" and on the right a diatonic row of nine "tarabs" each encompassing a  full octave, plus one to three extra surrounding notes above or below the octave. Both these sets of "tarabs" pass from the main bridge to the right side set of pegs through small holes in the "chaati" supported by hollow ivory/bone beads. Between these inner "tarabs" and on either side of the main playing strings lie two more sets of longer "tarabs", with five to six strings on the right set and six to seven strings on the left set. They pass from the main bridge over to two small, flat, wide, table-like bridges through the additional bridge  towards the second peg set on top of the instrument. These are tuned to the important tones ("swaras") of the raga. A properly tuned "sarangi" will hum and cry and will sound like melodious meowing, with tones played on any of the main strings eliciting echo-like resonances. A few "sarangis" use strings manufactured from the intestines of goats. Pakistan. Sarangi is a Mughal-era musical instrument. Sarangi decline in Pakistan began in the 1980s after the death of several master players. The instrument costs around Rs. 120,000/- (about $625).