sitar

The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, an 18th-century figure of the Mughal Empire, has been identified by modern scholarship as the inventor of the sitar. According to most historians, he developed the sitar from the setar, an Iranian instrument of Abbasid or Safavid origin.

AI overview

The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument from the Indian subcontinent, invented in the 18th century by Khusrau Khan of the Mughal Empire, and now an essential instrument in Hindustani classical music. It developed from the Iranian setar and reached its modern form by the 19th century, becoming a distinctive and important part of Indian musical tradition.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Key facts

Instrument.name: Sitar
Instrument.image: File:Sitar, late 19th Century.jpg
Instrument.background: string
Instrument.classification: Necked bowl lutes String instruments
Instrument.hornbostel_sachs: 321.321
Instrument.hornbostel_sachs_desc: Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum
Instrument.developed: 18th century
Instrument.sound sample: Sitar clipping

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Image: Sitar3.jpg

Show 2 more facts

Commons category: Sitars
Hornbostel-Sachs classification: 321.321-6

Sources (1)

wikidata.org

via Wikidata · CC0

~14 min read

Article

11 sections

Contents

Etymology
History
Physical description
Construction styles
Tuning of sitar
Playing
World music influence
Sitar gharanas
See also
References
External links

Used widely throughout the Indian subcontinent, the sitar became popularly known in the wider world through the works of Ravi Shankar, beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The advent of psychedelic culture during the mid-to-late 1960s set a trend for the use of the sitar in Western popular music, with the instrument appearing on tracks by bands such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Metallica and many others.