Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
3,590,034,312 visitors served.
forum Join the Word of the Day Mailing List For webmasters
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

Sitar

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
sitar (sĭtär`), fretted string instrument with a gourdlike body and a long neck, similar to the lute. It has from 3 to 7 gut strings, tuned in fourths or fifths (or both), and a lower course of 12 wire strings that vibrate sympathetically with the first set. It is played alone or in a small ensemble. Indigenous to the India subcontinent, the sitar was popularized in the West in the 1960s by the Indian virtuoso Ravi Shankar Shankar, Ravi, 1920–, Indian sitarist and composer, b. Varanasi. He was the first Indian instrumentalist to attain an international reputation. As a youth Shankar was a noted solo dancer with his brother Uday's Indian dance troupe in Paris.
..... Click the link for more information.
 and is sometimes used in rock music.

sitar

Long-necked stringed instrument of the lute family, played primarily in northern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. As the dominant instrument in Hindustani music, it is used in ensembles and as a solo instrument with the tamboura (drone-lute) and tabla. It has a deep pear-shaped gourd body, metal strings, front and side tuning pegs, a wide neck, and movable frets. It normally has five melody strings, which are plucked with a plectrum worn on the forefinger; several drone strings; and numerous sympathetic strings (strings caused to vibrate by the other strings' vibrations). A gourd resonator is attached to the top of the neck.


sitar
a stringed musical instrument, esp of India, having a long neck, a rounded body, and movable frets. The main strings, three to seven in number, overlie other sympathetic strings, the tuning depending on the raga being performed

Sitar 

a stringed musical instrument. The sitar has a wooden convex body, a long neck with 16 to 18 movable frets, and three melody strings and up to ten sympathetic strings. The strings are tuned in fourths and fifths. The sitar is native to India, where it is a plucked instrument, and Uzbekistan and Tadzhik-istan, where it is often bowed as well as plucked. [23–1426–]



How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Feedback
Mentioned in?  References in classic literature?   Encyclopedia browser?   Full browser?
No references found
 
The voices of early evening had settled down to one soothing hum whose deepest note was the steady chumping of the bullocks above their chopped straw, and whose highest was the tinkle of a Bengali dancing-girl's sitar.
 
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Terms of Use | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2012 Farlex, Inc.
Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.