Northern India, Bangladeshi, Pakistani
Hindustani Classical Music

Wood, metal strings, metals, bone, goat skin
Mid 20th century
Chordophones – Lutes

The sarod is a fretless stringed instrument, used in Hindustani (northern Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani) classical music, belonging to the Indo-Muslim music culture of classical tradition.  The name sarod roughly translates to “beautiful sound” or “to sing” in Persian languages.  The sarod is believed to have descended from the rubab of Central Asia and Afghanistan, which arrived in India during the 16^th century.  Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments and when played is accompanied by the tabla (drums).

There are mainly two types of modern sarods — the sarod with six main pegs/strings and the one with eight main pegs/strings. This sarod has the  eight main pegs/strings and two chikari pegs/strings.  Also, there is a small extra bridge near the upper nut where four drone strings rest upon it. These strings are tuned to the main notes of the raga played.  In addition, this sarod is longer than the other type of sarod.  On both types of sarods, there is a broad, arch-shaped piece of bone with grooves on top for the main strings and small holes below for the secondary strings.  This bridge sits on the lower part of the sound table. The sound chamber is divided in the middle by a rounded waist, with the bottom chamber covered by a glued-on sound table (kahl or puri) of goatskin.  The upper portion of the resonating chamber tapers and extends into the neck that is covered with chrome-metal that serves as a fingerboard. Protruding from the wooden resonator behind the fingerboard is a pegbox for the sympathetic strings.  Another distinction is that this type of sarod also has an extra (brass) gourd-shaped resonator affixed to the top pegbox where the main pegs are inserted bilaterally.  The strings of this modern eight peg sarod are plucked with a plectrum held in the right hand, while the fingernails of the left hand press the strings. Performance on this fretless instrument, with its metal finger board is characterized by the ability to produce the continuous slides between notes known as meend (glissandi), which are important in Indian music.

This sarod, with eight main and two chikari strings, an extra bridge, a longer body, and an extra resonator affixed to the top pegbox, as discussed above, is designed by Allauddin Khan along with his instrument-maker brother Ayet Ali Khan. The principal players of this kind of sarod are Ali Akbar Khan, son of Allauddin Khan, and his disciples.