South Asia

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Catalog # Name Description
1 2022-27-80 Sarangi A bowed string instrument from South Asia, most often used to accompany vocal and dance performances because of it's ability to match the tone of human vocalization. The body, neck, and peg box all appear to have been carved from a single piece of wood which has been ornamented with carvings and inlays of what appears to be white plastic, meant to imitate the appearance of ivory. The body of the instrument is hollowed out and has a thin, white material stretched over it; a strip of reddish-brown leather/faux leather belt has been stretched tightly over the top of the body and is held in place via metal nails on either side of the face; a white plastic bridge sits on top of this belt. At the bottom of the instrument there is another piece of reddish-brown leather/faux leather which protects the face/body from damage from the strings; directly below this is a protruding string holder. There are a total of 3 played strings made from either gut or nylon and 37 sympathetic strings made from metal; the playable strings attach to large, wooden tuning pegs with rounded knobs on the end, contained in the area of the peg box closest to the neck, they then run over a small white plastic bridge at the top of the neck before going down the neck and over the primary bridge (notable that there are four of these pegs but only three strings, this is because this instrument has an optional fourth string which would traditionally be made of metal and act as an additional sympathetic string). The sympathetic strings originate from various points around the instrument: 13 start at the top of the peg box, above the playable strings, with 11 wooden pegs on the top of the instrument and two on the proper right side, these strings are split into two groups by a white plastic partition with holes for the strings and two small, flat bridges (also made from white plastic) with each group going down a different side of the neck; the remaining 24 strings start from wooden pegs contained along the proper right side of the neck, with the strings coming up through small holes made in the neck before travelling down the the primary bridge, 9 of these strings utilize shorter pegs and come through holes that have been arranged in a straight line down the proper right side of the neck while the remaining 15 utilize much longer pegs and come through holes which have been arranged diagonally, starting at the top of the neck on the proper left and moving inward towards the center at the bottom of the neck; all of these metal sympathetic strings go through holes made in the primary bridge rather than over it. There are two stickers near the top of the instrument: one on the very top of the peg box is black and white and contains both English and Hindi text, the English text reads "Rikhi Ram Musical Instrument Manufacturing Co. - 8-A. Marina Arcade. Connaught Circus New Delhi" and the Hindi most likely reads the same, between the English and Hindi there is an image of a figure in the center with a collection of various instruments reflected on either side; on the proper left side of the peg box is a gold sticker with red and black lettering which reads "Rikhi Ram Musical Instruments Manufacturing Co. 8-A. Marina Arcade, Connaught Circus, New Delhi.-I. (Suppliers to A.I.R)".