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Popular sitar songs MELODIC INSTRUMENTS
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10 posts circuitbent 10 posts
circuitbent
thanks guys for all your input. When I go back to school this fall at UT austin I am enrolled in an ensemble class for northern indian music where they teach sitar and tabla so it will be great having a teacher for once! so i guess ill put more time into learning ICM rather than some beatles songs.

Also i have one other quick question. the two strings after the chikari strings on my sitar are tuned very low and are almost useless for me as i dont think they even sound good. do you guys use those strings often?

thanks again
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circuitbent 10 posts
circuitbent
does anyone know if there is some sort of archive of popular songs to play on the sitar? many thanks!
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barend Senior Member 1,426 posts
barend
Popular songs on sitar...no idea...what do you consider popular...

you can try to play some raga based tunes from old hindi movies like Pakheeza. and Baiju Barwa....just copy the vocal lines...these are mostly really nice melodies...and not so easy!!, actualy if you want to play all the embellishments they are fairly difficult.
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beenkar 394 posts
beenkar
T-Series has released one album by Sandip Das.....I liked it.
I had recorded a few songs by Lata but have not been released.
I also liked Veena Gayatris' CD on Hindi songs. I have also recorded a few on Saraswati Veena for publishing later on.
It is difficult art and can only be done by those who follow the gayaki style............and ofcourse nobody can beat Rais Khan with those pieces played with Lata..............I have accompanied a few khayaliyas on Sitar instead of Sarangi...............very difficult but a very challenging art............I can release my accompaniment with the khayals for any one interesting in it............
रंग भरयौ मुसकात लला निकस्यौ कल कुंजन ते सुखदाई
टूटि गयो घर को सब बंधन छूटि गौ आरज- लाज- बड़ाई
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barend Senior Member 1,426 posts
barend
Hi beenkar,

What is the name of that album from Sandip Das?

and of that album from Rais Khan with lata M. ?....that is a very nice combination I guess.
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barend Senior Member 1,426 posts
barend
Sanjay Deshpande has recorded 4 Cd's/tapes with hindi film songs on sitar....I have one tape of this.

Although I like his sitar playing I don't like the accompaniment.
He uses real tabla and some percussion, but for the rest he has programmed everything on the computer with some bad midi sounds, and that sounds too static and simple.

But for the rest it is nice.
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Javkhlant 2 posts
Javkhlant
hey circuitbent

check out Norwegian Wood, Love You To, Within You Without You by The Beatles.

Also check out Paint It Black and Street Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones.

Those are the most popular pop songs that I can think of that had sitar. But if you're serously into sitar then Shankar is still the best especially the pieces Afghani sitar and Gat Kirwani
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evening84 Senior Member 513 posts
evening84
For every ton of rubbish that comes out of Bollywood, there is a gram or two of absolutely mesmerizing stuff. There is an interlude played on Sitar in the Asha Bhonsle song "khali haath shaam aayee hai, khali haath jayegee" that is every bit as beautiful as the song. One of my favourite Piloo tunes, I remember listening to the just the interlude umpteen times over ....
My karma ran over your dogma
http://evening84.blogspot.com/
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beenkar 394 posts
beenkar
Rais Khan featured with Hariharan in one of his recent Ghazal Albums.........the CD was worth listening to just for Rais Khan's Sitar interludes...........I remember the Ghazal "Kaash Aisa Koi Manzar Hota, Mera Kandhe Pe Tera Sar Hota...." ....the Raga Misr Tilang tune fill by Rais Khan was exquisite........

Now we are listening to some very nice stuff from Niladhari who is filling in the gap in bollywood which was left by Rais Khan ..........
रंग भरयौ मुसकात लला निकस्यौ कल कुंजन ते सुखदाई
टूटि गयो घर को सब बंधन छूटि गौ आरज- लाज- बड़ाई
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circuitbent 10 posts
circuitbent
thanks for the responses; however, maybe i should rephrase my questions.

is there a website of tabulated songs for the sitar?
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Kanti Dattani 213 posts
Kanti Dattani
Not 'popular' sitar songs, but for classical vocal/sitar jugalbandhi check out Rashid Khan vocal Shahid Parvez Sitar, ragas Bageshri 57 minutes and Desh 19 minutes, NRCD0049. Unfortunately not one of our highly recommended CD, but interesting.

If you are interested in 'sarod songs' CD, check out Asha Bhosle/Ali Akbar Khan CD, AMMP7216 Legacy with sitar by James Pomeranz. Again not one of our highly recommended CD; the recording quality, the balance and the mix are poor. Ashaji is not at her best either.

Best wishes,

Kanti Dattani
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rex 674 posts
rex
Hi Circuitbent,

If you can let us know a little about your skill/experience level with the sitar that might help us steer you in the right direction. As far as I know there is no sitar tab system, but the Sargam Indian music notation system (which functions in a similar way) is easy to learn. Are you just starting out sitar and looking for some simple melodies to help you get comfortable with the instrument?

Cheers,
Rex
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circuitbent 10 posts
circuitbent
when i purchased my sitar i also bought "the sitar" book by Junius. it has several sargams in there and i like them a lot i was just wondering if anyone has translated popular songs (ex: Norwegian Wood) into the sargam format and if there is an archive of sargam songs to play.

I have been playing for about 3 weeks, i have the sargam notation down pretty well and can improvise using the scales learned in the book. I just want to learn more ICM or other songs that are known by a western audience.

thank you all for your responses!
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rex 674 posts
rex
Thanks Circuitbent, that helps a lot!

If you can find a teacher, that would probably be the best thing you can do as then you'll learn proper technique and be introduced to a vast repetoire of sitar music that will suite your skill level... but I'm sure you already know that..!

If you're looking for western pop songs in indian notation, I'm not sure of a source for this. A lot of western melodies work very well on the sitar (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is a great party trick!) but I've always just picked those up by ear.

In my opinion, the best general source of Indian melodies that are good for a beginner without a teacher to start learning are in "The Classical Music of North India":

http://www.aacm.org/shop/product156.html

It's a great introduction to Indian Classical Music history and theory too. Without a teacher though, you may find it a little tough going, but if you're just playing a bit of sitar on a casual basis it should be fine.

Anyone else out there have any suggestions for Circuitbent?

- Rex
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barend Senior Member 1,426 posts
barend
Just listen to the songs and copy it!...if you can not do that then it is no use of learning these songs anyway...... these songs you mention are very easy....

although I doubt you will learn a lot from it.

Better to study the real stuff, ICM

Good luck.
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sitarman 599 posts
sitarman
Hi Circuitbant,
I think Barend is making a very important point. There are many members to this forum and I'm sure there are also different reasons for, and levels of seriousness of, learning sitar. The songs you mentioned are western songs that used sitar for its unique sound but did not use it in a context of Indian music. Those melodies are very simple and learning them, once you can play the sitar even rudimentary, should be simple. If you want to learn true Indian "songs", that will of course take much more experience and tecxhnique, as they incorporate the more subtle inflections and phrasing of ICM, even if they are "popular" music. Then we have the ragas, which are a whole story unto themselves, on any instrument (including voice!). As was mentioned here, thre IS a system of notating melody in ICM, the most popular being the Ali Albar Khan type notation or the Ravi Shankat type and these are used in some books. Since sitar "melody" is played 99.99% on one string there is no need for what we call tablature to show fingerings!
As you spend more and more time enjoying your instrument I hope you will want to learn the music that it has evolved with- the real classical music of India. It would help you to learn the instrument and to sound like you are playing Indian music. Then, playing other melodies, eastern or western, would become extremely easy if you want to use it in that context. You have found a forum with a lot of knowledge! Good luck.
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