Sanxian

[bod]

Just browsing around, as you do, and came across the Sanxian. Never heard of these before, traditional Chinese instruments apparently. That said, they are sort of a bit like a long neck, 3 string banjo, but fretless, which allows sliding notes to be performed with bare fingers... Rather nice, I thought



(Have you had chance to try one of these Jaco?)

It seems the Japanese developed a version of this called the Sanshin and, in the face of materials shortages around the end of WW2, the people of Okinawa came up with the Kankara [meaning 'made from a can') Sanshin using tin cans from emergency food supplied by the US military, with old parachute lines for strings

[Michael Messer]

Hi Bod,

I have played a Chinese banjo, in fact a few of them in a shop in Shanghai. It is a funky machine, but it didn't light my fire enough to buy one. For my ears and my musical taste they sound a bit thin. I am sure a fan of Chinese folk music would disagree and rightfully so!

The one I would like to have is an Indian Sarod. This is a fretless banjo-type instrument, but with more depth to the sound and more strings. Check out Ali Akbar Khan's recordings, the sound and stye of playing are very close to slide guitar. It is a bit like a Mohan Veena.....or the other way round!

This is a good introduction to the Sarod.



...and this is the great Ali Akbar Khan



Whoops I've gone all Indian on you again!

Shine On
Michael

[Deleted]

You can keep the Indian theme going from my point of view, wonderful music and wonderful instruments although I have to report that teaching yourself sitar is bl**dy difficult, tuning 20 strings is a major task and sitting cross legged is a generous 40 years long gone, however it is still a beautiful looking thing and one that I need to do much more work on. Haven't found any other Sitarists in Cornwall though.

[bod]

May 11, 2013 11:00:38 GMT Michael Messer said:

...
Whoops I've gone all Indian on you again!

Shine On
Michael

I'm with Tommo on this one, keep it coming...

Also, no doubt about - it the sarod is a fine instrument. I think the Sanxian particularly captured my attention because I've been getting into homemade instruments with relatively few strings of late and could straight away see a possible project and so was especially pleased to hear of the Kancara Sanshin....

Tommo - don't know of any sitar players in Cornwall either, but I do know there is definitely at least one in Devon. Ricky Romain. Funnily enough, I heard about him only this week after mentioning Michael's and Manish Pingle's forthcoming 'Slide at the Riverside' event to the chap I share a desk with at work. Turns out he's a tabla player, there's a clip below of him and Ricky Romain from a performance / workshop they do annually for local music students:



Here's a link to Romain's website:
www.indian-music.org/biography.php

[Deleted]

Bod

Thanks for the link. I hadn't heard of the guy and was unaware that such tuition was available at the University of Plymouth. I have emailed Ricky and will see what possibilities there are.

I have found trying to learn Sitar on my own is like trying to crack the enigma code by yourself, however this looks very interesting. I bet there are also a couple of sitarists around Totnes which has always been a Hippy town.

Cheers

[Malc]

Early last year I was fortunate enough to visit India with my wife backpacking.On our travels we stayed at a little half a star hotel on the banks of the Ganges.On the first evening I heard music coming from the dining room and so decided to eat there. There were 3 Indian musicians. Sitar,Sarod and Tablas playing.That was it we ate there every night for the 3 nights we stayed. For two of the nights we were the only guests so we could listen without any other noise around us. The Sarod player could see that I was interested and so explained all about the instrument. Its the first time also that I have ever heard tablas played properly live and was amazed at the sounds that came from them the musician made them sing.

[bod]

@ Tommo - hope it works out for you with Ricky Romain, would be interested to hear if it does... For what it's worth, I do think it could be promising: my tabla playing chum has since given me a cd of he and Ricky playing 'Raga Piloo' and IMHO it's rather good (he also gave me an invite to their forthcoming performance at a local college and I'm really looking forward to it)

[mikenewport]

Thank you very much indeed. The Ali Akbar Khan piece is wonderful !

Has the fretless metal neck ever been tried on a metal resonator guitar? I find it amazing that the 'fretted' notes ring out so clearly and agree with others - keep them coming.

Mike

[Quarterquay]

Here's something from Hungary, Laszlo Hortobagyi and the Gayan Uttejak Orchestra.
This is one of their less out there pieces. Very hard to pin down what they're about.
I'm not sure if this is deliberate obscuration on their part or it's simply because Hungarian is
a particularly singular and difficult language and there's not much translated info about.
They are quite prolific though in their output.

[Quarterquay]

More recycled instruments,this time an orchestra of kids from Paraguay...