Nearest Neighbor – Guitar and Sitar

 

Guitar and sitar are both string instruments and they are rarely placed next to each other in Indian music. Doing a counterpoint with these nearly close sounding cousins is generally ruled out. However, none of these things seem to deter a composer such as Raja. Both the examples in this post are examples of how well he handles the sounds of these two instruments, not just placing them one after the other, but also composing counter melodies that play simultaneously. 

The first 14 seconds of this audio clip is the famous prelude of the song ‘Nilaave Vaa’ from Mouna Ragam (1987), where the guitar and the sitar play their melody simultaneously and most of us can hum along! The second example is the second interlude of the song, ‘Poove Semboove’ from 'Solla Thudikkudhu Manasu (1988). Between 17 and 26 seconds, it is a guitar that repeatedly plays the melody. From 27 seconds onwards, the sitar joins the arrangement and starts its own melody, with the guitar playing its repetitive melody. For the 5 seconds between 27 and 32, there are three things in play apart from the percussion. The background guitar melody continues, with the foreground now shared between a calling sitar and a responding second guitar. This is PolyCare, which is typical of Raja’s work. It’s almost like placing two unwilling neighbors next to the third.  Such things cannot be imagined by composers before and after him, let alone execute it.

Let’s hear these Nearest Neighbors – Guitar and Sitar  …

Thanks to Usha Sankar, for showcasing a few more tracks where these neighbors feature:

1. Sutha Samba Pacha Nellu from Annakili (Tamil 1976)
2. Sugamo Aayiram from ThunairuppaaL Meenakshi (Tamil 1977)