Esraj

The Esraj is my new love! Filmed on the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, this uniquely Indian instrument has a very close association to the Sikh religion and is part Sitar and part Sarangi. It is a bowed instrument with 4 main strings, 15 sympathetic strings and moveable frets. It is very similar to the Dilruba and both have a predecesor in the Taus. In my opinion this is one of the most expressive and beautiful instruments I’ve ever come across. So lets take a look at how it is played, what you can do with it, and from whence it came…. 00:00 Intro 00:14 Titles And Performance 01:12 What Is It? 01:34 The Layout Of The Esraj 01:55 Four Main Strings 02:34 Sympathetic Strings Intro 03:21 The Tuning 04:05 Moveable Frets 05:06 The Playing 06:39 Performance Like A Vocalist 08:26 The Notes 09:30 Sympathetic Strings In Detail 10:22 Performance Minor Key 12:09 Bending The Strings 13:28 The History 13:42 The Dilruba 14:00 The Sikh Connection 14:27 The Taus 14:58 The Peacock Story 16:07 Wrap Up 16:23 Performance Play Out 17:33 Why Cape Town?