Dilruba

Dilruba instrument, a young instrument, is found in the northern parts of India. This instrument is often used in light classical music and religious music in the areas of the city. This instrument is not very old. It is about 200 years old. This instrument is so enchanting that it has been called as “burglar of the heart.” This instrument is a type of cross lying between Sarangi and Sitar. Dilruba bears much resemblance to mayuri vina and esraj. It is so much similar that many people are not able to differentiate them. The main difference lies in the shape and the manner in which the strings remain attached.  These instruments are so similar that a player of Dilruba faces no trouble in playing mayuri vina or esraj.

Origin of Dilruba

It is known that Dilruba originated from Taus. Some people say that it is the work of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh Guru while Taus was the work carried out by Guru Hargobind, known to be the sixth guru of the Sikhs. This instrument was introduced to take the place of previously used bulky instrument, Taus. This step was taken to despise Taus, which is now known as Dilruba.This instrument made it more comfortable for the army of Sikh for carrying this instrument on the back of the horse.

Design

The shapes and sizes of these instruments are very similar. Each instrument bears a medium sized neck with bulky metal frets numbering 20. This long neck rests on a long rack made of wood, having 12-15 strings.Dilruba consists of more strings and are different from esraj. These two have principal strings, which remains bowed. All the strings are made up of metal. The soundboard is a kind of stretched piece of skin of the goat quite similar to what is seen on sarangi. Sometimes, Dilruba consists of a gourd which remains attached to the top for maintaining the balance or enhancement of tone.

Playing Positions

Dilruba can be kept between the knees of the player while playing it. Also, it can be placed on the knee of the artist while attaining the sitting posture or the floor just in front of the artist with the neck resting on the shoulder on the left side. This instrument is often played with bow, which is called as Gaz with the next hand making movements along the strings, which lie above the frets. The artists can slide the note up or down for achievement of meend or portamento rudiments of music of India.

Notable Players

A. R. Rahman

Allah Rakha Rahman was born on January 6th 1966. In fact, he is philanthropist, multi-instrumentalist, musician, music producer, singer, songwriter and composer. He is known as the most prolific and prominent film composer of the world. His works are praiseworthy for uniting electronic music, cultural orchestral arrangements and world music genres sounds with classical music. He enjoys credit of winning two awards, thirteen filmfare awards south, fifteen filmfare awards, four national film awards, a golden globe, a BAFTA award, and two grammy awards. Apart from this, he has won various other nominations and awards. His complete work for the stage and film led him to achieve the well-known nickname ‘the Mozart of Madras’. Many Tamil fans and commentators have rechristened him the nickname ‘Isai Puyal.’ In the year of 2009, the time saddled Rahman in the list of world’s most conspicuous people. Songlines, World music magazine from U.K.  gave him the title of Tomorrow’s world music icons in the year of August 2011.

Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish

Shiv Dayal Batish, also called as S.D. Batish, was born on December 14th 1994 and died on July 29th 2006. He was a great musician of India, born in the city of Patiala. He was born in a Brahmin family. He left for heavenly abode in Santa Cruz, California, USA, the place where he had been living since the year 1970. S.D. showed his first program in the year of 1936 from All India Radio. Nowadays, his famous songs are broadcast from TV and All India radio. A simple quest for Batish dependent on YouTube will yield many hits of videos belonging to old and melancholy songs. He exhibited his complete mastery and profound understanding over different instrumental and vocal styles belonging to Indian music. The credit goes to him for not only singing genres but also for composing seriously within them thereby producing unforgettable works which have been sung by great personalities like Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood, Mohammad Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhonsle and Lata Mangeskhar. He has composed music for numerous films like Tipu Sultan, Harjeet, Toofan, Bahu Beti, Betab etc.

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