The sursingar sursringar or surshringar is a musical instrument from India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is a lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

-derived Sarod

Sarod

The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...

, except it is larger in size and produces a deeper sound. It is a distant descendant of the Saraswati Veena

Saraswati veena

The Saraswati veena is an Indian plucked string instrument. It is named after the Hindu goddess Saraswati, who is usually depicted holding or playing the instrument. Also known as raghunatha veena is used mostly in Carnatic Indian classical music...

. It precedes the Sarod chronologically.

Its neck has a metal fingerboard and the steel and bronze strings are played with a metal pick, while the bridge is made of a flat horn. It has two resonant boxes; the main box is made from a cut pumpkin, on which a wooden cover is attached.

Construction

The main body is made of wood and not leather (the material used in earlier instruments). The sound producing mechanism of the instrument is formed by a gourd. The gourd is attached to a hollow wooden handle. The handle is sometimes covered with a metal plate to facilitate the glissando

Glissando

In music, a glissando is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento...

. It has four main strings and four rhythmic drone

Drone

-Nature:The male sex of social Hymenopterans, such as a* Drone * male wasp* male ant-Chemicals:An abbreviation referring to one of two psychoactive drugs:* Mephedrone* 4-Methoxymethcathinone, commonly known as methedrone-Vehicles:...

s (chikari). The strings are usually made of brass (instead of catgut used in earlier instruments). These modifications resulted in the increase of resonance in the instrument and thereby in its popularity.

The instrument is supported by the left shoulder, as the Veena

Veena

Veena may refer to one of several Indian plucked instruments:With frets*Rudra veena, plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music*Saraswati veena, plucked string instrument used in Carnatic musicFretless...

 and is played with a plectrum

Plectrum

A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...

 (mezrab) or tab (and sometimes with a bow). It is used to play music in the Hindustani style Dhrupad

Dhrupad

Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...

.

Noted performers

Baba Allauddin Khan

Allauddin Khan

Allauddin Khan , was a Bengali sarodiya and multi-instrumentalist, composer and one of the most renowned music teachers of the 20th Century in Indian classical music.In 1935, he toured Europe, along with Uday Shankar's ballet troupe, and later also worked at his...

 had a few recordings as possibly did Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra

Radhika Mohan Maitra

Radhika Mohan Maitra was an Indian sarod player. Maitra was considered an influential figure in 20th century sarod playing and received the title Sangeetacharya.-Early life and background:...

. You can hear the former playing a piece here. http://www.parrikar.org/music/bhoop/allauddin_shuddhakalyan.rm