DILRUBA
India 19th – 20th century.
This fiddle, whose construction and playing are between the sarangi and the sitar, was described in the 19th century under the name of Kamancha, then subsequently, the name of Dilruba “which delights the heart” would have been awarded by the famous Punjabi musician Mahant Gajja Singh (18.. – 1922)
The instrument is tinted red. The sound box is hollowed out of a block of mulberry, over which a goat skin is stretched. It is extended by a large neck along which eighteen tuning pegs are fixed for the highest sympathetic strings, as well as fifteen movable frets identical to those of sitars, for the playing strings.
At the top of the neck, the headstock carries the wooden pegs of the lowest sympathetic strings as well as those of the six playing strings; four of which the two highest are doubled.
Length 109.4cm Width: 20.7cm. Body height: 12.7cm
Bibliography: : « Gloire des princes, louanges des dieux » Catalogue d’exposition, Musée de la Musique, Paris 2003
