SARANGI

fiddle popular in northern Indian (Hindustani) music. Its roughly rectangular, slightly waisted body and broad, unfretted neck are generally carved from a single piece of wood. It has three gut melody strings, sometimes a fourth of metal, and often from 11 to 15 sympathetically vibrating metal strings. Though formerly an instrument of professional dancing girls, it is now played in classical dance ensembles. The sarangi has a widely played folk-music variant, the sarinda, sometimes mistakenly called a sarangi. Its body is a deep, waisted wood shell with a skin belly. The upper half is left open, its sides forming pointed, downcurved barbs.