The 13th edition of NCPA’s Saz-e-Bahar explores Western instruments that found a home in Indian classical music.

By Ornella D’Souza

Each spring, the NCPA organises Saz-e-Bahar—Persian/Urdu for “splendour of instruments”—featuring recitals by Indian classical instrumentalists. Each edition follows a different theme, and this year the focus is on four instruments that did not originate here, but are now integral to the sound of Indian classical music.

The intention behind the theme of the festival, says Dr. Suvarnalata Rao, Programming Head – Indian Music and Research Scientist at the NCPA, was to give instruments the same prominence traditionally accorded to vocal music. “In Indian classical music, the voice is considered supreme because it is born in the human body, whereas instruments are manmade. Historically, they have often been regarded as secondary. One may assume instruments exist mainly to accompany the voice, but they have their own expressive possibilities. I conceived Saz-e-Bahar nearly 15 years ago to bring instruments to the forefront,” explains Dr. Rao, an instrumentalist herself. Before each performance, she will give an illustrated talk on the history and evolution of the instrument.

She elaborates on the theme for this year. “These instruments were born elsewhere,” she says, “but over time they reached India and their physical structure, acoustics and style of playing were reshaped to suit our musical requirements.” Here is a brief look at the instruments and their maestros:

Mandolin

The mandolin, a plucked string instrument from the European lute family, can be traced back to Italy, where it evolved in the 18th century and travelled widely thereafter. Western composers such as Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart wrote for the instrument—Mozart’s Don Giovanni being among the best-known examples. In Carnatic music, however, the mandolin found new life through the prodigious U. Srinivas (1969-2014). The Padma Shri awardee challenged classical purists by modifying the electric mandolin to produce complex ragas such as Thodi and Varali, intricate gamakas and sustained deergha swaras.

One of Srinivas’s prominent disciples is Aravind Bhargav, a Chennai-based mandolin artiste and thirdgeneration musician who is the first performer in the 2026 line-up. His grandmother N. M. Lakshmi was a veena exponent, while his mother, Gnana Prasuna, is an established vocalist and a disciple of Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna. Bhargav was enrolled with Srinivas at the age of six. “To understand and grasp his knowledge was difficult, but my mother would sit in class. After we went home, she would explain what Anna was trying to teach,” he recalls. He made his debut in 2008 and has since performed at over 250 concerts around the world, including in Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Switzerland and in a full-circle moment, in Italy.

Bhargav notes that today the mandolin enjoys institutional recognition. Even premier bodies such as All India Radio and Doordarshan have a separate category for the instrument. “The veena vidwan Kannan Balakrishnan, who organises the annual Veena Mahotsavam in Chennai, believes that the mandolin is part of the veena family,” he says.

Bhargav—who currently owns six mandolins—will perform a Dikshitar kriti as well as a ragam-tanampallavi, which he describes as “the ultimate expression of a Carnatic artiste.” Bhargav avidly listens to music by Carnatic greats such as M. S. Gopalakrishnan and Lalgudi Jayaraman. In time, he hopes to add a greater sense of resonance to the mandolin, though he acknowledges it will require considerable research. He believes his own style will emerge gradually. “It will happen organically and as a natural by-product of the strong influences of my guru and my mother.”

Violin

The violin, a bowed string instrument that emerged in 16th-century Italy, travelled widely across Europe before reaching India in the late 18th century. In South India, Balusvami Dikshitar (1786-1858)—brother of Carnatic composer Muthusvami Dikshitar—adapted the instrument for Carnatic music after learning it from European musicians in Madras, modifying its tuning and playing posture to suit the genre.

Among the musicians continuing that lineage today are Lalitha and Nandini Muthuswamy, widely known as the Violin Sisters. Trained within a musical lineage connected to the Dikshitar tradition as well as the broader shishya parampara of the Carnatic Trinity—Tyagaraja, Muthusvami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri—the sisters first learnt music from their mother, Subhalakshmi Muthuswamy.

The sisters have performed widely in India and abroad, including on BBC Radio 3, at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster and at the Vatican, where they met Pope John Paul II. For their contribution to Carnatic music, they have received the Kalaimamani from the Government of Tamil Nadu, the highest civilian award for artistes in the state. A hallmark of their style is the rendering of varnams in five speeds and kalpana svaras in three, combining technical precision with improvisation. Lalitha holds a PhD in Indian Music from the University of Madras, her thesis comparing Western and South India violin techniques.

For both sisters, the violin is not just an instrument but a deeply personal companion. “Each violin is highly individualistic and has its own character in terms of tonality and personality,” they say. “Because of that, we usually perform on just one or two concert violins.” They also use an electric violin for their concert and experimental work, but their most cherished instrument is an acoustic violin passed down through generations of their family. “It’s an heirloom,” they note. “We also still have violins from our childhood that hold many memories.”

The violin has also shaped their bond as performers and siblings. “Many times, we feel the violin is us, and we are the violins,” they say.

Harmonium

A surprising fact is that the harmonium—often perceived as quintessentially Indian—is actually an imported instrument. The origins of the portable, hand-pumped reed organ lie in Europe, from where it reached India in the mid-19th century through missionaries and traders.

The harmonium found early acceptance in the musical theatre traditions of Maharashtra and Bengal, including natya sangeet. Jyotirindranath Tagore, playwright, editor, musician and the elder brother of Rabindranath Tagore, played an important role in popularising the instrument. Dwarkanath Ghose— founder of Dwarkin & Son, which manufactured and exported musical instruments in Kolkata—is often credited with adapting the harmonium to Indian performance practice, allowing the bellows to be pumped by hand while the musician sat cross-legged. The instrument soon became integral to devotional and semi-classical traditions such as qawwali, ghazal, kirtan and bhajan. Harmoniums in Kolkata feature mechanical innovations like scale-changer, couplers, multi-fold bellows, three-or-four set reeds, vertical reeds and drone stops, while the Delhi variants remain simpler and more traditional.

“I own most of these variations,” says Anant Joshi, a B-High graded harmonium artiste on All India Radio and Doordarshan, who will represent the instrument at Saz-e-Bahar. He is also a recipient of the Ministry of Culture Fellowship. “I feel this is one of the fastest-evolving instruments,” says Joshi. The harmonium is not strongly associated with gharanas like the sitar, tabla or vocal music “because the instrument, which was patented in France, is not even 200 years old,” the musician explains. He was 10 when he first started learning Hindustani vocals from his father, Achyut Joshi, but developed an infection in his vocal cords and had to rest his voice. To ensure he did not sit idle, his father gave him a harmonium—an instrument that soon became central to his musical journey. He later trained under Vishwanath Kanhere and briefly with Vishwanath Pendharkar. Joshi published Part 1 of a syllabus titled Harmonium Kramik Pustak in 2025, and is working on a five-part series—completing the work by Kanhere, who died before compiling the work. For his Saz-e-Bahar recital, Joshi will present evening ragas.

Slide Guitar

The slide guitar uses a technique in which a metal or glass slide is pressed against the strings to glide between notes, producing expressive glissandos and deep vibrato. Commonly used in the blues, it can be played with the guitar in the usual position using a finger slide or on the lap with a hand-held bar.

In India, while the conventional guitar remains far more widespread, a handful of musicians have expanded the possibilities of the lap-slide guitar within Indian classical music. Among its most prominent exponents is Debashish Bhattacharya. His journey began early: he was just four years old when his father gifted him a Hawaiian lap steel guitar. As his interest deepened, Bhattacharya underwent nearly a decade of rigorous training under Brij Bhushan Kabra (1937-2018), widely regarded as the pioneer of Indian classical lapslide guitar.

Bhattacharya went on to design four lap-played string instruments: the Chaturangui, Gandharvi, Anandi and Pushpa Veena. These instruments form the centrepiece of his concert series. “I take one long note sa and rise or fall from sa to the lower or upper octave, bending and shaping the notes in between,” he explains. For his appearance at Saz-e-Bahar, Bhattacharya will bring the Gandharvi, which uses paired unison and octave strings, and the Pushpa Veena, characterised by a natural hide membrane on the top surface. He will perform alongside his son and disciple Suryadipta Bhattacharya, marking their first joint performance in India. The recital will also include two self-composed evening ragas, Palash Priya and Shankar Dhwani.

The skintop construction, Bhattacharya says, produces a softer, sweeter timbre than the conventional veenas. “When I designed it in California, I returned to India with the blueprint and applied for a patent. After many months of research in my workshop, I finally achieved the sound I was seeking,” he says. Drawing inspiration from instruments such as the rabab, sarod, sarangi, banjo, and even the Japanese shamisen, he sought to recreate the tonal spirit of medieval skin-top instruments. “Someone who plays the shamisen will hear that sound in the Pushpa Veena, while a sarod player will say it comes very close to the sarod.” Musicians adept in the Vichitra Veena, he says, can easily adapt to the Pushpa Veena.

Bhattacharya has also published what is believed to be the first comprehensive syllabus for the slide guitar, outlining right- and left-hand techniques and approaches to Indian classical instrumental styles.

Through her pre-concert talks, Dr. Rao also hopes to draw attention to the decline of traditional instrumentmakers. “We are slowly losing the craftspeople who make these instruments,” she says. “Families who have been engaged in this work for generations are moving to other professions, sometimes even furnituremaking, because the art of creating instruments is not sufficiently supported.”

The festival’s performances—and the stories behind the instruments—demonstrate how many sounds now associated with Indian classical music are the result of migration, adaptation and innovation.

This article was originally published in the April 2026 issue of ON Stage.