The sitar came into the western musical industry when Pandit Ravi Shankar used it in his works. Subsequently, The Rolling Stones used the sitar in the song Paint It, Black.
Origin
The sitars originated from the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent during the late Mogul era. Its predecessors, the Persian lutes, had been used in the Mogul courts for hundreds of years. According to the Sangeet Sudarshana, the sitar was invented by Amir Khusru in the 1700's. He named this instrument based on the Persian setar.
There are plenty of theories about the source of the sitar. Regrettably, most of these are historically inaccurate and hence impossible.
It is commonly believed that Amir Khusru invented the sitar around 1300 AD. This is a different Amir Khusru from the one stated above. The Amir Khusru of the 1300 AD was a popular personality and is an image for the Hindustani Sangeet. As there was no evidence of the existence of the sitar before the fall of the Moghul Empire, this theory has no historical basis.
Another theory is that the ancient veenas like the rudra vina were the parents of the sitar. null In addition, the materials and construction of the two instruments were also dissimilar so this theory is likely to be false.
Parts
The many parts of the sitar are the kuntis or tuning pegs, drone strings, tumba or gourd, baj tar or playing string, tarafdar or sympathetic strings, dandi or neck, parda or frets, gulu or cowl, ghoraj or bridge, tuning beads, tabkandi or face plate, and kaddu or resonator.
Playing the sitar
The instrument should be placed between the player's right knee and left foot with the left leg under the former. This position allows the player's hands to move freely without holding the sitar's weight. The thumb is positioned on the fretboard's top while the string is being plucked using a mizraab or pick. The player usually only uses the middle and index fingers to pluck but he also occasionally uses the ring finger.
A technique wherein the player pulls down the main string over the lower part of the curved frets of the sitar is called meanding. With this, the musician could reach a seven semitone range of notes set to a microtone.
The sitar in jazz music
The fusion of Western jazz and Indian classical music stems back from the 1950's to the 1960's. This was when expert musicians of the Indian classics like Rabi Shankar collaborated with jazz musicians like Bud Shank and Tony Scott.
A few examples of the use of the sitar in jazz music are the works of John Mayer, the Silent Trees Falling by Andrew Cheshire, and the Cloud Dance by Collin Walcott.