Instruments at the Museum

Sur Singar

Sur Singar is a stringed instrument similar to the sarod. It is nearly twice in size and while the fingerboard has a steel plate, the resonator is closed with wooden lamination instead of hide. It said that the sur singar was invented by Jafar Khan Rababi, the court musician of Maharaja Udit Narayan Singh of Varanasi who lived in the early part of the nineteenth century. The lute has a very fine tone but the instrument is rarely heard nowadays.