about the artist - Mohamed Assani

INSTRUMENTS USED IN THE PERFORMANCE
SITAR
The sitar is the most popular melodic instrument in classical northern Indian music today.
Together with the Surbahar and the Tanpura, it is part of the family of long-neck lutes. The
large gourd is made of a dried pumpkin. The neck is usually made of aged Tun wood, an
Indian variety of teakwood. Metal strings made of steel (bass strings also of brass or
bronze) run across two bridges made of bone. The frets are movable by cords that are tied
to the neck and are also made of steel. The word “sitar” comes from Iran and means
“three strings.” “Seh” means three and “Tar” means string.
TABLA
The Tabla is regarded as the queen of drums and percussion instruments and is the most
popular Indian rhythm instrument. It consists of two drums: the Bayan (big bass drum) and
the Dayan. The two of them are almost always played together. Both drums have a body
that is closed at the bottom. The open top is usually covered with a goat leather skin. To
the edge of this basic skin, a second skin (Kani) is attached. In the centre of the skin is the
GAB: a black area that gives the instrument a special sound and makes the variety of
sounds and modulations possible. It is a fine art to apply this GAB in the correct mixture,
consistency and strength of a paste, which consists mainly of rice flour and iron filings.
When playing, the two drums are placed on rings (Bira), which support them. The tuning
wedges that are held by leather straps at the sides are meant for tuning the instrument.
Depending on whether the wedges are beaten upwards or downwards by the tuning
hammer, the sound gets lower or higher. Fine-tuning is done by beating with the tuning
hammer on the woven ring around the skin.
iTANPURA
An iPhone app that replicates the sound of the tanpura - a musical instrument widely used
to accompany Indian Classical music. The traditional tanpura is a 4-stringed instrument
with a base made from cured pumpkin gourd and a wooden stem. It is tuned to the chosen
pitch or key and provides a constant background "drone" or frame of reference against
which the rest of the vocal or instrumental music is performed.
ABLETON LIVE on MAC
A loop-based software music sequencer for Mac. It is designed to be an instrument for live
performances as well as a tool for composing and arranging.
NOVATION KEYBOARD
An intelligent plug-in/sequencer controller. It has a high quality keyboard, with 8 drum pads
and a total of 33 assignable controls, which allow you to get hands-on control of your plugin
instruments, effects and sequencer.