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Rackham concert showcases rare music

The Indian cousin of the violin, the sarangi, will be showcased in a performance by Ms. Aruna Kalle tonight at Rackham Auditorium. A heavy-bodied instrument characteristic of the north of India, the sarangi consists of a thick-waisted body and broad neck. It is held by the performer in a vertical position, much as the viola de Gamba is played in the western classical tradition.

Unlike its western counterparts, however, the sarangi has as many as 40 strings vibrating under three playing strings. This unique configuration provides the listener with a sound that closely resembles the richness of the human voice. The great violinist Yehudi Menuhin, long a proponent and performer of Indian classical music, says that the sarangi "most poignantly and most revealingly expresses the very soul of Indian feeling and thought."

To date, there are no accounts of the origin of the sarangi. Legend has it that a weary traveling physician was walking through a forest. When he lay down to rest under a tree, he heard a beautiful melody of notes. Searching for the origin of the music, the physician came upon the dried up hide of a dead monkey stretched over the branches of a tree. As the gentle winds caressed the hide, the beautiful sounds were produced.

Born in Bombay, Aruna Kalle is the result of five generations of vocalists and instrumentalists. She is the daughter of the renowned sarangi maestro Ram Narayan, who is credited with making the sarangi a solo instrument when it was primarily being used to accompany vocalists. He also brought about changes in traditional bowings and fingerings in order to suit the novel style of music for the sarangi.

Kalle began her studies with her father at the relatively late age of 18, although critics say that she has absorbed much of her father's gracefulness and fine technique. She made fast progress specializing in solo sarangi and has played in numerous concerts in India and several other countries. Kalle now lives in Toronto, where she performs and where she is a faculty member at York University and the University of Toronto.

Among her other accomplishments, Aruna Kalle has played in the soundtrack of Atom Egoyan's 1995 film, "Exotica." She also composed and performed the soundtrack for Leila Sujir's film, "Dreams of the Night Cleaners."

Apart from being one of only a handful of solo sarangi players in the world, Kalle holds the distinction of being the first and only woman to perform the sarangi.