A 45-second video by a 19-year-old Srinagar boy playing rabab has become Viral on internet with the video attracting more than 1.5 lakh views on Twitter in just a couple of days, with more views on Facebook and Instagram in the weeks that followed.
About:
Rubab, robab or rabab is a lute-like musical instrument originating from Afghanistan.
Seen in many variants across central Asia, the rabab arrived in Kashmir from Afghanistan many centuries ago. Compared to the seven strings of the Afghan rabab, the Kashmiri version has 22 strings, with two strings crafted out of goat gut through an elaborate process.
Construction:
The rubab is a short-necked lute whose body is carved out of a single piece of wood.
The instrument is made from the trunk of a mulberry tree, the head from an animal skin such as goat, and the strings are either gut (from the intestines of young goats) or nylon.
Place in Sikhism:
The rubab is regarded as the first instrument used by Sikhism.
It was used by Bhai Mardana the companion of Guru Nanak. Whenever a shabad was revealed to Guru Nanak he would sing it and Bhai Mardana would play it on his rubab; he was known as a rubabi.
Rabab is considered as the ancestor of the South Asian ‘Sarod’ Instrument, although the two differ a bit.
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