Shahi baaja

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The Indian Shahi Baaja (literally, the Royal Instrument) is is an "electricified" mountain dulcimer, a cross between a keyboard and a guitar. It is often accompanied with a built-in 12 string swarmandal. The shahi baaja is the same the Indian drone harp tweaked and used extensively by John & Paul in Strawberry Fields Forever. The instrument is currently used in everything from semi-classical and popular Indian music to ambient techno, psychedelic rock and even Hebrew fusion music.

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[edit] Instrument Construction

The instrument is about 37 inches (94 cm) long and the current official configuration includes a double pick up, tone and volume controls, 30-typewriter type keys, solid wood body.

This shahi baaja combines the best of the Electric Bulbul Tarang, the Hawaiian Steel (Lap) Guitar and the Swarmandal (Indian harp). It belongs to the Tat Vadya family of plucked string instruments. The primary design of this instrument is inspired by the famous medieval Japanese Taishokoto. However this one has three instruments rolled into one and given an electric tweak. The keyboard dulcimer part of this instrument is referred to as the bulbul tarang (literally translates to "waves of nightingales") or the Indian banjo but this has nothing to do with the Western bluegrass banjo - perhaps just a fuzzing of the words banjo with baajo (literally, "instrument")


[edit] Playing the Shahi Baaja

The metal strings are plucked or strummed with picks while depressing the keys to change the notes. This instrument comes with 8 main strings, 2 sympathetic resonating strings and a 12-string electric drone harp. There are two types of strings in the main instrument; there are the drone strings and the melody strings. The melody strings run directly under the key-plate and are fretted by the keys. The drone strings run beside the key plate and are not fretted.

[edit] Contemporary Use

This instrument has been used in indie and fusion music, with at least 40 major bands using this for lead or for vocal accompaniments.[citation needed] Twigs, Beck, Rapoon, Robin Storey, and several indie bands looking for a new sound with the same instrument, 30 years after the Beatles! The flexibility of this baaja, both as a lead instrument and as an accompanying drone instrument, are breathtaking.

Add to this the tuning flexibility afforded by most Indian instruments - it is understood here that the user may wish to replace certain strings with either higher or lower gauges. Many times bronze or brass will be added, especially to the drone strings. This opens up a bass quality to the instrument. It is also possible to take some of the melody strings and change the gauge or material, to set them an octave apart. Do not feel afraid to experiment with different strings. This ability to customize and tweak the bulbul is one of the strengths of this open design.

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[edit] Sound Samples