Over his forty-five-year journey with the sitar, Pradeep Ratnayake has spent three decades conducting deep technical research to expand the instrument’s traditional boundaries. He began experimenting with these specific harmonic techniques thirty years ago, establishing two foundational pillars of this research: The Straight-Finger Formula—used to achieve parallel fourths—and The Angled-Finger Technique, which allows for intricate thirds harmony. Having debuted and refined these formulas throughout his Pradeepanjalee concert series, his latest work introduces two evolved dimensions to this harmonic exploration: Harmonic Ra Plucking and Percussive Strumming.
With Harmonic Ra Plucking, he plucks the C and E notes together using the first and second strings of the sitar. This introduces Western elements of harmony to give the instrument a completely fresh tonal color. By utilizing an outward Ra stroke with the mizrab, the notes take on a super sharp, crisp, and detached staccato feel. He frames this over a 3/4 rhythm where the first beat is dead silent, allowing the chord to hit right on beats two and three to create a modern, syncopated groove.
Alongside this is a highly intricate technique: percussive strumming. By combining Western double-stop concepts with the sitar’s unique architecture, he is able to voice actual chords on the instrument. While some chords utilize all seven main strings, others require selecting specific string combinations while carefully muting the rest. Navigating the immense physical restrictions of the instrument—such as avoiding unwanted string buzz and managing sympathetic string tension—makes this an incredibly demanding technique to master, but it firmly bridges traditional roots with a brand-new harmonic dimension.
He has made all these new innovations and techniques into a short sitar cover with a short improvisation followed by the legendary Pandit Amaradeva’s song “Heena Hatak Meda” from the film Gatawarayo in 1964. He published this on YouTube and this is the link for you to experience these new innovations on the sitar firsthand: https://youtu.be/2dMugQkFauk
