HEMEN & CO. - Sarods, Stringed Instruments

From Ali Akbar Khan to Amjad Ali Khan, HEMEN & CO. is the first choice for  top quality sarods. Under the direction of the elderly but still very agile  founder Hemen Sen all sorts of other string instruments are manufactured as well.  Especially their big tanpuras are of an excellent quality. Hemen & Co. has been  the official supplier of the renowned Ali Akbar Colleges of Music in  San Rafael / California and Basle / Switzerland for many years because of  their absolute reliability, austere classical design and a high professional  standard.

HIREN ROY & SONS - Sitars, Surbahars, Tanpuras

HIREN ROY & SONS has been undisputedly the leading sitar manufacturer in the last decades. With their reliable conjunction of convincing tone quality and the most careful finish with a tasteful design, Hiren Roy sitars are unequalled - first choice of great virtuoso performers like late Nikhil Banerjee or Vilayat Khan. Being a highly specialised family business with a limited capacity, Hiren Roy & Sons makes - besides sitars - also mainly excellent tanpuras and surbahars. After the death of its founder Hiren Roy in the beginning of the nineties, the company is managed today in second-generation by his son Barun Roy.

MONOJ KUMAR SARDAR 

MONOJ KUMAR SARDAR & BROTHERS is a large-scale manufacturer in the heart of Calcutta looking back on a rich tradition. The manager Monoj Kumar will get you every instrument that is manufactured in India - ranging from sitars, tanpuras and harmoniums to folk instruments, violins and electric guitars. Due to our co-operation with Monoj Kumar Sardar of several years, today we receive instruments that can compare with renowned brands any time because of their reliably high manufacturing and good tone quality.

NARAYAN BADYA BANDHAR - Tablas

NARAYAN BADYA BANDHAR is one of the best tabla makers in Calcutta today. The company in its third-generation is managed by Shyamal Das. He carries out all the work himself with utmost care and love of detail in a tiny workshop, together with his father and a handful of employees who all belong to the family circle. The result is, on the one hand, tablas made with much loving care and irresistible tone quality, and on the other hand, world famous regular customers like Anindo Chatterjee or Swapan Chaudhuri. Apart from tablas, Narayan Badya Bandhar makes also several other percussion instruments, like pakhawaj, mridangam, khol, dholak, kanjira, etc. India Instruments is the exclusive importer for Narayan Badya Bandhar in Europe.

ORIENTAL MUSIKRAFT - Sarods

ORIENTAL MUSIKRAFT makes fine sarods in the style of Hemen & Co. with some of  latter's former staff members. His instruments do not entirely reach the standard of  quality  of Hemen & Co. but are, however, cheaper and perfectly convincing in the middle  range.

P. & BROTHERS - Sitars, Tanpuras

P. & BROTHERS is a very small, relatively little known family business in its second generation. Especially in a small company like this every instrument is made and checked individually. As we have been continually working together with P. & BROTHERS since setting up INDIA INSTRUMENTS in 1994, they supply us with rather high quality instruments at a relatively favourable price..

PAKRASHI & CO. - Harmoniums

PAKRASHI & CO. is one of the big leading harmonium makers of India. Precise pitch, good workmanship and many years of experience sum up to entirely convincing instruments. The making of the instruments takes place in a central complex of workshops in Calcutta under the management of Shuphal Pakrashi, the son of the company's founder.

PAUL  & Co. - Harmoniums

PAUL & CO is one of the best harmonium makers in India today. Great care for all details, smoothly working mechanisms and a particularly well balanced sound have made Paul the absolute market leader as far as quality is concerned.

RADEL SYSTEMS from the Indian high tech stronghold Bangalore was, for many years, the only supplier of electronic tablas, tanpuras and laharas as technical support for practising Indian musicians. The company has comprehensive know how and disposes of an extensive distribution and service network. Their range of products is being continuously diversified and improved on. The pieces of equipment which are known best are their their tanpuras 'Saarang', their tabla machines 'Taalmala', and their lahara machines 'Sunadamala'.

RADHA KRISHNA SHARMA is a well-known, fairly sized family company with branches in Calcutta and Benares. Their speciality are carefully finished string instruments for average to high demands with a particularly fine high polish.

SHVIMAAL in Allahabad has started to manufacture electronic tablas and tanpuras in the late 90ties as a technical support for musicians. The special feature of his appliances is the digital sample-technique, producing a sound which is especially true to the original. Shvimaal makes the tanpura 'Sur Sagar Digital' and the tabla machine 'Sur Sangat Professional'. Both instruments are currently unrivalled in sound quality - unfortunately this applies also to their prices.

SUR-O-JHANKAR is a traditional, little known small tanpura maker from Calcutta with whom India Instruments got into contact only in the year 2000 via a student of Pandit Jasraj. His male tanpuras are exceptionally big and have an especially full, dark and earthy sound. Their plainly decorated, nearly black appearance seems very traditional and slightly archaic compared to modernly styled instruments.