Haque’s guitar-sitar oozes tone, drone

Master guitarist turns idea into axe that’s two in one

Chicago Tribune
By Nancy Maes
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GEAR HERE: GEAR HERE–AN OCCASIONAL FEATURE ON PERFORMERS AND THEIR UNIQUE INSTRUMENTS AND ACCOUTREM

Artist: Fareed Haque
Instrument: Guitar-sitar

Chicagoan Fareed Haque has played classical and jazz guitar with members of the Vermeer Quartet and prominent artists such as Sting, Kurt Elling and Ramsey Lewis. His bicultural Pakistani and Chilean heritage also gives his music a world groove.

But he was always frustrated when he played the sitar, the gourd-shaped classical stringed instrument from India. “The sitar uses a seven- or eight-note scale, which means you can only play in one key at a time–and that key in most Indian music is C sharp, which is one of the most awkward keys in music,” Haque explains. “And, it is essentially a melodic instrument and you can’t play any chords on it.”

If only, Haque thought, there were an instrument with the sound of the sitar and the versatility of the guitar. Then he met luthier Kim Schwartz, a nationally known yogi who built strange musical instruments to play during his yoga classes. Haque described what he had in mind and Schwartz built a hybrid instrument that looked like a conjoined sitar and guitar. And though it had all the options Haque wanted, the sound wasn’t right.

“It was made out of mahogany which vibrates slowly,” says Haque. So Schwartz made one with “a spruce front and a maple back which gives it a much brighter, richer sound. Blues, rock and jazz musicians are fascinated with Indian music, not so much for meditative aspects, but the complexity and richness of its buzzing sound. A sitar is an acoustic version of a rock guitar.”

Haque had to teach himself to play the instrument and figure out how to tune its six guitar strings and 13 drone strings. He ended up filing down guitar picks and bits of plastic from CD cases to slide around under the sitar strings to get the right pitch. Haque remembers a bit of plastic flying across the room during a rehearsal of the “Double Concerto for Tabla, Sitar-Guitar and Orchestra” he composed for the Chicago Sinfonietta.

The orchestra’s music director, Paul Freeman, says Haque is a “magnificent musician” and his commissioned concerto was unique in how it brought together Eastern music and Western classical music.

The Fareed Haque Group will play some excerpts from the concerto during performances at the Green Mill for the release of the ensemble’s “Cosmic Hug” disc, which celebrates the sound of Haque’s sitar-guitar–and the versatility of its player.

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