Sitar

Hasu Patel is an internationally known performer, educator, and composer whose main instrument is the sitar. Patel began studying music as a child. Her father was a physician who wanted his children to be well versed in Hindustani classical music. He supported his daughter's choice to play the sitar, an unusual instrument for a woman of her generation. She made her public debut at the age of ten and went on to win first prize in the Gujarat State All India Radio stringed instrument competition at the age of 21. Patel was the first woman to receive a music degree with a gold medal from the Faculty of Performing Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda.

In 1969, Patel moved to the United States and eventually settled near Cleveland, Ohio. She became a disciple of the legendary sitar player Ustad Vilayat Khan. Patel has recorded numerous albums and toured throughout the United States and India. She also served on the faculty at Oberlin, where she taught Indian Classical Music for twenty years.

This instrument was the personal sitar of Hasu Patel. Her parents commissioned it from Somabhai Mistry, the son of B.C. Mistry, who founded a workshop in Patel's hometown of Vadodara, Gujarat, India.The two tumba (gourd) sitar is an unusual red color, chosen by Hasu Patel. The ornate decorations on the instrument, including deeply carved tuners, and incized floral decorations on bone inlay around the edges of the instrument. Patel used this instrument for more than fifty years including for many recordings and performances.