Indian instruments,set up by people who play them
Sitars, tablas, harmoniums, bansuris and sound-healing instruments from India’s finest workshops — checked, strung and tuned in our Berkeley shop before they ship to you.
- Set up before it shipsStrung, tuned, jawari done in Berkeley
- Sold by playersOur staff perform on what they sell
- Worldwide shippingInsured, packed for fragile instruments
- Open since 19672111 Channing Way, Berkeley
Everything we carry,
in six doors
Sitars & Strings
Sitars, sarods, tanpuras, dilrubas and surbahars
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Tabla & Drums
Tabla sets, single tablas and bayas, pakhawaj
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Harmoniums
Kirtan, classical, scale-change and surpetis
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Flutes & Bansuri
Jeff Whittier and Musician’s Mall bansuris
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Sound Healing
Shruti boxes, singing bowls, rain towers, tongue drums
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Accessories
Cases, strings, mizrabs, tuning tools, books
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Shruti boxes, singing bowlsand rain towers
Hand-beaten Tibetan singing bowls, shruti boxes made for us in Kolkata, steel tongue drums and our own handcrafted rain towers — used in yoga studios, sound baths and therapy rooms across the United States.
A family, two shops,
one trade
The Bhargava family has spent more than sixty years in the instrument trade. In March 2014 we bought the Ali Akbar College of Music store in Berkeley — the shop that had served North Indian classical musicians in California since 1967 — and kept its staff and its standards.
We still work with the makers our family has known for decades: Kanai Lal & Sons and Naskar in Kolkata, Haridas Vhatkar in Mumbai, Bina and Paul & Co. for harmoniums.
The shop began as the store of the Ali Akbar College of Music, founded in 1967 by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. The college still teaches North Indian classical music in San Rafael and online, and we still serve its students and faculty.
WatchInside the Berkeley shop
Read first,
then choose
We have been answering these questions across the counter for years. They are written down now, by the people who set the instruments up.
Ask us anythingGuide to Buying a Sitar
What separates a student sitar from a concert instrument, and what to listen for.
Guide to Buying a Harmonium
Reeds, stops, drones, couplers and bellows, decoded.
Guide to Makers
Who builds what, and why the name on the instrument matters.
Tabla FAQs
Head sizing, tuning, seasoning and reheading, answered.
Introduction to Tabla
A starting point if you have never held a pair.
The workshops we buy from
Come and play one
2111 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 · Tues–Sat 12:00–5:30 PST
Sunday and Monday by appointment · +1 (510) 225 9597