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The cello did not originate in India, but Saskia Rao-de Haas and Nancy Lesh have adapted it for Hindustani classical performance. Rao-de Haas has worked across several Hindustani forms; Lesh has concentrated on dhrupad. Their work shows how an instrument can enter a musical tradition through changes in technique, posture and repertoire—not by erasing where it came from.
What does it mean to call the cello an “Indian instrument”?
Here, “Indian” describes the cello’s musical use and adaptation, not its origin. The cello is a Western classical instrument, and it is not equally established in every Indian classical tradition. The story of its Hindustani concert use is especially associated with two women: Saskia Rao-de Haas and Nancy Lesh.
The instrument also has a broader history in India than the concert-stage story alone suggests. Malini Nair’s 2021 Scroll feature reports earlier cello and bass-viol references in colonial-era Kolkata, a cellist in Baba Allaudin Khan’s Maihar ensemble, and cello use in film music. Those historical details are reported by the feature; they should not be treated as independently verified archival findings here. Read Nair’s account in Scroll.
Two different paths into Hindustani music
Saskia Rao-de Haas: a broad Hindustani repertoire
Rao-de Haas heard the Dagars in Amsterdam in the early 1990s and began looking for Indian music training. She studied with several Indian musicians and developed an instrumental approach oriented toward the Maihar tradition. Her repertoire has encompassed dhrupad, khayal and thumri, rather than focusing on a single form. She made her Delhi debut in 1999, according to Scroll.
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Rao-de Haas has described the cello’s expressive potential in terms of the human voice: “Like the sarangi, the cello has a complete relation to the human voice.” She also said, “An alaap on it sounds like someone singing.” These are her statements as quoted by Scroll.
Nancy Lesh: a commitment to dhrupad
Lesh’s work followed a more focused route. After musicologist Prem Lata Sharma recommended that she study dhrupad, Lesh learned from vocalist Ritwik Sanyal in the 1980s and later from dhrupad veena master Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. She performed raga Puriya Dhanashree at the Dhrupad Mela in Varanasi in 1987, as reported by Scroll.
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Lesh recalled her first encounter with dhrupad this way: “It was the most beautiful music I had ever heard.” Sanyal, describing the gradual nature of musical exchange, said: “Any kind of cultural integration takes time.”
How do you adapt a cello for Hindustani performance?
The cello’s standard setup assumes a seated player using an endpin on the floor. Lesh described adapting that arrangement to play seated cross-legged: she replaced the straight endpin with a T-shaped one to keep the instrument stable, then worked through the changed bowing and fingering angles. The physical adjustment matters because a stable posture lets the player concentrate on the musical line rather than supporting the instrument.
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- ELEGANT DESIGN: The 4/4 cello has a fantastic hand-feeling owing to its semi-painted body making the lacquer of the cello smooth and not rough. The color gradient of the scroll is natural and the lines are connected smoothly. It is a work of art
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The musical adaptation reaches beyond posture. Hindustani performance calls for ornamentation such as gamak and meend, while the cello’s bowed sound can sustain and shape phrases. Scroll also describes the addition of chikari or resonance strings and notes that Rao-de Haas uses a smaller cello. These choices are not a single universal conversion recipe; they reflect individual approaches to instrument, repertoire and playing position.
Why the cello’s voice can suit Hindustani music
Rao-de Haas has compared the cello’s relation to the voice with that of the sarangi. Its sustained tone offers room to shape a note and phrase in a vocal manner, including the bends associated with meend. That does not make a cello performance identical to singing or to a traditional bowed instrument: the player has to find ways to render the music’s ornaments and phrasing through the cello’s own mechanics.
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Rao-de Haas has also cited Hindi film songs as a source of expressive learning, saying: “How to express yourself with music – old film songs showed you that so well.” The comment points to another part of the cello’s Indian history: its role in film orchestration, distinct from its use as a solo instrument in Hindustani classical concerts.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The cello’s Indian history goes beyond the concert stage
Scroll’s account places cello-like instruments in colonial-era Kolkata. It cites musicologist Amanda Weidman’s account of violins arriving at the Calcutta Harmonic Society in the 1760s and suggests early cello forms may have arrived around that period. It also reports that Robert Morse, Kolkata sheriff in 1783–84, appears playing a bass viol in a Johan Zoffany painting and is believed to have obtained a more modern cello by 1806. These dates and identifications are claims reported by Scroll, not independently confirmed here.
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- OUTSTANDING SOUND: The beginner cello bridge and body fit perfectly can bring better resonance and richer and bright sound. The cello bow is made from a superior white horse tail for better elasticity and faster sound transmission
- CAREFULLY SELECTED MATERIALS: The premium basswood is used on the front of our 4/4 cello. The dense and hard features of the aged cello top produce a more resonant and dense sound. The scroll of the cello is made of solid maple to make it strong
- ELEGANT DESIGN: The 4/4 cello has a fantastic hand-feeling owing to its semi-painted body making the lacquer of the cello smooth and not rough. The color gradient of the scroll is natural and the lines are connected smoothly. It is a work of art
- GOOD QUALITY CELLO BAG: Our cello bag is tailored according to the shape of the cello and has a 5mm cotton thickness, which can better protect your precious cello. Made of superior Oxford cloth, this bag can still maintain its original appearance after long-term use
- SUITABLE FOR ALL SKILL LEVELS: Different ordinary cello strings, our cello string uses excellent steel string, which can better relieve finger fatigue. In addition, this cello set includes all the necessary accessories for learning how to play (NOTE: the back of the cello neck is unpainted. Most cellos are designed that way)
The feature also dates Baba Allaudin Khan’s Maihar ensemble to 1917 and says surviving photographs show a cellist. Later, the instrument found a place in Hindi film music: Scroll mentions work associated with Shankar-Jaikishan, Ilaiyaraaja and Basu Chakravarty, as well as Satyajit Ray soundtracks. Film-orchestra use and classical concert practice are different contexts, but together they show that the cello’s presence in India was not limited to the recent work of Rao-de Haas and Lesh.
There is also a regional distinction. The Scroll feature describes the cello as having made more inroads into Hindustani music than Carnatic music, where it has had a smaller presence, while naming Carnatic cellist V.R. Sekar and noting film composers’ use of the instrument. That contrast is a description of relative presence, not a claim that the cello is absent from Carnatic music.
How the cello became part of a living musical exchange
Rao-de Haas and Lesh did not simply transfer Western cello repertoire to an Indian setting. They pursued different Hindustani traditions and addressed practical questions of posture, stability, bowing and ornamentation. The result is better understood as ongoing integration than as a finished transformation: the cello remains recognizably a cello while its musical language and performance setup adapt to the demands of the music.
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