Meet the Maker #1 – Ivan Rügen

Meet the Maker – Ivan Rügen: Sitar making in Russia

Intro

In the Meet the Maker series, I talk to sitar makers from all over the world. People who bring instruments to life with their hands, their ears and their hearts.

In Saint Petersburg, Russia, instrument maker Ivan Rügen works on remarkable creations that combine craftsmanship and imagination. In his studio, he creates instruments and objects in which sound, form and material enter into their own dialogue.

With a strong urge to experiment and a keen eye for detail, Rügen has developed a personal approach to instrument making. In this first episode of Meet the Maker, we talk to a maker who respects tradition, but at the same time constantly explores new possibilities.

Profile

Interview

How did you start making sitars?

As a child, there was a community center in our courtyard, and through the open balcony, I could constantly hear classical guitar practice.
They played works by J.S. Bach.
After several years of classical guitar practice, I decided to create my own instrument and made one based on my own ideas about the instrument’s shape.

In my dreams, I often attended full-scale concerts held inside majestic Gothic cathedrals. The sound of the sitar, one way or another, accompanied me throughout my life even before I knew about this instrument.
It all felt like it was already ingrained in my hearing and nervous system.
All that remained was to act, to embody the instruments in matter and feel them come to life.

After spending five months in India, I encountered a sitar in person for the first time and tried to play it.
Returning to Russia and recalling this experience, I realized I definitely had to make an instrument and began collecting information. That’s how I found your website.
I’m currently planning to create a series of sitars, and I feel a great deal of inner enthusiasm for this field.

What does your environment mean to your work?

I’m located in St. Petersburg.
There are several leading sitarists here who perform professionally. A concert by one of them, Stepan Khristanov, was even broadcast on a central TV channel six months ago.
But overall, in my observations, the sitar remains somewhat exotic for the population that now fills our cultural capital.

But this doesn’t stop me, and I’ve even come up with an ambitious plan to create a series of sitars and submit an application to the Indian Consulate, which is located in our city, to set up a small exhibition there.
Perhaps this will also serve as inspiration for other artists, just as the www.sitarfactory.be page inspired me.

What, in your opinion, makes a good sitar?

A good sitar should have an even tone distribution across the entire range.
All the taraf strings should resonate intensely with the main strings. The rest depends on the owner’s preferences. Ideally, the instrument should become an extension of the performer’s personality.

I think the quality of an instrument depends on the experience and inner spirit of the craftsman.
A good instrument should be balanced within itself, in terms of angles, the mass of the parts, and the combination of their densities and thicknesses. This can be achieved through observation, experimentation, and a constant deepening understanding of the nature of resonance and the many interdependencies within the structure.

Where does your creativity come from?

Creativity is felt as a constant desire to create something fundamentally new, something capable of taking a person to a new level of understanding nature and the world as a whole. Understanding the nature of sound and its impact plays a crucial role in this process. The sound of the sitar, in my intuitive opinion, is ahead of its time, and its potential has not yet been fully realized.

My ideas and experiments are the result of observations of the simplest phenomena, as well as spontaneous inspirations that sometimes arise unexpectedly.
I built a sensory deprivation chamber at home to be able to free myself from the usual flow of thought and try to find new streams and angles of perception, but this is objectively quite difficult.

How do you combine tradition and innovation?

I have great respect for Indian culture, and when creating an instrument, I completely immerse myself in the theme I’m working on.
For example, I’m currently creating a sitar dedicated to the Indian tree of life. It will be named Ashvattha. Through this, I show respect for tradition and find it harmonious.

Innovations are largely focused on production, such as the use of power tools, stepper motors for the string winding machine, or a foundry for casting the frets.

I plan to experiment with carbon fiber technology and papé-mâché of various textures.
I haven’t had the opportunity to compare my sitars with those of other makers, other than a few traditional ones and other than through photographs.

What materials do you prefer to use and why?

I prefer working with natural materials. They’re more pleasant to work with, and they retain the life accumulated during their formation in nature.
I consider this an important quality in developing sound.

How do you collaborate with musicians?

I do sometimes meet with those who contact me with orders or mostly for repairs and string replacements.
I hope the situation will improve in the future and more people in Russia will be interested in this area.

What project are you most proud of?

I build some of the machines for the workshop myself.
One of these is an oscillating grinding machine.
Its idea is that the grinding spindle of the shaft not only rotates, but also reciprocates along the vertical axis as it rotates, ensuring uniform application of the shaft’s grinding surface and freeing the abrasive layer from wood dust. Typically, a second motor is used for vertical shaft movement in such machines, but I came up with a technical solution to fully operate the entire device with just one electric motor, while maintaining a compact size.

The most interesting theory for me right now in this area is to try to create a high-quality string wound from flat tungsten. It should produce the maximum sound effect, but it is not particularly resistant to bending.

There is a tungsten-rhenium alloy which is supposedly more ductile, but super expensive.

Nevertheless, I will gradually test all the options.

What was your biggest challenge?

For me, the biggest challenge, which was and remains to this day, lies in combining different types of activities, such as physical culture.

The concept of physical fitness includes mastering various training routines, such as kettlebells, or horizontal bars and parallel bars, combined with exposure to cold water (ice holes in winter and cold showers in summer).
I also study the phenomenon of sensory deprivation in a float tank. All this has a good effect on body and health, facilitating the birth of new ideas.

What are your dreams for the future?

I’d like to create a hardware base that will enable research in the field of resonance, enabling the creation of the most advanced musical instruments.

I also have a more unusual dream: to create a universal instrument kit that would allow travelers to travel to each country, studying the local culture on the spot, creating instruments, and filming a video blog along the way. Perhaps this would deepen our understanding of global musical culture as a whole, and, combined with technical capabilities, create a unique sitar model.

Quote From The Bench

The sound of the sitar, in my intuitive opinion, is ahead of its time, and its potential has not yet been fully realized.

My Reflection

What impresses me most about Ivan Rugen is his freedom as a maker. Many instrument makers, rightly so, operate within a tradition. After all, instruments embody centuries of experience and refinement. Ivan seems to respect that tradition, but at the same time does not feel limited by it.

His work is driven by curiosity. You can tell that he likes to explore what can happen when form, material and sound come together in a different way. Some of his creations almost look like sculptures that just happen to be able to make music. I find that very inspiring.

As a sitar- and instrument maker myself, I recognise something of that search. Ultimately, every maker tries to find their own relationship to tradition, experimentation and personal imagination. Talking to Ivan reminds me that instrument making is not just about technique, but also a way of looking at sound, form and what an instrument can become.

Perhaps that is the most beautiful thing about encounters between makers: they open up new possibilities, even when everyone continues to follow their own path.

Discover More

Want to know more about the work of Ivan Rügen:

• Website: http://ivan.rugen.art.tilda.ws/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abarisaristeev/

And would you like to learn more about sitars and maintenance yourself? Feel free to take a look at SiTAR FAcToRY.

Next Episode

Coming soon in Meet the Maker: David Keustermans, France