She tuned the instrument herself before the concert. Kishori is perhaps the only female singer today who uses the swaramandal.
There is a story behind how she started using it. Sometime in the mid-1970s she lost her voice. She couldn’t sing and one couldn’t even hear her voice clearly as she spoke. That was the time her mother was still performing and Kishori used to sit as a listener before her. She realised how deeply she loved this art. So she used to sing within. It was then that Kishori understood what it was to “sing within.” (Incidentally, Sunday’s concert was also called, “Antarnaad” or inner voice.)
She had become very weak and could not sit with the tanpura or hold it for long. Then a friend brought her the swaramandal and she started tuning it and adjusted it to suit her pitch. Since then she has been using the swaramandal in all her performances. Through the swaramandal, she learnt about many of the micro notes and micro existence of music. She has not left the habit of using a tanpura. However, a swaramandal is a must for her concert.
A swarmandal, also known as surmandal, has 36 strings and resembles a harp. Therefore it’s also called the Indian harp. It’s generally used for the drone to accompany the vocalists. Swarmandal was used on the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields” to produce the chimes featured throughout. It also appears on George Harrison's epic Indian production: "Within You Without You".