Related Posts:

• What is a Raga (8)?: The Chalan (characteristic phrases) of a Raga
• Congratulations Vidya!
• What is a Raga (1)?
• Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 14: More on Sur/Shruti or Pitch
• Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 13-What’s your frequency? The Tanpura/Tambura and finding your Sur, Shruti or Pitch

Aalaapana and Thaanam

Thaanam and Ragamalika with a dash of some Bach

Related Posts:

• V is for Veena
• T is for Tanpura not Sitar; it’s Good to Know the Difference
• What is a Raga (1)(a)?
• A Question of Variety; Carnatic or Hindustani Music?
• S is for Sitar and Surbahar

Veena:

Nepalese Saraswati holding a Veena.

Image credit: Kaladarshan Arts

Also with a long neck and rounded resonators, the Veena is considered to have ancient origins. However, string instruments of almost all types were called “Veena” in ancient Indian texts and the Veenas played today are the product of several years of history and continue to be modified. Here is a developing discussion on the subject. A distinction is also made between Veenas belonging to the lute and zither families. We shall not get into the technical and historical classifications (and attendant arguments) here, but just try to identify the main types of Veena played today.

Gods and Goddesses are often depicted playing the Veena, particularly the Goddess of learning and the arts, the Goddess Saraswati.  Ravana was also supposed to be a great Veena player.

Some of the main types of Veena played today are: the Rudra Veena (also known as the been or bin), the Saraswati Veena, the Vichitra Veena and the Chitraveena or Gottuvadyam. Veena players are often referred to as Beenkars (or Binkars) or Vainikas.

The wandering sage Narada Muni being given a Veena by Lord Vishnu. Image credit: Sikh Heritage

The Rudra Veena (Been or Bin):

Image credit: tanpura.de

Please note, pictures are only indicative, as various schools of music and musicians add their own modifications.

The Rudra Veena is a large instrument and played by only a few; it almost fell into total obscurity. It is played mostly by instrumentalists from the Dhrupad style. It usually has 21-24 frets. There are four main playing strings and three to four drone strings. At either end of the dandi (the long tubular neck like part) there are two hollow gourds.

Traditionally the Veena was played with the player sitting in the vajrasana posture with his legs folded under him, and one of the two gourds placed on the left shoulder.

Here is Ustad Asad Ali Khan playing the Rudra Veena, holding it with a gourd above his left shoulder:

One of the Rudra Veena’s foremost exponents, (and amongst my favourite musicians) was the late Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar who made his own modifications to the instrument. Ustadji’s alaps (i.e. elaborations of ragas that do not have rhythmic accompaniment, usually performed at the beginning of a piece) on the Rudra Veena were exquisitely slow and detailed. This is the music that caresses one’s soul if one has the patience to let it. Ustadji’s students describe him like his music; tender, gentle, loving and quiet and of great depth.

A clip of Ustadji’s playing an alap on the Rudra Veena in the Raga Yaman:

Note that in the video above Ustadji sits cross-legged and holds the Rudra Veena across his lap and not his shoulder. Ustad Zia Mohiuddin adopted the South Indian or Carnatic style of holding the Veena, which is followed today by his son Baha’uddin Dagar.

In an interview to Deepak Raja, Baha’uddin Dagar speaks of the posture used by his father and the need to tailor make the Rudra Veena according to the waistline of the Beenkar:

My father was the first significant beenkar to shift from the traditional posture to the Carnatic style posture. He had, of course, learnt the Been in the traditional posture, holding it under his right arm, and across his chest. My grandfather probably also played in the traditional posture. My father made the change because the lap-top posture gave him much greater control over the meend [glide from one note to the other]through the in-tandem use of three left-hand fingers, without compromising the impact of the strokes. He found that this was a very valuable asset in the alap, which was his forte. The posture he adopted conformed to the prescription in our scriptures that the top of the stem at the left end should be at the same height as your left shoulder. Therefore, no traditional tenet of Been playing has been breached by the change.

In the early stages, I was taught the Been in the traditional posture, and I have experienced the difference. When you hold the instrument across your chest, your approach to music changes entirely. The melody and the strokes both become more agile, drifting towards the sitar idiom. If you want to play an alap-dominant, soulful quality of music, the lap-top posture works better….

The Vichitra Veena

Image credit: Tarang Indian Instruments

While the Rudra Veena has frets, the Vichitra Veena has none. Apart from the absence of frets, one can recognise a Vichitra Veena by the fact that one of the ends of the dandi will be shaped into a peacock head. The Vichitra Veena is placed on the ground in front of the musician. To play it the musician uses an egg shaped piece of glass (batta) and plectrums on the fingers of one hand. This also a difficult instrument to play. The Vichitra Veena has nine to eleven main strings and eleven to fifteen sympathetic strings. It also has some drone strings. The number of strings and their tuning depends on the artist.

Pandit Lalmani Mishra was a renowned Vichitra Veena player, click on the link below for a video of him playing the instrument:
Pandit Lalmani Misra DVD excerpt

Here is a video of Beenkar Dr. Mustafa Raza playing the Vichitra Veena (look out for the glass egg!):

More about the Vichitra Veena here.

Gottuvadyam or Chitravina

Image Credit: chandrakantha.com

Similar to the Vichitra Veena, is the Gottuvadyam or the Chitravina, played mainly in the South. It too is fretless, and played with a slide and plectrums. Traditionally, the slide was made of wood or bison horn, but today, well known Chitravina exponent N Ravikiran uses a teflon slide. It has twenty-one strings, including playing strings, drone strings and sympathetic strings (the latter are the maximum in number).

Here is a video of a young Chitravina Ravikiran (the name of the instrument often gets attached to the musician’s name in the South) playing the Chitravina/Gottuvadyam:

He plays another version these days, easier to carry around, and easier to tune to higher pitches, called the Navachitravina, that he has designed. Here it is:

There is some argument over which sounds better, the traditional Chitravina or the modified “Nava” version.

Saraswati Veena:

Played mainly in the South, this is perhaps the most popular type of Veena played in India today. The most prized Saraswati Veenas are made in the historic city of Tanjavur, from jackwood and metals. Veenas that are carved out of a single piece of wood are preferred to those that are not. Only one of the gourds acts as a resonator, the second gourd (which rests on the musician’s thigh) may be made of a lighter material. The Saraswati Veena does have frets, unlike the Chitravina/Gottuvadyam. It has four main playing strings and three drone strings.

Image credit: veenvidhya.com

Plectrums are usually worn on the right hand to pluck the strings while the left hand is used to slide on the fretboard and pull the strings.

The close up in the beginning of this video of Vainika Jayanthi Kumaresh demonstrates the playing technique:

That wire you see creeping out of the Veena is a modern addition to increase amplification.

Vocal music is the foundation of Indian classical music. Before the advent of the violin, the Veena was often played to accompany vocal music in the South. There was a great emphasis on the Veena producing the nuances of the human voice (both in the North and the South) and this approach to Veena playing persists.

The Saraswati Veena is held across the lap of the musician (I have read that there were Vainikas who held it upright, indeed Saraswati is often depicted holding the Veena vertical,  but this is not seen nowadays).

There are several well-known Vainikas (youtube has a series on Notable Vainikas). One of the most legendary was the late Veena Dhanammal who played without plectrums. Her style of playing has influenced Vainikas and vocalists alike.

Image credit: The Hindu

It is said that as Dhanammal lay dying:

The family began a continuous round of singing in order to ease her passing. Regaining consciousness briefly, she asked for her veena and when it was placed next to her, embraced it, stating that it was the only thing she regretted being parted from. Her last words were “Muvva Gopala.” That was the signature of Kshetragna whose padams she had made immortal. It was found that her fingers searched for the veena till she passed away…link

More on the Saraswati Veena here.

Related Posts:

• T is for Tanpura not Sitar; it’s Good to Know the Difference
• S is for Sitar and Surbahar
• Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 13-What’s your frequency? The Tanpura/Tambura and finding your Sur, Shruti or Pitch
• Sa and Pa not always fixed?
• A Question of Variety; Carnatic or Hindustani Music?

This post is related to T is for Tanpura not Sitar; it’s Good to Know the Difference, so it may help to start from there. On the previous post there was a comment from a reader whose mother is a Vainika, i.e. a Veena player, saying that some people she knew thought it was cool not to know the difference between these instruments. One hopes the coolness quotient of Indian music will improve over time.

As always, there is no need to watch the videos to their full length or at all, though it might help to watch a classical clip to familiarise yourself with the sound and to distinguish the sound of the Sitar from that of the Tanpura.

Sitar:
A Sitar is a more complicated instrument than the Tanpura: it is used to produce complex melodies and not just the tones of Sa and Pa (though it has the strings to produce a drone) and will take longer to learn how to play (though some would argue that learning how to tune the Tanpura is a lifelong process!). The Tanpura is a unique instrument in the function that it performs; there are no Tanpura concerts, though it may be used for meditation. But Sitar concerts, where the Sitar features as a solo instrument are common. The Sitar features largely in Hindustani music concerts, i.e. concerts performed in the North Indian style of classical music. It is also played in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The word “sitar” has Persian origins. There is some dispute about the origins of the Sitar, but there seems to be some consensus that it is an Indo-Persian instrument. To read more on it’s history see this link. It’s origins are attributed both to the Veena of India and the lutes of Western Asia.

The Sitar is used a lot in Hindi film music and has been used by pop bands like the Beatles and by the heavy metal group Metallica. It would be fair to say that the Sitar is the most well-know Indian instrument in the West. Many people are able to recognise the sound of the Sitar, even if they confuse it’s appearance with that of the Tanpura.

Listen out for the Sitar right at the beginning of the Metallica song Wherever I May Roam:

And for a calmer sound, let the Beatles step in. Their first song that tried to incorporate Indian music was Love You To. People are divided on whether they like the sound:

Another Beatles’ song where I think the Indian element sounds better and where the Sitar is used is Norwegian Wood:

Though a Sitar may look like a Tanpura, it has movable frets on the fingerboard (see picture below), whereas a Tanpura doesn’t have any frets at all, and many more strings than a Tanpura (approximately 21-23), of which usually six or seven are playable. Remember that Tanpuras usually have four (or sometimes five) strings. Some of the strings of the Sitar provide the sound of the drone, and quite a few are sympathetic strings, that create resonance. The gharana, or school of Hindustani music the Sitarist belongs to, determines the number of strings and frets used.

The Sitar often has two gourds at either end (though not always), whereas a Tanpura ALWAYS has only one. It also has many tuning pegs sticking out of the side (known as kunti) but the Tanpura has them only on the top.

Here is a picture of a type of Sitar:

Picture Credit: kksongs.com

Here is a video of Sitar Maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez playing the sitar. His sitar has only one gourd. Contrast this video to that of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar that follows-they play sitars with two gourds. You can see Tanpuris (small Tanpuras that are used to accompany instruments) in the background in both videos.

Here is a video of Pandit Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka playing the sitar.

Sitars became poular in the West thanks to Pandit Ravi Shankar and his famous pupils the Beatles, particularly George Harrison. Here is a video of Panditji teaching George Harrison!

The Sitar is held differently to a Tanpura, i.e. across the chest, and played differently. Both hands are used to play the Sitar (for the Tanpura you need only one hand) and each hand is used differently. One hand plucks ( a plectrum is worn on the index finger) and the other hand slides or fingers the strings. The Sitar can initially be cruel on the fingers and demand blood, whereas the Tanpura strings are much simpler to play!

If you go for a sitar concert, you will often see the musician tuning the Sitar between pieces. The tuning of the Sitar is too complicated to get into here, suffice to say, this also depends on the gharana and the musician.

I would like to end the section on the Sitar with a video of the late great Pandit Nikhil Bannerjee, my personal favourite sitar player. Reluctant to be in the limelight, and completely devoted to his music, he received the honours due to him rather late in the day. Exquisite playing of the highest order.

Surbahar:
Another instrument that I will briefly mention here is the Surbahar (and the legendary player associated with it). The Surbahar is a close relative of the Sitar but is significantly larger, and has a lower, deeper, more bass sound. It is rarer than the Sitar these days and not as many people play it. It is/was sometimes played as a prelude to the Sitar or the Veena and some Sitar and Veena players do play it in addition to the Sitar or Veena, though they may employ different styles both musically and in the technique of using their fingers.

Here is Beenkar (i.e. “Veena player”) Suvir Misra playing the Surbahar in the Dhrupad style (he is left-handed). Misra uses three fingers to pluck the strings (quite a feat).

One of the foremost exponents of the Surbahar is the famously reclusive Vidushi Annapurna Devi, daughter of Ustad Allauddin Khan.

Picture credit: india.tilos.hu

Allauddin Khan initially refused to teach Annapurna Devi music, because his other daughter’s mother-in-law burned her Tanpura. Another daughter had died an early death. Ultimately, he had to teach Annapurna Devi, when confronted with her genius (he came home one day to find her teaching her brother the renowned Sarod player Ali Akbar Khan and his other student who went on to make waves, Ravi Shankar). Today, she teaches a few very select pupils (though not necessarily Surbahar) and generally refuses to meet anyone. Some other Surbahar greats are Ustad Imrat Khan, the late Pandit Chandrashekhar Naringrekar and Pandit Pushparaj Koshti. Other, younger exponents include Shubha Sankaran and Rajeev Janardan

Here is a video that has a recording of Annapurna Devi playing the Raga Manjh Khamaj:

If anyone has any questions, please leave them in the comments section, I will be happy answer to them or to point you to more detailed sources!

Related Posts:

• V is for Veena
• T is for Tanpura not Sitar; it’s Good to Know the Difference
• Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 13-What’s your frequency? The Tanpura/Tambura and finding your Sur, Shruti or Pitch
• A Question of Variety; Carnatic or Hindustani Music?
• Behag

I know that for those not interested in music this may be boring. On the other hand it is likely to be boring even for those who are interested in music, because this is very basic. But I hope those who are not interested, or vaguely interested, do read this post and forgive me for being a little obsessive about wanting us to at least recognise the different instruments if not to hear them. There may be concepts that are difficult to understand, if you want, you can explore them further by clicking on the hyperlinks, or just ignore them for the time being and simply get used to what the instruments look like and sound like so you can tell the difference. There are many video clips (hurrah for youtube!) and it’s not necessary to play them for their full length or to play them at all-they are for the purposes of illustration only.

It’s probably not your fault if you don’t know the difference between these instruments-all three look similar, they have many variations (particularly Veenas), and Indian classical music has often been inaccessible to various groups of people; Gender, caste, social status, language, religion, class and education have all acted in complicated ways to exclude people from learning it or knowing about it. Or it may simply be that one just doesn’t know about it, so let me evangelise (imperfectly).

Tanpura or Tambura:

All Indian classical vocalists, of the well-known styles of Indian classical music i.e. the North Indian style of Hindustani music (further subdivided into the quite distinct Dhrupad and Khayal styles) and the South Indian Carnatic style of music are accompanied by a Tanpura or Tambura (there are other less well-known forms of Indian art music that I shall not refer to here). The instrument is called Tanpura in the North and Tambura in the South. Instrumentalists are accompanied by Tanpuras too, though they often use a smaller version called a tanpuri or tamburi.

There are “male” and “female” Tanpuras-female ones can be smaller and they can be tuned to suit male and female voices (the tuning depends on the strings-so a female can use a “male” Tanpura, with strings suitable for her pitch)

Here is a picture of a North Indian Tanpura:

Picture credit: binaswar.com

And here is a picture of a South Indian Tambura:

Picture credit: chandrakantha.com

Though they might look big and heavy, they are actually quite light and quite fragile.

The North (Miraj) and South Indian (Tanjore) versions are constructed slightly differently and produce a slightly different sound though they perform the same function, that is to provide a “drone” to help the musician sing in pitch (sruti). Maintaining sruti, or singing in pitch is very important and therefore the Tanpura is absolutely essential in Indian classical music. Essentially, the Tanpura sings a recurring melody.

Everyone has a natural pitch. When learning Indian classical music, one chooses one’s “Sa,” called adhara shadja, the basic tonic note-every other note is sung relative to this note. Thus maintaining the basic “Sa,” the fixed reference point is very important, and that is what the Tanpura does (this is different to Western music).

Tanpuras usually have four or five strings. The first string is tuned to Pa (the natural fifth from the adhara shadja), the two middle ones are tuned to the higher Sa and the last, which is the bass string, to the tonic, Sa, an octave lower. The tuning of the first string may change, depending on the raga/ragam (e.g. there may be a raga/ragam without Pa) or an extra string that plays the seventh, i.e. Ni, is added, but we will not get into that here.

Nowadays one gets electronic sruti boxes and electronic tamburas that are much easier to carry around, that look like small radios. Though these are very good and have reached high standards, some people (including yours truly) feel that the traditional Tanpuras and Tamburas provide a richer sound and should not be done away with. Learning to tune a Tanpura is also considered essential in training one’s ear. For a technical view on why traditional Tanpuras sound better see this article.

Here is a link to a podcast by the Carnatic musician Vidya Subramaninan and Devesh Satyavolu that explains, very simply, the functions of the shruti box, the electronic tambura and the traditional Tambura. Vidya sings out the notes of the Tambura-this will help in understanding what’s been said above about how it is tuned.

Here is a video where you can see how Tanpuras are played and hear the rich sound of well tuned (North Indian) Tanpuras clearly. The singer is Ustad H. Sayeeduddin Dagar who sings in the Dhrupad style. He starts off here with a Sanskrit chant:

Here is a video of the Khayal singer Ashwini Bhide Deshpande. I’ve chosen this video because you can see her fingers on the Tanpura strings:

And finally, here is a link to a video of a South Indian Tambura being played, that I couldn’t embed here.

A Tanpura is usually held straight up in front of the singer or tanpura accompanist (people can tend to lean it towards their bodies or put it in their laps) or flat down on the floor, whereas a Sitar is usually held diagonally across the body. More on the sitar in the next post.

Updated to add: Here is a video I just found with an explanation of the function of the Tanpura:

Continued: S is for Sitar and Surbahar
V is for Veena

Related Posts:

• V is for Veena
• S is for Sitar and Surbahar
• Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 13-What’s your frequency? The Tanpura/Tambura and finding your Sur, Shruti or Pitch
• A Question of Variety; Carnatic or Hindustani Music?
• Introducing Yourself to Indian Classical Music 4-Voices