Chitraveena in the modern world

Carnatic music is an ancient art form that has endured thousands of years and has remained unchanged since its inception. However, after the dawn of the 21st century, its appeal has started to decrease in the eyes of the newer generation. 

Western "pop" music has been creating waves in the music industry and has attracted a young audience. This drives them away from not only Carnatic music but also from western classical music. This type of music is also easier to access as there are entire companies like 'Spotify' dedicated to making streaming easier for customers. 

If you attend a Carnatic music concert tomorrow, you will mostly find people in their mid-50s or 60s because their generation grew up listening to this art form. Before the advent of technology and globalization, Carnatic music was the only form of music in south India and because of that, everyone from the milkman to the king listened to Carnatic music. 

Today, that spot has been taken over by modern music like hip-hop pop and EDM (Electronic Dance Music). Although these styles music have only emerged in the last few decades, their unique sounds and meanings have resonated with the newer generation. This leaves Carnatic music behind as merely a relic of the past.

The timeless appeal of classical music is fading and the only way to arrest this downward spiral is to cater to the new audience. Artists have started to adapt to the times by making fusion pieces which combine the best aspects of both western and Indian art forms. People have also started making Carnatic-style covers of popular western songs which have gained significant interest on youtube. 

Carnatic musicians should also think about showcasing their content on newer content sharing platforms like youtube, facebook, and Spotify. This would put high-quality Carnatic music on everyone's phones which could have the potential to reignite the passion for Carnatic music in many young people. Doing this would make it easier it appreciate Carnatic music because as of now, the most popular way to experience this is to attend a physical concert.

These solutions would help to reduce the average age of Carnatic music fans and propel this age-old music form into the modern world and help newer generations understand the beauty of the music their ancestors composed. 

My First Concert!

Recently, I played my first ever 45-minute concert with an accompanist. This was my longest performance ever and the accompaniments really helped to elevate the atmosphere produced in the hall that day.

This, however, was the tip of the iceberg as I had to put in two hours of hard work every day for two months to have it culminate at this point. Ever since my tenth-grade board exams ended, I had to practice two hours a day to qualify to give a such a long high-quality performance. I even had to go to Chennai for two weeks in the sweltering heat just to learn more complicated songs and practice under the guidance of my teacher, Chitraveena. N. Ravikiran.

As this was my first ever solo concert, I had to work extra hard to make this performance happen. The hours of practice left me with my arms throbbing and my fingers stiff. The constant tuning and string cleaning was exhausting. The Chitraveena is not easy to maintain.

On the day of the concert, I felt extremely nervous; would my performance be representative of the amount of work I had put in or would it only receive pity applause? I decided to put these thoughts behind me and start my sound check. I felt the instrument was not properly tuned and I spent a little over fifteen minutes tuning the instrument. It may have been noisy and a little annoying but the results would be worth the agony.

As the audience started walking in, the nervousness came back. My accompanist, a seasoned professional with a hundred concerts under his belt, went about his business and tuned his mrudangam by precariously hitting it with a rock in the right places. The low pitched sounds only increased the dramatic tension in the room as people started to settle down. Luckily, this was a small room with a capacity of around fifty people so if I made some mistakes, they wouldn't go very far.

The organizers held forth with flowery speeches about the event and their efforts. Somewhere in the dark pit of the audience, I rubbed my cold, nervous hands together, dreading that I might make mistakes that everyone would talk about the rest of the evening.

  

The concert started and I gave a short introduction before each song so the westernized audience could better understand the nuances, difficulties, and meanings of the songs I played. This helped to elevate the atmosphere in the small room and drove attention away from the minor mistakes I made. Thankfully, the only person who noticed my mistakes was my mother; even my accompanist didn't notice so I could brag about how I finished my first ever concert without any mistakes.

The concert ended after forty-five minutes and I was relieved. I was a bit sweaty after the concert because of the nervousness and the physical effort it takes to play this instrument at a near-professional level.

My first concert was a success and the months of effort seem to have paid off. After the concert, I have been practicing my instrument for relaxation rather than preparing for another concert because although it is gratifying, the amount of work required to put up a quality corner coupled with my school work is too much to bear.

However, I plan to return to the stage soon as a seasoned, professional and less-nervous musician and give something back to the community that helped make me the musician I am today.

Why are there so little Chitraveena players?

Although the Chitraveena is a unique and melodious instrument, there are not many people who choose to take up this instrument. They instead choose to take up the Carnatic violin or percussion instruments like the Mrudangam. The reality is that this instrument can take up a lot of time, money and effort. Here are a few reason why the Chitraveena is such a rare instrument:


The violin was introduced to India in the late 1700's which gave it enough time to get aquatinted and folded in to Carnatic music. The Chitraveena on the other hand was only invented towards the end of the 1800's so it had less time to become a staple of Carnatic music.

The instrument is very hard to play because of the lack of frets. It also requires a lot of patience and precise movements which can be tough in the initial stages of learning. This is why a high quality teacher is needed so that one can be guided to reach a certain degree of professionalism. Sadly, there are not many people qualified to teach such a difficult instrument so this can lead to students choosing to take up other instruments ahead of the Chitraveena.

The low number of manufacturers who make this instruments is also a reason why so few people play this instrument. There are less than five manufacturers who  craft this instrument and it is hard to contact them. It is also hard to maintain as the many strings make cleaning particularly hard. Some people also complain about it being hard to transport due to its large and unusual shape.

The low number of professional artists also means that the instrument gets lower exposure than another instrument of the same caliber like the violin or the flute. Even though artists like Chitraveena. N. Ravikiran are trying their best to popularize this obscure instrument, the number of Chitraveena concerts is considerably lower than the number of violin concerts.

The lack of artists makes this instrument unique and also portrays it as a higher level of instrument. Despite it's many shortcomings, I will continue to play the instrument and strive to improve everyday.

Numerous Negatives

This week, I will be discussing something different from the rest of the blog pieces. The many potent disadvantages of playing the chitraveena.


1. It is extremely hard to carry. When I travel to Chennai, I have to carry my smaller navachitraveena so that it can fit in the hold of small turboprop airplanes. This Chitraveena does not have the same quality of sound as the normal one and it also requires a large amplifier and a pickup microphone. All these extra items make for a royal hassle and make this version of the Chitraveena equally as hard to transport.

2.  It is not widely recognized so many competitions and organizations only find out about the instrument once they see it leading to them asking a lot of annoying questions. It can also diminish the grandeur of the instrument because the uninformed listener cannot appreciate the music coming from this special yet peculiar instrument.

3. It is very hard to play. It takes a long time to learn and master the art of playing the Chitraveena. I myself took a year just to familiarize with the instrument before I could play songs. It took me five years to get to the stage where I am today and my journey is still not complete.

4. While playing for extended periods of time, it can be extremely painful. Moving the teflon slide continuously at high speeds can cause pain in the arm and can sometimes lead to an injury. I you want to learn how to play this instrument, be prepared to feel some pain.

Although it has it's disadvantages, it still is a great instrument and is the best way to express feelings without singing. it remains a great opportunity for people who want to learn Carnatic music but don't want to learn how to sing.  

Consecutive Concerts

Two weeks ago, I travelled to Chennai to participate in a competition where one was required to perform songs composed by Oothukadu Venkata Kavi. I played the same songs as my last performance. For more information about that experience, please take a look at my previous post.

After my last experience, I was not as worked up as I was before so I ended up calm for the three hours I had to wait before getting on stage. During this time, I managed to squeeze in a practice session with my guru Chitraveena Ganesh who helped me work on the songs which I was to play very soon.

When they called my name, I could not perform immediately due to the difficulties with setting the instrument up so someone played on stage while I awkwardly walked behind him with a handful of wires and mike stomping about the stage during his performance. I hoped that this would break his concentration leading to my victory! When I finally finished, I had to come on stage to start my song.

I gave them a choice of two songs and thankfully they chose the one I was more proficient in. When I sat down, I found out that my instrument was not tuned. I spent the next five minutes awkwardly tuning my instrument while the judges were yawning out of boredom. However, this soon as changed as I started to play. I wish I could have seen the look on the judges face when I started but I was too engrossed in my music. I had to hit every note with precision or the first prize would be lost due to a something as simple as a slip of hand. Suddenly, my mike fell down on my speaker and posed as a massive distraction which could hamper my ability to play well. My mother then walked up to the stage while I was performing and fixed the mike. I found this quite embarrassing but it was not as bad as traveling all the way to Chennai and not winning.

I also missed a few notes during the performance but the judges forgave me because they were too enthralled to notice the mistakes. This is one of the advantages of playing  a rare instrument like the Chitraveena.

If we fast forward to the prize ceremony, I was scared that I would not win a prize but I came through and managed to win first place! I was truly surprised and was ecstatic when I received my gold medal and certificate. I really hope this will be a foundation for a long and glorious music career. I feel I performed better then I did last time due to the lack of other performers and the enhanced and more vigorous practice sessions I went through. I look forward to my next performance and will do whatever it takes to get it perfect.

Concert Confidence

I recently performed at a concert where I had to actually try to make mistakes. Seriously. It was my first ever stage performance playing the chitraveena, and as an accompanist, I had to shadow the vocalists who were students just like me. Supporting them meant playing every note they sang, and even making all the mistakes they made to make it look like we were a perfect music troupe.

This challenge to me occurred at Sankara Math which hosts an annual Navaratri music festival involving many influential musicians such as Chitraveena Ravikiran. In my troupe, there was a percussionist who played the mridangam, three vocalists and a veena player; the regular kind.

We played five songs called navavarnams composed by Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi. These songs are sung in devotion to the goddess Kamakshi and are notoriously hard to perform. With their meandering, curvy phrases, known as gamakas, and hard to reach notes that test the virtuosity of performers, it is not a surprise that these are considered the most challenging aspect of Carnatic music.

To tell the truth, I had been nervous at the prospect of playing this difficult repertoire on a real stage and before a live audience but after hours of practice, my confidence grew and my nervousness fell. As I stepped foot on the stage, things took a turn for the worse. My nervousness came rushing back and I felt sweat running down my back like a raging river. My fingers were trembling on the chitraveena, I looked around at the other performers. It seemed like we took a collective breath and dived in. As the notes came, my nervousness gradually fell and I began to play louder and clearer as I became more courageous by the second.

The “crowd” of ten made up in thunderous enthusiasm what they lacked in numbers. Displeasing all of ten people is worse than displeasing half of a hundred! Our audience supported us by clapping loud and long after each song. The "crowd" of ten people also helped to ease my nerves as displeasing ten people is worse than displeasing a hundred! Although small in number, the audience's enthusiasm made up for it as the ecstatically clapped for us after each song.

Looking back, I learned that I could become an even better performer by avoiding certain wrong notes I hit when my fingers suddenly turned to jelly, and tuning my instrument more accurately. These are lessons from this performance I will take on to my next one. I also learned that music lovers are devoted to passing this art from to the next generation so much so that they are not too particular about their music.

If you ever find yourself on stage sweating profusely and struggling to speak coherently, just take a deep breath, settle down, and play until you flush the butterflies out and just play to your hearts content.

Chitraveena Chronicles

The Chitraveena is one of the rarest instruments in the music world and only a handful of people even get the chance to learn the art of mastering the 21 strings. The reason the instrument is even known around the world is Chitraveena. N. Ravikiran. He regularly travels the world performing in places from Australia to Germany showcasing the instrument in all its glory.

Although instruments are a vital part of Carnatic music, they are given a lower priority over vocalists as the Carnatic music community prefers to listen to vocal concerts over instrumental ones. Many of the great artists were instrumentalists but that has little effect on the reducing popularity of instruments in the Carnatic world.

This makes it harder for the Chitraveena to make a mark on this world and it's now up to you and me to change this for the better.