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.

Mastery Materials

The Chitraveena is made of a numerous number of materials and this article will highlight the important ones used to build the instrument and it's side pieces.

The gottu or the slide used to be made of bull horn or wood but as the years came by, the world moved ahead and it is now made of teflon as it is smoother and more friendly to the environment. It is also the more modern option as it is strong and gives a good sound.

Note: As a Chitraveena player, the teflon gottu does have a few flaws for example, after long periods of practice, the strings make impressions in the teflon making the surface rougher reducing the advantage it has over other types of gottus.

Normal Chitraveenas or even veena's are made of wood from a jackfruit tree but a more elite material used by maestro Chitraveena. N. Ravikiran is teak wood which is a bit heavier but gives better sound.

The strings which give the instrument it's appeal are made of steel and brass where the thicker mandram strings are made out of the latter and the normal, vibration and tala strings are made out of the former.

A Chitraveena not only requires many materials but it also requires nonstop, backbreaking work to carve the intricate designs ons the sides and to carve the hard wood into the bell shape to produce the sounds making this the "Singing Instrument".

Chitraveena Chronicles

Although it may seem new, the Chitraveena has very ancient origins which are cemented in a myth created a long time ago.

  The story goes that the god Narada, a mischievous meddler and messenger, and Tumburu, a celestial virtuoso, were quarreling over who was the better musician. They decided to settle this bet by competing in a concert.

Narada and Tumburu played the Veena over several days. Still, no winner emerged. Even Saraswathi, the goddess of learning could not decide who was more skilled.  They summoned Hanuman, the monkey god, to settle this duel.

Hanuman proceeded to rip the frets out of the veena. This enraged the two musicians, who mocked him for being a crude ignoramus, essentially, “just a monkey” unappreciative of the grand instrument in front of him.  Hanuman then ripped a branch off a nearby tree and began to play his newfound instrument by sliding a piece of wood over its fretless body.

The sound emitted from the instrument was so melodious and emotionally affecting that the very rock the Chitraveena was resting on melted. The fretless Chitraveena was invented.

Hanuman challenged different people to come and play the instrument, but they could not match his skill.  The arrogance of Narada and Tumburu was tamed, and they humbly accepted Hanuman as the greatest musician of all time.

A more realistic explanation for this is that Sakaram Rao, a renowned musician decided to take a piece of glass and slide it along the strings of the Tanpura which is a background instrument in concerts. He then decided to do the same thing with a fretless veena and used a buffalo horn instead of glass. And hence, the Chitraveena was born.