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.

Amateur to Adept

I started off my musical journey when I was 6 singing songs from "Perfecting Carnatic Music I", the rookie song book. I was playing with my toy cars when my guru who was teaching my mother at the time called me and asked me to sing a few notes. Little did I know this would change my life forever.

Since then, I have come to play the Chitraveena and am working on perfecting my skills as an instrumentalist. My guru, Chitraveena Narasimhan taught me all I needed to know to make my transition from singing to the Chitraveena.

The Chitraveena, being a south Indian instrument favors Carnatic vocalists as notes played on a Chitraveena sound similar to those sung by vocalists. All the songs and notes meant for vocalists can be played seamlessly due to the absence of restrictive frets.

When I started, all I could play were a few varishais which are beginner exercises meant to introduce the person singing/playing it to Carnatic music so they get a feel for the art form. Even though I was a beginner, I already had a headstart due to my adventures in the musical world.

I took me a few months to start playing note which weren't out of tune but as soon as I got a hang of it, I was hooked! Sometimes, it is a bit hard to get a hold of those 21 strings but after practicing it a few times, it should be fine.

For anyone out there having any doubts about the Chitraveena or just music in general, don't fret about it!

Chitravina for dummies

The Chitravina is an instrument exclusive to south India where the instrumentalists use a cylindrical piece of teflon (gottu) to produce notes that resemble those of Carnatic music. The instrument, like its north Indian sister, the vichitravina is a fretless instrument unlike its cousin, the Veena where the instrumentalist uses finger movements to produce notes in a more restricted environment. Its fretless nature allows the user to produce a variety of sounds which can be formed in different octaves. Each Chitravina is different and has a set octave where the user can experiment with the instrument. The Chitravina has 21 strings of which, 11 are vibration strings which resonate when a certain note is played, 3 are tala strings which are strummed together when a shasabdakriye occurs in the tala sequence. The other 7 strings are the main strings which are strummed to produce the notes you hear. The main strings consist of two types of strings which include the thicker, mandram and the thinner strings which are more in number.

The Chitravina and the gottu

      The instrument was pioneered by Gottuvadhyam Narayana Iyengar who also invented the tala strings which are placed under the main strings. Since his time, the Chitravina has come a long way and the bison horn has been replaced by teflon and a new, portable version of the Chitravina has been created by Chitravina Ravikiran who has called it, the Navachitravina.

I hope the Chitravina continues its evolution and makes a bigger mark on the musical world.