Striking An Unstruck Chord With Rudra Veena Maestro Carsten Wicke.

In my many discussions on music, especially indigenous music, there has always been mystique around one such Indian musical instrument. Until the day that I heard it on for the first time on television, as it was aired on a spiritual channel during a Holi festival programme. Seeing the two tumbas or resonators on a stringed-instrument, I immediately knew it was the veena. And it made sweet vibrations and as the playing progressed, I could hear a distinct sound, one that I had never heard before!

This time I could connect to this new sound made by the veena. With further research, I found out that what I had seen that day on television was the rarest version of the veena – rudra veena. And I was fortunate to contact the artiste who performed it live at Gokul Ashram at Vrindavan-India.

Carsten Wicke is a devout musician and dedicated to playing the rudra veena. You may start to wonder that how come a person with a Western name is associated with the rarest of Indian instruments. “I was born in Germany, that is why I am here. If I was born in India, I would possibly not have taken to the veena.” And I am reminded of the famous song by country singer Willie Nelson when he sang: “Mamas' don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Don't let 'em pick guitars or drive them old trucks. Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such.” Well, we still do not have a song explaining the scenario of Indians giving preference to similar careers like doctors, businessmen, engineers and so on. Only a few have embraced Indian culture, arts and music, thankfully in my family we still appreciate and continue to explore the country through our travels.

On a similar journey in the 90s, at the time when Germany was separated into East Germany and West Germany by the Berlin Wall, Carsten Wicke experienced this political turmoil. The moment the wall was taken down, he travelled to India at the age of 19 years. While he visited many ashrams and took time out for meditation, he developed a keen interest for Hindustani classical music. Every winter holiday, he made his way to India to learn tabla from Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. As he discovered more about Indian music during performances and baithaks. On reaching upon the music room of his guru - Ustad Asad Ali Khan is what Carsten describes as his breakthrough moment. He learned to play the rudra veena in Khandarbani style and later studied Dagarbani Dhrupad. Till this day, Carsten continues to play in the traditional style with aalaps and does not believe in the idea of creating fusion music. If you are interested in listening to him live, then you can attend the Tollygunge baithak in Calcutta hosted at his home during the first week of February.

“The Veena is the base of all instruments and the beenkars (veena players) used to be the musicians of the musicians, the maestros of maestros,” said Carsten. Such is the power of this divine instrument – the veena. What makes the rudra veena divine is the fact that it is considered to be Lord Shiva’s instrument. “It is necessary to perform the right poojas and there is superstition surrounded to the instrument when it comes to manufacture or repairing it,” exclaimed Carsten as the veena has the rudra factor attached to it. When he shifted to India, the craftsmanship for making the rudra veena was already dying. There was one veena maker by the name of Murari Mohan Adhikari of Kanailal & Brothers-Calcutta, who also made Surbahar, Veena and Sitar.

In 1995 he closed his shop because he became old-fashioned in his business and made a few instruments on private orders before he passed in 2006, leaving no trained successor behind. Carsten had to start making the rudra veena in his own workshop, where he built the veena with better sustain and plays it in the orthodox style of classical music.

For many, the veena is still an instrument that resides only in museum and for discussion in select arty circles, there are rudra veena masters like Carsten Wicke and Bahauddin Dagar who continue to play this instrument which is more than 1500 years old. At that time it was a single bamboo stick with only one tumba (resonator). Performed mainly for meditation in the temples and jungles. Almost 800 years ago, the rudra veena had developed its final shape with two tumbas. In the medieval times, it started to be used for accompaniment than for solo. From the temples, it was taken to the courts of Hindu as well as the Mughal kings for performances. After the end of the court era, many musicians did not find work and performed publicly only for survival. Such was the story of Ustad Asad Ali Khan, who was among the last generation of veena players. “He was a teacher at Bhartiya Kala Kendra and Delhi University where he did not teach the rudra veena but taught sitar for his survival.” The rudra veena is now an instrument for the classes, not for the masses mentioned Carsten Wicke. In today’s time of listening to ahata naad (audible sound), one rarely makes a connection with the divine sound of anahata naad which is mirrored in the sound of the rudra veena. I was lucky to have discovered the unstruck yet divine sound and happy to share it with the world. Om.

Photography: Carsten Wicke.

Video: Berlin Raga Tribe.

We would love to make a connection with you. Do write in at shveta@interactif.in

From Asturias to India with the Maestra of Classical Guitar:

Sharon Isbin

In case you missed a low-key concert by a prolific guitarist like Sharon Isbin, then here’s what you need to know. Sharon performed at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai on 21^st February as a part of the Peace Tribe tour along with sarodiyas of our time - Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, Vijay Ghate on tabla and Shridhar Parthsarathy on mridangam.

The opening piece was none other than Asturias played with poise with one leg on the stool transporting the audience with intricate rhythms as if they were the movements of a flamenco dancer. This was the only solo performance of the evening followed by crossover performances with fellow performers based on Indian ragas with Sharon matching them with some intense scales. By now the classical guitar i.e. a western instrument was starting to sound like an Indian instrument with intelligent instrumentation and technique by Sharon.

“It took six long years to perform at the Peace Tribe tour. This is the first time that the music had been notated for sarod and then for classical guitar,” exclaimed Sharon. The concert also included the following pieces: Sacred Evening, Folk Music from Bengal and Assam and a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore, then a Pentatonic Raga followed by the finale called Romancing Earth.

Sharon commented on the playing technique of both stringed instruments – guitar and sarod as “I play a nylon-stringed classical guitar with finger nails and fingers. Sarod is played with fingers and a plectrum.”

She is best known for her performances on classical guitar while wearing the look of a rock star.

Besides Mumbai, Sharon performed at G.D. Birla Sabhagar in Kolkata and Kamani Auditorium in Delhi as a part of the Peace Tribe tour.

Photography: Sharon Isbin and Showhouse India.

Video: Sharon Isbin.

We would love to hear your feedback. Do write in at shveta@interactif.in

Jefferson Airplane: A Psychedelic Revolution!

I heard Jefferson Airplane in the 80s, on a compilation of selected tracks from Woodstock on an audio cassette at my home. The recordings on the audio tape were transferred from the original Woodstock Vinyl Record Album. My Dad had been an avid collector of original vinyl records transferred on to audio cassettes at that time, after the old gramophone had given way. And on the Woodstock album cassette - one sound that stood out was of Jefferson Airplane.

Original Setlist of Jefferson Airplane live at Woodstock on 17 August, 1969:

• The Other Side of This Life

• Somebody to Love

• 3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds

• Won't You Try / Saturday Afternoon

• Eskimo Blue Day

• Plastic Fantastic Lover

• Wooden Ships

• Uncle Sam Blues

• Volunteers

• The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil

• Come Back Baby

• White Rabbit

• The House at Pooneil Corners

If you didn’t belong to the Woodstock generation, just as much as I didn’t myself, you would have heard of some tracks from the new version of the band. The psychedelic rock band had transformed in to progressive rock under the name Jefferson Starship. Famous songs by Starship are “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” from the film ‘Mannequin On The Move’ and “We Built This City” - this also became the motivation theme song for Citibank employees.

According to the original Woodstock Co-founder Michael Lang in Vulture Magazine, “Some of the newer bands will do tribute sets to original acts like Janis Joplin, the Band, Jefferson Airplane and Joe Cocker, along with “unique collaborations” and possible reunions.”

And we can’t wait to revisit cool bands from the 60s at Woodstock’s 50^th Anniversary Celebration in 2019.

Let us know your feedback on our first article on a psychedelic rock band. Mail me at shveta@interactif.in

To Be Enya, Is An Art.

Enya. What more can I say…eternal. Why? Because Enya’s music was so fascinating from the time that I listened to her voice on my CD player on a flight from USA to Germany introduced to me by Andy from Somerset, England. Andy not only loaned me his batteries for my CD player but also said that he had a collection of albums by Enya. And from then on till date I have listened to almost all albums of Enya, from ‘The Celts’ to ‘Dark Sky Island.’

You can sense the mystique in her voice as she incorporates polyphonic layers that sound and resound like hundreds of echoes. It can take years between her albums as she spends time in her recording room set in a medieval castle located near the ocean. This may sound like a fairy tale but Enya composes her music at Manderley Castle, which is about 45 minutes from Dublin in Ireland. And which also happens to be her home along with has two more house residents – Nicky and Roma Ryan who are responsible for the production and lyrics for Enya.

Media around the world have described Enya as “private” and she maintains her privacy except her public appearances during tours for promoting her album and at award ceremonies. One can spot her during gatherings at the family-owned pub and sometimes even at church. Before starting her solo career, Enya, born Eithne Ni Bhraonáin was a part of the Irish family band Clannad, along with her siblings.

Twenty years from then, she performed “May It Be” from the film ‘Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ at the Academy Awards in 1992. This is one song that I had on loop on the CD player of my car. It is not just the music that fascinates her fans world over, but also the Irish mystique, Gaelic language and Celtic culture that Enya signifies via her albums, year on year.

For nearly two decades, I have been a keen collector of Celtic art, jewellery and cloth prints. This interest of mine inspired the creation of the Interactif logo. The design has Celtic knots – an interlaced pattern that has artistic, cultural and spiritual significance. And this is how great an influence is Enya!

Photo and Video Credit: Enya.

Let me know your feedback on our first Artist of the Month in year 2019. Email me at shveta@interactif.in