Anand Jagota plays
the Saraswati Veena
Anand learned to play the veena in 1992 in Madras. His
teacher was Dr. K. S. Subramanian, who Anand met at a workshop for the faculty
of Musicology in the University of Hamburg, where Anand received his M.A.
Anand
has found his own creative musical forms for the veena, influenced by the
tranquility and devotional spiritual qualities of Indian music.
Anand
is able to perform as a solo instrumentalist, as a duo player with percussion
accompaniment or with an ensemble.
He
has recorded his music and has performed live with different line ups in Phuket
and in Hamburg as well.
The
instrument:
The full name of the
instrument is "the Saraswati veena". Saraswati is the Hindu Goddess
of music, who is usually depicted holding or playing the instrument. This
instrument as regarded in south India as "perfect instrument" because
you can play melody, drone and rhythm, the three fundamentals of Indian music,
simultaneously. The veena is the leading instrument for South Indian classical
music, the majority of which is vocal music.
The Saraswati veena is the
primary string instrument of Carnatic music and is the last survivor of many
types of veenas created in South India. Its form has been fixed at the end of
XIXth century and it has progressively replaced all the other veenas.
The neck, main resonator
and the resonance table of the instrument are made of the jackfruit tree, a
hard wood. The neck is hollow, and on it 24 straight frets are stuck with glue
made of bee's wax. The bridge is flat and is made of copper, which gives it a
recognizable metallic color. The
strings are stopped by the forefinger and second finger of the left hand, and
glissandos are made through the pulling technique (as on a sitar).
The saraswati veena has an interesting construction. The highest quality veenas have the entire body carved from a single block of wood. There is another resonator at the top of the neck. This is no longer a functioning resonator, but is mainly used as a stand to facilitate the positioning of the instrument when it is played. Because it is no longer functioning it is not unusual to find that this upper resonator may be made of acoustically neutral materials such as paper mache, cane or other similar materials. Unlike north Indian instruments like the sitar, the saraswati veena has no sympathetic strings. It has only four playing strings and three drone strings (thalam). The main bridge is a flat bar made of brass and has a very slight curve. It is this light curve, which gives the veena its characteristic sound. A major centre for the manufacture of the saraswati veena is in Tanjore.
Anand's Classical Guitar Repertoire - Anand Jagota & Ensemble (CD): "Sailing on Sound"
Anand's Veena Samples (mp3): Veena Solo - The Belly Dancer
Anand's Electric Veena Samples (mp3): Dance the Moon - Oriental Rocks - Take Seven
Anand's Classical Guitar Samples (m4a): Fur Elise - Welsher Tanz - Lady Gethin
To book Anand:
(Solo or playing in
combination with other instrumentalists), please contact Anand Jagota:
anand@phuket-town.com,
Click to order or listen to the CD: http://cdbaby.com/cd/anandjagota
