The vichitra veena (Hindi: विचित्र वीणा) is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is similar to the Carnatic gottuvadhyam (chitra vina). It has no frets and is played with a slide.
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The Structure
The Vichitra Veena is the modern form of ancient Ektantri Veena. It is made of a broad, fretless, horizontal arm or crossbar (dand) around three feet long and six inches wide, with two large resonating gourds (tumba), which are inlaid with ivory and attached underneath at either end. The narrow ends of the instrument are fashioned into peacock heads, the national bird of India.
The Strings
There are four main playing strings and five secondary strings (chikaris), which are played openly with the little finger for a drone effect. Underneath them are 13 sympathetic strings tuned to the notes of the appropriate raag. The veena has a five-octave range. Two plectrums (mizrab) identical to those used for sitar are worn on the middle and index fingers of the right hand to pluck the strings, and a glass ball (batta) is moved with the left across the main strings to create melody (there can be a distance of up to two inches between notes). Coconut oil is put on the strings to minimize the friction of the sliding hand holding the batta.
The veena was often used to accompany the Dhrupad style of singing and this did not allow for much intricacy or embellishment around the notes. It was rescued from oblivion by Dr. Lalmani Misra who developed technique of playing and created Misrabani compositions; his son Dr. Gopal Shankar Misra made the repertoire universal.
- Vijay Venkat - India
- Pt. Gopal Krishan
- Raza Ali Khan
- Fateh Ali Khan Qawwal
- Habib AliPakistan
- Abdul AzizPakistan
- Mohammed Sharif PoonchawalayPakistan
- Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish - Panditji once mentioned that he had been playing the vichitra veena since 1945/1946. He purchased it from his good friend Mr. Mohamad Sharrif of Poonchwala (a Kashmir district). Mr. Sharrif had just bought a new one so he told Panditji that you can just take this one for free. Panditji insisted that he would like to pay so Mr. Sharrif sold it for around $150 rupees. Panditji recalled that this was probably Sharrifs' father's veena and was perhaps one that was originally belonging to Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan. Ustad Abdul Aziz Khan Sahib would often come to play the Vichitra Veena for the disciples of Guruji Chandan Ram Charan of Patiala and who else by one of his foremost students Shiv Dayal Batish would be one of the eager audience members. This is where he probably received his initiation to this rare instrument.
- Benoit Gerstmans, student of Gopal Shankar Mishra, France
Other Types
It is one of the three other major types of veena popular today. The others include Saraswati veena and rudra veena. Out of these the rudra and vichitra Veena are used in northern Indian classical music. There are just a handful of people playing the same Vichitra Veena with a minor change in structure in the South with names differing as Chitra Veena, Vichitra Veena, Gotu Vadyam etc. Ravi Kiran, Vijay Venkateshwar, Durga Prasad, Ganesh, are the most popular of them playing Vichitra Veena. But the most popular Veena in the South is Saraswati veena and is used in Carnatic music, the classical music of South India. Dr. Lalmani Misra in his Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya mentions that there are forty nine types of Veena-s mentioned in ancient literature about which little besides the name is known. Vichitra Veena, along with Rudra Veena, Tanjauri or Saraswati Veena and Gottu Vadhyam has been nominated as Indian entry for inscription in UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
External links
- [1]
- Vichitra vina page
- Google - Vichitra Veena
- Online Music EducationArticles on Vichitra Veena
- For a video clip of Vichitra Veena visit Online Music Education
- [2]
See also
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