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Literally meaning ‘curious string instrument’, the vichtra veena utilises a large glass ball to slide along coconut-oiled strings
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—Gopal Krishnan (Darbari)—
“Lalmani Mishra first taught sitar to his son Gopal, but soon introduced him to the vichtra veena (‘curious veena’) – a seldom-seen slide instrument with peacock-shaped headstocks which somewhat resembles a Hindustani variant of the Carnatic gottuvadhyam. His has 22 strings: 4 for melody, 5 for rhythm, and 13 for sympathetic vibration. The musician holds a large glass ball (batta), which, with the aid of coconut oil, slides along the playing strings to produce an ethereal, liquid texture. Mishra worked tirelessly throughout his life to gain respect for the rare, fragile instrument, expanding on his father’s nascent ‘Misrabani’ repertoire to take it far beyond its Dhrupad roots, and even partaking in cross-cultural fusion with State of Bengal. Misra’s 1999 album Out of Stillness is, for me, one of the best in all of Hindustani music. Recorded at Bath’s Real World Studios, it captures the vichtra veena’s fluid articulations in pristine quality via a spellbinding, hour-plus Darbari rendition. Sadly, the master would unexpectedly pass away only a month after the session whilst at a concert dedicated to his father: still only in his 40s, he left behind countless ideas that had yet to come to full fruition – even sketching out his vision for his instrument’s future in a tantalising online essay which includes chapter titles such as ‘New dimensions to spiritual approach in music’. No instrument sounds quite like his – and few will ever match his mastery.” (from my Ragatip article Gopal Shankar Mishra and the curious veena)
—More Info—
- Notable performers: Radhika Sadhika (1982-), Anurag Singh (1966-), Ragini Trivedi (1960-), Gopal Shankar Misra (1957-1999), Brahm Sarup Singh (1940-1998), Ajit Singh (1933-2021), Gopal Krishan (1926-2004), Lalmani Misra (1924-1979)
- Sa pitch: Highly variable according to stringing and artistic preference – with a cluster of examples in the low G#-A range (e.g. Gopal Shankar Misra & Ragini Trivedi), and another in the higher C#–E range (e.g. Gopal Krishnan & Radhika Sadhika) [see my Survey of Sa Tunings for more].
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–Survey of Sa tunings–
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George Howlett is a London-based musician, writer, and teacher (guitars, sitar, tabla, & santoor). Above all I seek to enthuse fellow sonic searchers, interconnecting fresh vibrations with the voices, cultures, and passions behind them. See Homepage for more, and hit me up for Lessons!
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