Making music with 100 strings

Nirmala Rajasekar and Sandip Chatterjee
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association

The Saraswati veena epitomises India’s historical classical music whereas the santoor is inextricably linked to the people custom of Kashmir. Bringing these two devices collectively on stage could possibly be a novel concept. The U.S.-based vainika Nirmala Rajasekar and Kolkata-based santoor artiste Sandip Chatterjee tried this uncommon jugalbandi lately in India earlier than embarking on their present America tour.
Collectively they make music with 100 strings — santoor’s 93 (Sandip eliminated seven strings from the 100-stringed instrument) and veena’s seven strings. 

Nirmala, a ninth era veena exponent, shared how thrilling this musical affiliation is. Apparently, the veena and the santoor got here collectively earlier in a live performance by Kannan Balakrishnan and Bhajan Sopori, organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi.    

Nirmala Rajasekar
| Picture Credit score:
R. RAGU

Nirmala and Sandip carried out in Delhi, accompanied on the tabla by Ramdas Palsule and on the mridangam by Thanjavur Ok Muruga Bhupathi. The live performance had been structured with care to showcase the distinctness of the devices and their capacity to create a musical confluence. Since there are lots of ragas frequent to Hindustani and Carnatic programs, the jugalbandi was a easy train.

Whereas Nirmala selected to play an ode to Ganesh ‘Gam Ganapathe’, which she sang too (it typically diverted the give attention to the instrument) with the mridangam enhancing the melody with rhythmic assist, Sandip offered a unique ‘gat’ in Hamsadhwani, ably accompanied by crisp tabla bols of Ramdas Palsule.    

Sandip Chatterjee
| Picture Credit score:
santoorplayer.com

Acoustically talking, the bass sound of the veena is in whole distinction to the sunshine fluttery sound of the santoor. Additionally, the extent of motion and dexterity within the santoor is tough on the veena however the motion inside notes potential on the veena is unachievable on the santoor, or ‘shatatantra’ veena as Nirmala prefers to name it. Nonetheless each used these elements to enrich one another’s enjoying. 

Sandip stated, “My santoor is often tuned to ‘D’, however I needed to change my pitch to play in ‘E’. ” Nirmala defined that her veena had been made shorter in order that she may journey with ease. Because of this, it cannot be tuned decrease than ‘E’. Sandip shared “as an alternative of re-tuning the santoor to a pitch the place it might not resonate effectively (every instrument sounds finest at a sure pitch), I modified my scale and made ‘Re’ my ‘Sa’. That is tough to maintain in a protracted live performance however I like difficult myself.”   

Sandip’s santoor enjoying is uncommon. He performs with one mallet, in contrast to the norm the place each arms maintain mallets to skim on the notes. “I attempt to emulate Ustad Vilayat Khan saheb’s dealing with of the ‘tarab’ (sympathetic) strings. I exploit only one mallet, and with the opposite hand pluck the ‘tarab’ wires, it sounds stunning. My instrument has solely two ‘tarabs’, I eliminated the opposite two because it resonated an excessive amount of. In music, it’s not arduous to discover a assembly level,” stated Sandip.