After my very pleasent meeting with Sachdev, I was eager to hear more. Though he was a frail old man, he promised to show me some more of what India had to offer. With the aid of three of his fellow players, we set about the small town in which I had arrived. We were going to meet a man who was in town to visit Sachdev, an old friend.

When I asked him how long he had known this man, he simply responded with "Very long." I tried to press him for more information, as I was eager to meet him. "He is a player of the Veena. The best the world has seen."

Imagine my excitement when I was told this man was the greatest Veena player ever to live!

"You mean to tell me that we are meeting the greatest Veena player alive?"

"I did not say he was alive."

I was bewildered. What did my guide mean?

"How are we to meet this man?"

"Just because we can not see him, does not mean he isn't present."


Carnatic music from South India. When a man's name has become synonymous with his craft, in this case, the Veena, you know it has to be good. Often called the Ravi Shankar of the instrument, 'Veena' was a truly accomplished musician who died far before his time. The fruits of his labor, I present to you.

Hear it for yourself

I love your presentation with this thread Conan, so cool.

DL'ing Chapter 2 now. Can't wait to check this out. :)

I am happy you are enjoying it man.

Learning about the different types of Indian music and reading your "journey" has been fun, Conan. These days I mostly hear Indian music in a local Indian restaurant, which I always enjoy visiting because of the good veggie food, good music, and the kind owners, a family from India. In college, an American friend whose parents came from India danced traditional Indian dances, so I heard some of the music then and felt it was fascinating, especially when combined with classical Indian dancing.

Are you drawn to Indian improvisational music partly because you are interested in improvisation in your own songs?

I hadn't realized some of the pieces are so long. I found this short YouTube recording of "Veena" Chitti Babu, which you may like because it is so short and has a picture of a traditional dancer:

Wow, this is a good thread. I didn't think Indian classical would be so popular here.
The violin you mentioned, it is actually called a sarangi.

http://sarab.in/yahoo_site_admin/ass...4113_large.jpg

As for the tabla, when you reach it, be sure to listen to Zakir Hussain, the maestro of the tabla.

I'm actually Nepalese, so I get influenced alot by Indian culture. I (Well, my family) listens to alot of Hindi Music.

I've got a great lossless recording of a very cool tabla demonstration that i'm going to do soon.