Murari Rudra Veena on visit
This very impressive new Rudra Veena came to my workshop for initial setting and jawari. It is now owned by Fabio T., a very enthousiastic ICM adept and young italian filmmaker. This is one of the last rudra veenas made by maestro Murari Mohan Adhikari, the last representative of Kanailal and Brother, worldfamous Calcutta based musical instrument makers. It was originally ordered by late Asad Ali Khan and, although the instrument is already a couple of years old, it has never been played.
The first thing to do was a proper string setting. I noted that all the strings were mounted very high above the first parda’s position (lowest notes). It was just impossible to play MA tivra from the first fret. The baj tar had to be lowered by approx. 1.5mm on the tar daan to be able to reach the MA tivra correctly. After that, all the pardas were adjusted to their new and correct position on the neck. Adjustments needed for proper intonation to the SA & PA tar & kharaj were only very few.
The jawari work took almost 8 hours to complete. The original jawari surface was shaped only very roughly. Not a single string had a useful initial sound. Only heavy rattle and clatter came out. But I started to file, scrape and sand, string by string, slowly and steadily and finally realised a smooth and open sound with a stable and long sustain on each note. The only problem I encountered was on the kharaj tar. This 0.92mm plain bronze wire seems to be too stiff to be able to make a proper progressive contact with the jawari’s surface. This problem sometimes occurs on surbahars and sitars with a somewhat heavy kharaj as well. So I adopted their solution: change the original and ancient plain bronze heavy wire into a modern fine and flexible flatwound bronze on steel string. The result is amazing: A very deep, nicely round and fully evolving open sound with virtually endless sustain. Om Namah Shivaya…
Technical info on strings & tuning according to Asad Ali Khan style:
Cikari’s: steel 0,30mm (N°3) & 0.25 (N°1) tuned to G#3 (SA) & G#4 (SA)
Baj tar: steel 0,40mm (N°6) tuned to C#2 (MA)
SA tar: bronze 0,56mm (N°24) tuned to G#2 (SA)
PA tar: bronze 0,72mm (N°22) tuned to D#2 (PA)
Kharaj: flatwound bronze 0,92mm (N°20) tuned to G#1 (SA)
Laraj: bronze 0,56mm (N°24) tuned to G#2 (SA)
For more info about rudra veena you can visit www.rudravina.com and www.rudraveena.org
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I know I am very late here but the reason the thick round kharaj works on the Dagarbani bins is the much greater distance from the back of the bridge to the post. This allows the string to have a much shallower angle when it hits the back on the bridge and it lays on the bridge surface nicely. On the Khandarbani type vin the angl;e from the back of the bridge to the post is extremely acute and tends to “pull” the string above the bridge surface. I use a #18 Karuna Tanpura string (flatwound) on the kharaj of my traditional style vin.
i need a rudra veena in better price for my self use in temple i do no abut the rudra veena please help me to buy it in a correct way
i need a rudra veena in good colour good size traditional look and beautiful peacock heaed and merun or good black colour in better price old or new
Hello, I have a Kanai Lal rudra veena done expressly for Asad Ali Khan available for sale. Pristine condition, excellent sustain, high quality customized fiberglass cases.
I can be contacted at : nurfilms@hotmail.com
How beautiful!can you tell me where I can get such veena strings,particularly flat wound steel.
I would be very greatful .sadly damp has ruined present strings. David
Hi David, I’ve bought these nice bronze flatwound strings from Raj Musicals in New Delhi. Find contact via www.rajmusical.com
I’ve bought these strings when I was in New Delhi now 5 years ago. I had to order them at that time. They were custom made, but not only for me, I guess.
Can be that they have no more contract with the man who actually made it for them.
I have to say that they sound very good, but they are very fragile.
Originally, I bought them for surbahar and electric sitar but the wound part deforms and breaks easily. Maybe that’s the reason why they don’t sell anymore. I don’t know…
Meanwhile I have good experience with Pyramid strings from germany.
They make very good flatwounds but not in bronze (until now??). The nickel flatwounds also sound very good with a very long sustain and they are very strong !!
Ask for these. They are also custom made. Ask for “long loop-end” for easy attachement.
I am having a Dagar style Rudra Veena constructed at this very moment. I recently consulted Ustad Bahauddin Dagar re string gauges and he suggests/uses a 1.2mm bronze for the kharaj and tunes to ~ G#. If thats what he recomends then thats what I’m going to start with !
Remco, thank you for your valuable info.
On this picture you can see the curve I’ve created on the backside of the jawari to imbed the Kharaj. But even this angle seems too steep for a 0.98 mm bronze Kharaj…??
(click for zoom)
About the gauges:
Since I’m not a veena specialist, I don’t know the various details about tunings and gauges as applied per gharana. I do the job as the client wants…
Amazing to see these instruments surfacing every now and then!
A couple of points: When using a thick Kharaj be sure the angle on the back (where the string leaves the bridge towards the tailpiece) is not steep; otherwise the string will lift slightly from the brigde, because the wire is not flexible enough (I use a 1.2 mm(!!!) for the kharaj.
Another thing is you tune the veena in G#. Usually AAK-style veena’s are tuned much lower (I checked it with several recordings and he seemed to prefer to tune between E and F). I play a Dagar-veena; these instruments are tuned higher (with thicker strings).
Away…very nice to see this topic!
Hi,
I am looking for anyone who wish to sell old Rudra Veena, Vichitra Veena and Taus.
I have been collecting musical instruments to put them in my museum at Mysore. It is a wax museum on musicians and musical instruments. Currently 110 life-size wax statues and over 320 musical instruments are kept on display. None of the exhibits are for sale and this museum is more educational in purpose.
Some the statues are visible in the following link: http://www.waxworld.in/photos
I request you to inform me if the above are available at a reasonable price.
Regards,
Shreeji
very impressive…..
great job!