The divine and vocal qualities of the 21-stringed, fretless slide instrument, chitravina, are not only obvious to Carnatic music lovers but also to connoisseurs all over the planet. ‘Infinite capacity for micro-tonal shadings reminiscent of the human voice' says the New York Times. The Sunday Star, Kuala Lumpur is awed by ‘spellbinding speed…singing tone that is divine…'

Chitravina, also referred to as Gotuvadyam, is easily one of the most exquisite musical instruments in the world today. It is one of the oldest instruments in the world, enjoying a history of nearly 2000 years and is the forerunner of several other instruments such as the fretted veena and the sitar. It is also recognised in the West as the prototype of the Hawaiian Guitar.

International stature: The chitravina is one of the more popular instruments in the world today, having been featured virtually across the planet in leading events like the Millennium Festival, UK, Autumn Festival, France, Brisbane International Festival, Australia and Harborfront Festival, Canada. The versatility of the instrument has been proved through presentations of very complex compositions including sophisticated Ragam Tanam Pallavis and its success in concerts with vocal and other instruments with legends like Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, Dr Balamuralikrishna, Smt T Brinda, Smt Girija Devi, Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. At a global level, collaborations with top notch artistes from various cultures like Taj Mahal, Glen Velez, Jovino Santos Neto, Alizadeh and with members of orchestras like the BBC Philharmonic or the Cleveland Opera have proved that the Chitravina can make an impact anywhere.

Structure & technique: The external structure of chitravina resembles that of the fretted veena but the Chitravina contains 20 or 21 strings including six melody strings, three secondary strings for drone while the remaining strings run parallel to and below the melody strings, producing a rich resonance.

The technique of playing chitravina is actually quite uncomplicated - all one has to do is to pluck the melody strings with the fingers of the right hand and glide a cylindrical rod (of wood, bison horn or Teflon) with the left hand. This obviously eliminates the need for elaborate fingering techniques with the left hand that is so a must for instruments like the sitar, violin or veena. This definitely makes chitravina one of the easier instruments to learn, more so for a musically talented person.

However, mastering it can be challenging. This is because of the need for laser sharp accuracy in placing the slide on the strings so as to hit the right note. Even a fraction of a millimetre this way or that would result in a wrong note. Other challenges are to play using just one piece of slide over a huge length as opposed to 3 to 8 fingers that team up in even much smaller instruments like the flute, violin etc. But with hard work, focus and training under a good guru, one can overcome these. That is what enabled maestros like Sakha Rama Rao, Gotuvadyam Narayana Iyengar and Boodalur Krishnamurthy Shastri to attain great heights.

Sakha Rama Rao: Sakha Rama Rao was responsible for re-introducing the chitravina to modern concert scene and also giving it the name Gotuvadaym. This was no more than a colloquial name since he used to refer to the slide as ‘Gotu’ and ‘vadyam’ means instrument. (Many decades later, I went into the origins of this instrument and found that some of the descriptions about the chitravina, had similarities to this instrument and I officially got the Music Academy pass a resolution to go back to that name.) Sakha Rama Rao was a musicians’ musician and trained many great artistes incuding Gotuvadyam Narayana Iyengar and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer.

Gotuvadyam Narayana Iyengar: Narayana Iyengar was easily the greatest exponent of this instrument of his times. A performer of the highest order, he enjoyed tremendous popularity, but was constantly working to refine and improve this instrument all through his life. He changed the string arrangements almost totally, giving it a tonal depth, never heard before but emulated by other stalwarts such as Mysore Chowdiah. Narayana Iyengar introduced the concept of octave strings (where strings tuned in two different octaves are plucked simultaneously, which gives a unique tone), standardised the pitch, the types of strings and the many other things on the instrument. Musically, the real edge of the fretless instrument was highlighted by Narayana Iyengar who could literally make his instrument sing or bring to fore the instrumental delights when he ventured into improvisations such as tanam and kalpana swaras.

Boodalur Krishnamurthy Shastri: A very versatile vocalist as well, Shastri was an excellent chitravina player too. His style was diametrically opposite to that of Narayana Iyengar as he preferred to retain the old style of stringing (7 or 8 strings altogether) as well as a low pitch of around D# or E (as opposed to Narayana Iyengar who raised it to G or G#, which is more prevalent today). He was also not keen on the sympathetic resonance strings. Boodalur’s style was reminiscent of the veena and his tanams and swaras could be gripping.

Chitravina Narasimhan: Son and disciple of Narayana Iyengar, Narasimhan also learnt for a short while under Boodalur Krishnamurthy Shastri. His style is thus a blend of these two giants. He is really the one who responsible for spreading his father’s methods among fellow artistes and training numerous disciples. A wonderful performing musician, he popularised this instrument all over the country.

Other stalwarts: Some of the notable exponents of this instrument include Mannargudi Savithri Ammal, A Narayana Iyer M V Varahaswami, Gayatri Kassabaum and Allam Koteeshawara Rao.

Today, artistes like Chitravina Ganesh, Vishaal Sapuram, Emani Lalita Krishna, Bhargavi, Durgaprasad and Vijay Venkateshwar are emerging as decent performers and several others are showing good promise. As Narayana Iyengar observed, ‘Dedication to the instrument, reverence towards the art and one’s guru, constant practise and a good attitude will help one attain proficiency in the instrument and music and enable one to achieve the inner peace, much sought after by Mankind.’