Jayanthi Kumaresh | Saraswati Veena Unwrapped | Music of India

#darbarfestival | “The first veena...he made it using a human skill, with a bamboo stick...and a nerve used as a string.” Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh discusses the history of her instrument.
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Jayanthi Kumaresh’s saraswati veena is an ancient instrument, named after the Hindu goddess of arts and learning. But her gently electrified version produces a strikingly guitaristic tone, igniting Carnatic classical melodies with sweeping bends. She started playing aged three, and learned under her mother Lalgudi Rajalakshmi, before leaving home aged 13 to study with her aunt Padmavathy Ananthagopalan. She also received instruction from her great-uncle, violinist Lalgudi Jayaraman, and noted veenai S Balachander.
A few years later she became one of the youngest artists to receive an All India Radio ‘A’ grading, earned a doctorate in veena history, and founded the Indian National Orchestra, uniting musicians from India’s classical traditions in a large ensemble. On recent recordings she has experimented with recording seven layers of veena on top of each other, and continues to write for dance and film. Listen to Jayanthi here:
-Shanmukhapriya (Pt 2) | • Amazing Carnatic music...
-Kapi (Alapana) | • Carnatic Music | Jayan...
-Simhendramadhyamam | • Breathtaking Carnatic ...
The interview is part of ‘Musical Wonders of India’ curated by Darbar and the V&A Museum in London. View the full online exhibition at www.darbar.org/... & www.vam.ac.uk/m.... Special thanks to the exhibition’s donors: Arumugam Raveendran, Charu Shahane, Late Charanjit (Kugi) Vohra, The Helen Hamlyn Trust, Jagdeep Shah, Mohinder Virdee, Nishant Bhaskar, Nomadic Dairy, Ranbir Attwal, Sandeep Kandola, Satish & Divya Jeram, Seetal Mann, Sreecumaar, and Sandeep Virdee.
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