Smt. Radhika & Shri Rajnarayan

Exploring Musical Creativity: Digital Veena

First of all, at the very outset, let me tell you that there is no musical instrument in the name of Veena. There are different kinds of Veenas. For instance, Rudraveena, Vichitraveena etc in Hindustani music and Saraswativeena, in the South Indian music. What I mean to clarify that Veena is a specific group of musical instruments. Thus, when we talk of the Veena, it denotes a specific category of musical instruments. After this initial clarification, now I can address the main issue regarding the Veena.

Veena has a very ancient and rich traditional heritage. References of this musical instruments are available from the very beginning of history of Indian music. In the Vedic literature as well as in the ancient works of music, Veena has been refered to at the numerous places. In the ancient times, there were different kinds of Veenas. Some musicologists are of the view that Veena was the common noun for musical instruments. At least this can be agreed upon without any reasonable doubts that Veena was the common noun for all the stringed musical instruments.

There are many myths related to this instrument. However, in this essay, it is not my objective to elaborate upon those stories. My purpose behind telling all this is that I wish to establish this fact that Veena has been and is a very important musical instruments as far as the Indian music is concerned.

But now-a-days, the instrument which we call Veena is in great trouble. It is on the verge of being extinguished. There are many factors which are responsible for the unpopularity of this potential instrument. Its enormous size is the apparently is the first and the foremost challenge. Difficulty in transportation, problem in acclimatization etc are some other problems which have contributed to its present state.keeping in view all the hinderances and difficulties which are making Veena impopular, Smt. Radhika and Shri Rajnarayan experimented with the technology and came up with a very encouraging solution. Here let me tell you that Smt. Radhika is an exponent of Karnatik Veena. She is the artiste wife of Shri Rajnarayan. When she faced the problems which all the exponents of Veena have to, her husband Shri Rajnarayan came to her pursuit. It is also note worthy that Shri Rajnarayan is engaged in giving a new shape to Indian musical instruments since around1976. He has come up with the electronic versions of Tabla, Tamboora, Swaramandal etc. He has floated a company to manufacture electronic musical instruments. This company is called, "Radel electronics Pvt. Ltd." It is based in Bangalore Karnataka. Therefore, he decided to make an electronic version of Veena too. His scientific temper alongwith the artistic outlook of his better half, made it possible for all the Karnatik style Veena exponents that now they can play Veena without any difficulties. The new electronic Veena is easy to tune, easy to move from one place to another, easy to adjust to the magnitude of the tonal quality and there are many more feature which make this musical instruments much better than its traditional counterpart.