Bharatiya or Indian Instrument and styles
About Violin
The Violin may have been introduced to India by the military bandsmen of the East India Company around 1790. Baluswami Dikshitar, brother of renowned Carnatic Composer Muthuswami Dikshita, learned the instrument from the military bandmaster in Madras and adapted his playing style to suit Carnatic Music. There are two styles of violin playing in India: the Carnatic and the Hindustani.
About Veena
The Veena is a multistring chordophone of the Indian subcontinent. Veena is an ancient musical instrument that evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps. There are many regional designs and have different names such as the Rudra, Saraswati and Mohan Veena.
The South Indian Veena design, used in classical Carnatic music, is a lute. It is a long-necked, pear-shaped lute, but instead of the lower gourd of the north Indian design it has a pear shaped wooden piece. It too, however, has 24 frets, four melody strings, three drone strings, and played quite similar. It remains an important and popular string instrument in classical Carnatic music.
As a fretted, plucked lute, the Veena strings can produce pitches in full three octave range. The long hollow neck design of these Indian instruments allow portamento effects and legato ornaments found in Indian ragas. It has been a popular instrument in Indian classical music, and one revered in the Indian culture by its inclusion in the iconography of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of arts and education.
Kuchipudi Dance
Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance art, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of Natya Shastra. It developed as a religious art linked to traveling bards, temples and spiritual beliefs, like all major classical dances of India.
Siddhendra Yogi founded and systematized the modern version of Kuchipudi in the 17th century. Kuchipudi largely developed as a Hindu god Krishna-oriented Vaishnavism tradition, and it is most closely related to Bhagavata Mela performance art found in Tamil Nadu.
The Kuchipudi performance usually begins with an invocation. Then, each costumed actor is introduced, their role stated, and who then performs a short dance prelim to music (dharavu). Next, the performance presents pure dance (nritta). This is followed with expressive part of the performance (nritya), where rhythmic gestures as a sign language mime the play. Vocalists and musicians accompany the artist, with the song recited in Telugu language, and the tala and raga set to (Carnatic music). The typical musical instruments in Kuchipudi are mridangam, cymbals, veena, flute and the tambura.
