South Indian Musician Performs in Northwest MN! (posted by Shawn)

When we want to expose our children to various cultures, other than Scandanavian or Native American, we usually have to drive 250 miles to the Twin Cities. But, thanks to a tax levied on Minnesotans that also supports fishing and hunting, our local library was able to sponsor a concert by South Indian musician Nirmala Rajasekar. She plays the veena, which is the national instrument of India. The Saraswati veena is a seven stringed instrument with 20 frets and a bell. The veena may be traced back 2,000 years, and there are references to forms of the veena in Hindu scriptures going back 4,500 years. Nirmala was born in Chennai, where my sister's fiancé is from. She began her performing career in Bangalore, where Anju was born. She began studying the veena at age 6 and has been playing for over 30 years. She has played at Carnegie Hall and for the U.N. and now has played for 25 northern Minnesotans in a library. I assured her that there was one South Indian in attendance!

Anju really responded to the music. She was shaking her head from side to side and tapping the beat throughout. The music is called Carnatic, which refers to southern India. It was very different from the music of Ravi Shankar, who collaborated with Beatle George Harrison. Ravi Shankar's sitar music is from northern India or Hindustan. Carnatic music is much more melodious. The veena is similar in tone and in phrasing to the human voice. Three base notes- drones- are strummed and the four higher notes are picked.

Nirmala was accompanied by a man playing the mridangam, an Indian drum. Anju, for whatever reason, thinks it was hilarious that the mridandgam player had a mustache. She laughed about it at the concert, and now days later is still laughing and saying, "The man at the show had a mustache!"

A question and answer session followed the concert. The most embarrassing northern Minnesotan question was "I thought Indian women wore veils." Nirmala shrugged it off, replying, "I think you're thinking of Saudi Arabia. Indian women can dress however they want."