Recorded at Darbar on 20 Sep 2014 at London’s Southbank Centre.

Musicians:
- Jyoti Hegde (rudra veena)
- Surdarshan Chana (jori)
- Debipriya Sircar (tanpura)

Raag Poorvi; Thaat: Poorvi, Samay: Late Afternoon

Jyoti Hegde is one of only a handful who has mastered the rudra veena. Here she uses this rare instrument to superbly renders the comparatively rare Raag Poorvi.

Learn more about the music:
Jyoti Hegde is among the world’s leading rudra veena players. Sitar was her first love, and she studied the instrument under Bindhu Madhav Pathak, starting training at the comparatively late age of 12. But on hearing her guru play the veena she became instantly drawn to its slow, low tones, and asked to learn.

Her guru refused, telling her that women could not play it. After some persistence he offered to give her a trial lesson, but deliberately set her up on an old, difficult to play veena in the hope that she would be dissuaded. But she took to it with talent and determination, practicing hard enough that Bindhu soon asked her father to buy her a better quality instrument. But even from there the path to mastery was not straightforward - her mother urged her to give up, protesting that the veena’s playing position could damage the uterus.

Jyoti was undeterred (and now has a 29-year old son), going on to learn more of dhrupad’s patient grammar from Indudhar Nirodi and esteemed master Asad Ali Khan. Her acclaimed style largely adheres to Asad’s Khandarbani Gharana, but is also influenced by her continuing expertise in the sitar. She sees her music a form of nāda yoga, based on the ancient Sanskrit premise that all creation consists of nāda, or sound vibrations.

Poorvi is a sunset raga, which to many listeners evokes a serious, mystical mood. It originated in Eastern India, evolving from Raag Purvagauda by around the 16th century. It is the fundamental raag of Poorvi thaat [base scale], but is is somewhat rare today, with the structurally similar Raag Puriya Dhanashree often being preferred. Poorvi most importantly differs from Puriya Dhanashree in that it can take both a shuddha and a tivra [natural and raised] Ma. It takes the swaras SrGmPdNS, forming an angular shape which mixes wide and narrow tonal intervals. Ga and Ni are respectively the vadi and samvadi [king and queen notes], and Sa and Pa are often avoided in ascending lines, giving the scale a characteristic vacancy.

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