The La Luna Flow in the Rudra Veena Music of Carsten Wicke: A Brief Interaction

Rudra-Veena, the instrument, as far as it goes, to tracevits historicity we might have to get to its source which is Santam sivsmadvaitam caturtham manyante sa atma sa vijneyah - the 7th cardinal sloka of Mandukya Upanishad which bares it all the truth of enlightenment....there is nothing other than this truth. So, the fourth state or turiya, which is what we indeed are here and now, is nothing but existence consciousness and bliss, and the musical instrument, the synergy it creates in a space time moment with the musical player and the audience - knower, known and knowledge, this triad is finally understood in its right perspective with the healing ecstasy of music of the rudra-veena. This is way one can trace back the history of this particular instrument and reach a fathomless transcendence in his own Self....that could be the only possible reason why it was handed down by Lord Shiva to his disciples, the instrument, the veena of Rudra/Shiva had either 21 or 24 frets which are movable (pardas) to accomodate the shrutis of a raga in dhrupad North Indian style. Contextually, if we are not able to walk back to that extreme, we could find records of it in shastras 1500 years, that's reasonable for the human brain, more so, we could the royal patronage rudra Veena received in the early 15th Century in the Mughal Darbars which remain as court records for one to delve into the phenomenal artistic sensibility of this musical instrument and it's genre. The dandi with strings above to play on, the dandi itself a reminder of the cosmic axis, the spine in our human system , the subtle connection with cosmic mundi and the 7 chakras from the base of the spine to the sahasara or crown chakra in the head, all these are not metaphors to create an illusion, but, just the obverse, as ways to transcendence. It is a miracle that this instrument has survived and younger people are attracted to it in an age of technological disruption, shows the divine grace is bestowed on all of us equally. And the incredible work left behind by maestros like Mohiuddin Dagar, Ustad Asad Ali Khan, Veena Maharaj Dattatreya Rama Rao, Asit Kumar Banerji, Peter Row, to name a few who have left indelible marks which are now picked up by new musicians, profoundly talented and deeply immersed in that gharana, like Carsten Wicke, who I think is a gift in a unique way from the origins, to take us along with the music to a space of liberating consciousness. At first glance, I felt Carsten has deeply drowned in that music - the full moon la luna flow....at second glance I felt he sank more, and when he played the rudra veena he was there and still not there ...as if he became the instrument and there was only that flow of a profusely bleeding full moon shining and showering it's blessings on us all.
please watch the interaction and we hope to connect with you all soon. Happy Easter from
Tantra Foundation Team
- Tantra Foundation - A Centre for Traditional Learning, Creative Arts and Self-Evolution
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Great to know more about rudra veena😊