Kishna plays the ravanattha, an ancient stringed (15, 13, or fewer, depending on the size) instrument. He wants us to buy one so he invites us to sit with him and try it out. One or two strings are bowed while the others, strung across a skin covered coconut shell, resonate. The instrument is written about in the Ramayana from maybe 700BC. In the 16th century AD, Italians based the violin on it. I've decided the banjo comes from it too.
Anyway, Kishna is a super sweet guy and we had fun hanging out with him on a few occasions. We let him down because we didn't buy one. We did pay price for a CD and paid it again to his father the follwing day for his CD. They're a travelling family, most of their year is spent in Udaipur.
I couldn't make it work after much coaching and encouragement. Arati, on the other hand, spent a minute with it and did fine.
1 comment:
Great photos. Even better story! Glad you got the CD. Sorry you didn't get the instrument itself, but I'm sure they sell more CDs than ravanatthas.
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