Raag Poorvi | Rudra Veena: India’s King Instrument | Jyoti Hegde | Music of India

#darbarfestival | 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