Ancient Music - Ancient Srilankan Ravanahatha

Ancient Srilankan Ravanahatha

The Ravanahatha is a crude violin made of coconut shell and bamboo And goat skin, with a natural fibre serving as the string. Goat and sheep gut and coconut wood are also used.Having been the first stringed instrument to be played with a bow, it is recognised as the world's first violin. Ravanahatha or Ravana's hand is mentioned in the ancient Indian epic 'Ramayana'.The soulful music emanating from the Ravanahatha is believed to have moved Hindu god Shiva, of whom Ravana was an ardent devotee. 'The instrument was picked by Hanuman and flown to north India, where it is still played in Rajasthan and in the Agra area of Uttar Pradesh and is known as Ravanahatha,

From India, the Ravanahatha travelled westwards to the Middle East and Europe, where in the 9th century, it came to be called the ravanastrom, according to the website library thinkquest.org. From the 11th century onwards, the bowed instrument underwent many changes before it took the shape of the modern violin in Italy in the 16th century.

,Dinesh Subasinghe a star on the Sri Lankan music horizon, has a new and daring passion - to popularise Ravanahatha a violin-like instrument that Lanka king Ravana had devised and played about 5,000 years ago.The Ravanahatha sounds like the north Indian instruments Sarangi and Esraj. Its plaintive and melancholic sound touches an emotional chord ,' ,

The melancholic sound of Ravanahatha might be a reflection of the character of Ravana, a tragic hero who the author of the 'Ramayana' demonised, conveniently ignoring his abilities as a scholar, musician and technologist. The ravanahatha's birth itself is believed to have taken place under traumatic circumstances. According to legend, Ravana's mother Kaikasi, an ardent devotee of Shiva, was eager to go and live in the god's abode on Mount Kailash in the Himalayas. Ravana opposed the plan vehemently, but to please his mother he promised to bring Mount Kailash itself to Sri Lanka. As Ravana was lifting the mountain, an angry Shiva trapped his 10 heads and 20 arms. Writhing in pain, Ravana prayed for mercy. When Shiva let him off, Ravana decided to sing his praise and instantly made an accompanying instrument using one of his heads, an arm and some of his hair. The soulful music emanating from Ravana's instrument is said to have moved Shiva, who bestowed immortality on him. Though crude and utterly simple, the Ravanahatha has proved to be a very versatile instrument.

Dinesh Subasinghe brought some changes in to this ancient instrument,he brought a unique style and technique to play it like a Sarangi, in year 2007 for the first time he introduced this instrument to electronic media in srilanka and in to the recording music industry and Dinesh Subasinghe launched the first audio album from thia Ancient Instrument Ravanahatha,