She not only has a collection of hundreds of musical instruments from across the world, but has learnt to play all of them too.

Dr Anasuya Kulkarni was learning Hindustani music from her ustaad in Kabul in 1965, when he invited her home to sing in front of his family and guests. Pleased, he decided to give her a token of appreciation, his swaramandalam. That was the start of what is today a diverse collection of musical instruments. “I haven’t counted,” she says, “but there are at least 200-300 instruments. I have categorised them into separate genres of wind, string, bow, plucked, idiophones and percussion instruments.”
The second instrument in her collection also came from Kabul of the ’60s. After a snowstorm, Kulkarni was basking in the sunlight outside her home when she heard music from the neighbour’s house. It was a rubab, a lute-like instrument. She bought one in the local market.

Collecting a variety of instruments became easier after her husband, who was working for the United Nations, was posted to different countries across the world. There are also different varieties of the same instrument, like flutes, of which she has more than a dozen, each distinct. The flutes from Papua New Guinea, for instance, have religious connotations.

The collection also hosts an instrument called the angklung — a series of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame. When Kulkarni first heard it in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the late ’70s, she was bowled over by the intricate sound. “I first bought an 8 note angklung and kept meddling with it to try and play Indian music on it.”

Customising the stand proved to be the key, after which she was successful in creating the right notes of Indian music. She demonstrates Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma on a 13-piece angklung and soon, the perfect notes of the classic song chime melodiously.

Kulkarni has made it a point to learn to play all the instruments, receiving specific training from experts. For instance, she learnt to play the flutes of Papua New Guinea from a local musician. The only self-taught instrument is the angklung, says this doctorate in music. She now hopes to propagate its use in Indian music.

Next on the agenda is to train students who wish to learn any instrument, through the institute.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Work  / by Jayanthi Madhukar  , Bangalore Mirror Bureau  / March 15th, 2014