Crossing strings & seas: Slide guitarist Joel Veena on blending Hindustani ragas & music lore
When the Vermont-born musician introduces himself as Joel Veena, one may think he plays the veena and hence the surname. So when Joel ‘Veena’ Eisenkramer goes on to the stage to play his slide guitar, with an Indian instrument in his stage surname, performing Hindustani classical music, he often begins with curiosity before his music takes over. However, for the artiste, this unusual confluence was never planned – it grew from a chance listening moment that shaped his musical path, and made him cross all barriers.
And now ahead of his Bengaluru performance this evening at the Bangalore International Centre, Domlur, he hopes people go home feeling uplifted, happy and maybe a little curious to listen to more Hindustani music. “I’m going to be playing traditional North Indian ragas on the slide guitar, and I’ll also present some of my own compositions. Predominantly, I’ll be telling stories from the fascinating history of Hindustani music lore. Because when we understand the context, the impact of the music is much more deeply felt,” Eisenkramer says.
Talking about his unique stage name, he notes that it was born during his first tour of India in 2016. Friends pointed out that Eisenkramer, while distinctive, was not exactly concert-poster friendly, he recalls. “They said my surname is long and not catchy. We were deciding between Raga Joel and Joel Veena. Very famously, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt calls his instrument the Mohan Veena, and many artistes modify the instrument and rename it. I have no interest in renaming the instrument, but I chose the name Joel Veena in homage to the music and to the fact that this music has changed me,” he says.
His musical journey began in 2007 during a semester exchange at the University of Delhi, when he was pursuing Hindi literature in translation. A chance purchase altered his trajectory. “I encountered a CD by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in a local shop. I took it home, listened to it on my portable CD player and was completely enamoured with the sound,” he remembers. Later, a series of what he calls ‘chance meetings and special encounters’ eventually led him into the Hindustani oral tradition.
The journey, however, was not without friction for him. He was living in Vermont, meant pursuing the music largely in isolation. “The general vibe around me was ‘why are you doing this?’ It would be so much easier if you just studied jazz or rock,” he shares, adding, “Traversing that inertia has been the most challenging part.” Staying disciplined through almost two decades of practise and repeated travel to India proved demanding. But he was then ready to tell a story of breaking barriers and of the strings attached between cultures, through the language of music.
For many, the confluence of guitar and Hindustani music may sound unique, but being a slide guitarist, he also addresses a common misconception about his instrument. “I did not adapt the slide guitar into Hindustani music at all. The lineage goes back to the 1930s when pioneers such as Brij Bhushan Kabra first shaped the Hawaiian guitar for classical performance,” he explains. Later maestros, including Mohan Bhatt and Debashish Bhattacharya, refined the design with Kolkata luthier Sindhu Biswas, whose model he plays today.
Slide guitar has long been a part of the Hindustani classical music arena. And for Eisenkramer, the guitar’s global familiarity helps younger listeners connect with classical music. “Many people come up after concerts and say, ‘What did you do to the music? And I tell them – I didn’t do anything. You’re just feeling attracted to the instrument because it feels more familiar,” he laughs.