For some years now, Chennai-based Neyveli Radhakrishna has been Europe-trotting.

Working alongside some talented musicians in that continent and jamming up with Carnatic music.

Neyveli Radhakrishna has gone on to design his form of a double violin. The concept of a double violin sounds familiar, after L. Shankar, of the famed violin trio ( L. Vaidyanathan, L. Subramaniam are the other two violinists) introduced one such instrument.

Is Radhakrishna’s violin the same one?
“No, the basic difference is that L. Shankar’s is stereophonic and mine is stereoscopic.” So what is the difference?

“The neck of my violin can be adjusted according to the body posture. You don’t need to twist your body to play a bass note”

But the tuning of this 10 stringed double violin with five strings in each arm is in the traditional style of the violin played in Carnatic music. That is E, B, E, B tuning (Sa, Pa , Sa, Pa).

The violin has a treble neck and a bass neck. The treble neck produces the violin and viola tones, whereas the bass neck throws out the cello and double bass tones.

But there are some who dismiss this version as a mere showpiece.

A student of violin maestro M. Chandrasekaran, Radhakrishna also plays traditional Carnatic concerts. And when he wants to display his 'originality', he takes up performing with ‘Ahimsa’ – a band of five passionate musicians from various parts of the world. The band consists of Matthias Muller on guitar, R. Yogaraja on four percussion instruments - mridangam, tabla, kanjira and morsingh, Armin Metz on bass and Uday Majumdar on tabla.

The band which was formed on a Vijayadasami day in 1999 was the fusion of two minds, Neyveli Radhakrishna and Matthias Muller, a jazz and pop guitarist who also learnt veena in Chennai

Radhakrishna himself learnt Western music at Musee Musicals in Chennai.

“There is vast scope for improvisation in both Jazz and Indian music. Presentation of enchanting, daring, and technically proficient improvisational music is the forte of ‘Ahimsa’.” explains Radhakrishna, who tours widely with this band.

Recently the group performed in Chennai. ‘Ahimsa’ has also two albums to its credit - 'Seven Steps to Liberty' and 'What is the nature of Spirit'.

To know more about Radhakrishna and the band log on to www.doubleviolin.com or www.ahimsamusic.com