Artist Profiles: Geetha Navale

Geetha Navale is a veena virtuosa. She has participated in numerous collaborative projects with various artists of the world, combining Carnatic music with other musical forms.

She studied under the guidance of Vidwan Sri.J Anjaneyalu of the traditional Vijayanagaram School. The classes would start at 4:30 a.m. every morning and the practice would continue for hours daily. As a child she had the honor of performing with her Guru at Sri. Thygaraja Aradhana, at Tiruvayyaru, the birthplace of Sri. Thyagaraja.

After her marriage to songwriter-guitarist Gopal Navale, Geetha moved to Bangalore. She continued her studies under the late Sri. C. Krishnamurthy, a disciple of the celebrated vainika Sri. Doreswamy Iyengar.

Since 1989 she has been under the guidance of the legendary maestro Sri R. K. Suryanayana, whose explosive techniques inspired her to further heights of excellence. Under him she has matured as a performing artist. He has introduced her to modern styles of playing and also new original compositions.

Along with her husband, Geetha established a global music project called Esperanto in their world music school, Guruskool, which explores cross cultural music, the emerging exciting new music of our time.

Through Esperanto, Geetha playeed, recorded and performed with talented and acclaimed artists, including Dr. David Rothenberg from New York, a Jazz clarinet player, writer and philosophy professor; Nadia Lamarch – jazz from France; Manuel Delgado a Flamenco guitarist from Spain; and Ralf Siedhoff a classical and 12 stringed guitarist from Germany; Kartik das Baul and Devdas Baul, Baul singers from Shatiniketan.

Her recordings include Tillana Guchcha – a veena duet with guru Sri. R. K. Suryanarayan. Her second recording is an open ended collaborative musical project of Guruskool involving talented musicians of diverse genres to explore the still largely uncharted seas of cross cultural music. The album titled Mix’d Feel, is a a fusion of Carnatic, harmonica, jazz sax, Indian percussion like tabla, mridangam, and rhythm guitar.

In December of 2001, Geetha collaborated with Spanish cellist Lourdes Pfeiffer, French bassist Alexandre Lettelier and Indian percussionist Prashant R.S.

Discography

Tillana Guchcha, Volume 1 (1999)
Mix’d Feel, with Esperanto (Kreek, 2000)
Rubber World, with Robert Wright, John Wayne and Gopal Navale (Raw Productions, 2001)
Esperanto at the Knitting Factory (Kreek, 2002)
Ocean Floor (Kreek, 2002)
Ancientstrings (Kreek, 2004)
Tillana Guchcha Volume 2 (Kreek 2003)
Ondu (Masala Maker, 2002)
Toujours du Soleil, with Isabelle Antena (2003)

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.