I'm happy to be able to share with you a very special recording from earlier this year. The album 'Interior Landscapes' features two tracks of alaap, a collaboration with Amit Singhal, recorded and produced by myself. The tracks are available on all digital streaming platforms as well as right here on my own website.

STREAM INTERIOR LANDSCAPES

Liner notes:

By April of 2022, it had been nearly two years since Amit bhai and I had played together in person. Post-pandemic, my visa was restricted and I had only 28 days to visit family in Mumbai, receive taleem from Guruji in Howrah and meet friends in Delhi. We rented a restored 1920s flat for 3 days in central Delhi and set up microphones around the large living room. We sat on the carpet day and night catching up, discussing the state of the world and our plans to live in it, drinking tea and recording alaap in various ragas. Our simple set up yielded a beautiful sound, representative of the calm and thoughtful exploration that was occurring. We played in a gentle way, cautious to try and let the landscapes of our minds and spirits come out from the interior and ring out in the empty hall. These tracks are the music of a previously suppressed and dormant creativity, returning to find the world drastically changed but still thirsting for true music. 

This is Interior Landscapes.

Interior Landscapes is releasing August 31, 2022 on all digital platforms. This album features two alaap recordings from Amit and my reunion in Delhi earlier this year. We rented out a large restored 1930s flat in the center of the city, set up microphones around the room and spent three days recording and catching up. Mostly what we were doing was attuning ourselves again to playing with each other after such a long gap. In years earlier, Amit and I spent a lot of time playing together, practicing and fine-tuning our duet style. This resulted in two albums: Chintan and Milap. Interior Landscapes is less prepared but perhaps deeper musically, it's the true musical stories of two good friends, long separated, reunited in music. 

Spotify users, pre-save the album here 

Or get it right now on the patronage hub

I'm thrilled to share with you that there are now 8 (EIGHT) exclusive releases available on my Bandcamp patronage hub. 

For those you don't know.... 
  

• For $50/year you get all of these exclusive releases, plus my entire discography of already released music and everything I make in the future. 
• All the music is yours to keep forever as a high quality download AND it's streamable online in your browser and via the Bandcamp app for iOS and android. 
• On top of that, you get the satisfaction of knowing that you are supporting my art in a meaningful way. 

WHAT'S NEW is that my concert with Jake Charkey and Mir Naqibul Islam is now available via the patronage hub. The whole concert! The sound quality is really excellent and I'm really happy to be able to share this landmark performance with the world. It was a good-sized audience in Putney, Vermont, but I know there are many of you far and wide who would have loved to be there. Now you can listen to it to your heart's content. 

With ample patronage, I will be able to focus more time of practicing, composing and performing. It's through patronage of the arts that most of the great artists in history were able to create their finest works; I'd like a shot at that too. 

Check it out below, I really appreciate your support! 

Joel Veena Patronage Hub

Wishing you and yours the very best, 

Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer

I'm pleased to announce that I will be performing with two of my good friends and musicians who I respect and inspire me on June 25 in Putney, VT: Jake Charkey, one of the only people performing Hindustani music on the cello, and Mir Naqibul Islam, the hardest working tabla player in NY. This is a special concert being presented as a collaboration between NextStage Arts and Brooklyn Raga Massive. Jake, Mir and I will present a one-hour program of evening ragas played on cello, Indian slide guitar and tabla. We will present music in the traditional, north Indian style that we have learned from our respective gurus for over a decade. Jake is a disciple of Vidushi N Rajam and Mir is a representative of the Farukhabad gharana, having learned from Pt. Ashoke Paul.

The performance will be followed by a concert of Carnatic jazz fusion by the Arun Ramanurthy Trio. 

GET TICKETS HERE 

Saturday, June 25 
NextStage Arts 
15 Kimball Hill 
Putney VT

Many people have asked me about the name 'Joel Veena', wondering if it is the name of an instrument or a person, and I am writing this in way of explanation. In winter of 2016 I started to perform under the pseudonym Joel Veena. It was suggested to me by my musician friends in Delhi to take a stage name because my surname, Eisenkramer, is not so catchy and has always given presenters difficulty in pronouncing it (my father is also a professional musician and performed for some time as Peter Michaels). 

The word 'veena' comes from Sanskrit and refers to a plucked stringed instrument, of which there are many varieties and variations throughout history (including the contemporary Saraswati veena in popular use in Carnatic music and the Rudra veena played in Dhrupad music). I decided on Joel Veena as an act of respect for this amazing instrument and music. Rather than changing the name of the Indian slide guitar to reflect my identity and contribution to the music, I thought to change my own name. My deep study of this music and instrument has indeed changed me as a person and altered my destiny so profoundly, I can safely say that many of the great blessings of my life started to come to fruition when I dedicated myself to the earnest study of Hindustani classical music. The name is an acknowledgment that I am transformed: I truly believe that this music has so much to offer us in this modern time and that the Indian slide guitar has a unique role to play. Since the Indian slide guitar is an evolution of the guitar, originally modified from the Hawaiian guitars brought to Calcutta in the 1930s, this instrument is especially accessible and fascinating to a very broad audience of people. While many people in countries outside of India curious to learn Indian classical music find sitar and sarod intimidating, the Indian slide guitar is seen as more familiar. Guitar has become the people's instrument the world over and finding strings and accessories for the instrument is relatively easy to do in countries all over the world. 

I mean no disrespect to any of the pioneers of this instrument who wish to call it by another name that credits their innovation; especially Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, whose recordings were the first to inspire me to try and learn this instrument. As a college student in Delhi in 2007, I bought a CD 'Classics for Pleasure' and it led me to seek out and study this music. I don't wish to debate the name of the instrument but merely to clarify the reasons and intention behind my own name. 

I continue on this path as a perpetual student and strive to be the best representative of the instrument that I possibly can. I travel regularly from the USA to Kolkata to take taleem from my guru Pt. Alok Lahiri. I promote artists from south Asia in the US and provide a platform for their performance in my locality. I help to connect Indian artists with venues to provide letters of invitation for their tours. I act as a resource for Americans trying to learn Indian classical music in the US, connecting students with teachers in India, arranging for instruments and trying to help western students understand more about the culture of music in India. I help students who cannot afford to import an instrument from India to modify their own guitar so that they can get started and try it out. My performances in the west always have an educational quality to try and increase appreciation and understanding of the music in other countries. My goal in the next 10 years is to create an organization which facilitates the healthy and continuous artistic exchange of Indian classical musicians in the US and in India and south Asia, providing platforms, visa assistance, educational outreach and access to authentic teachers. 

I was not born as this person but have been transformed by the music and the instrument. I have dedicated my life to these pursuits and will continue to do so as Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer. I offer my humble pranam to the great artists who have gone before and wish to be reported as 'present' in the roll call of those who are serving this music with their all in the 21st century.

- Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer

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Patdeep is a late afternoon raga, we performed as the snow was settling down and the sun was setting. You can watch the full concert on Shanti Mandir Walden’s YouTube page, all beautifully produced by Dipanshu.

It was a great experience performing at Shanti Mandir - I stayed for the weekend and really enjoyed talking with the everyone there, soaking in that peaceful ambience. Being immersed in an environment where everyone was primarily thinking about spiritual topics and meditation was something special. 

Give thanks for life

Man, am I excited to play an in-person concert or what..! You will also be able to watch as a live-stream on the Shanti Mandir YouTube channel. Looking forward to playing for you!

Happy New Year! 

As a way to say 'thank you' for your support of my music during 2021, and as a general prayer of thanksgiving, I will be performing a short live-streaming concert this evening at 6pm EST. 

It's very last minute, as I just thought of it now, but I hope that you can join us. The event is free. If not, the video will remain on YouTube for you to watch at your convenience. 

Click the video above to watch live, click here or tune in on Instagram. 

If you'd like to be involved with supporting my work in the coming year, go ahead and send a donation or click the link above to learn about my patronage hub. The patronage hub is a really cool service I have set up that gives you access to all the music I make, plus unreleased concerts and recordings, for a small yearly fee. The yearly fees help me to create more art and focus on what makes my music authentic and impactful, instead of chasing $$s. 

My very best to you and yours, 

Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer

So joyful and cute! Check it out, my song 'The Peacock feat. Suraj Nirwan' featured in the latest kids clothing ad from Fab India. Fab India is a popular clothing brand all across India and the world. Last year, I licensed three of my tunes to them for playing in their 100s of stores. It's been a great experience, friends have told me they've heard 'Bhim' while shopping!

Advertising aside, I really like how the music and images move together and draw a smile across your face. I hope this does a little bit to lighten your day. 

Good job everyone involved. Special thanks to SongDew for setting this up. 

Give thanks for life!

How is everything going? 

It's been awhile since I have been in touch with you all following a brief busy period. I actually had the privilege of playing three in-person concerts recently: the Valley, a private music festival in Putney Vermont, at the Stone Church in Brattleboro and at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. All three of these concerts I was accompanied by the excellent tabla-playing of my friend Mir Naqibul Islam. 

Above is a video taken from our Stone Church concert. Remember my last email about my brand new original song 'Reminder'? In the studio version, you heard virtuoso jori player Jasdeep Singh's interpretation of my song, now in this live version you can hear how the song sounds with tabla accompaniment instead! (There's also great clip on Instagram of Mir's solo during the song when we performed at Omega Institute)