An architect in Chennai works on recreating the ‘ yazh ' or the ancient Tamil harp , an instrument of the common man and the royals, using only descriptions from 2,500-year-old Sangam texts.Imagine creating a musical instrument tuned to perfection from scratch, by hand, solely based on its descriptions in ancient literature from 2,500 years ago. Architect and music enthusiast Tharun Sekhar felt it was worth the effort to recreate the yazh, a once-popular harp-like instrument in Tamil Nadu which disappeared by the 14th century when the veena took over."It wasn't easy," says the 28-year-old. "Many of the descriptions were of the metaphorical kind. For example, the curve of a yazh was compared to the curve of a woman's belly eight months into her pregnancy. Decoding them was a challenge."The only tangible reference Tharun had was a recreated instrument at the govt museum in Chennai, but that was just a model, not something that could be played. "It took me a year to create the first instrument, the basic model, the senkotti yazh, with seven strings. Over five years, I made seven variants with different numbers of strings – 14, 19, and 21."Though later artists created images based on text, there is no record of the sound produced by the fretless instrument. "The moment I played it for the first time was unforgettable," says Tharun. "It didn't sound like the veena or guitar; it was an entirely fresh sound." Any beginner can play it and can tune it to the raga they want, he says.It's indeed fascinating that such a refined and intricate instrument existed at a time when the ragas themselves were just being invented. "The earliest documentation of the yazh can be found in a mid-Sangam poem by Karungulavathanar, which mentions the panars, a musically inclined people who used to sing, dance, and play instruments, who used to play the yazh," says S A V Elanchezian, professor at Thiagarajar College of Engineering, dept of architecture, also a long-term researcher of the yazh. "It was their core instrument. Later, the royals learnt how to play it as well."The possible reason for the veena taking over was the ease of learning owing to the added fretboard, says Elanchezian. While the yazh resembles the harp, there is no evidence that it was inspired by it, he says. The sound closest to the ancient yazh, according to him, is the western African kora harp.While Tharun stayed true to the original design of the yazh, some variations were made for functionality – the strings, for example, were originally made of a fibre made from cactus, but Tharun has used a range of materials from goat gut to nylon.The experiment was a success, and the yazhs are now displayed at Tharun's studio at Kodambakkam in Chennai. Once he realised it was indeed possible to recreate an instrument, Tharun went on to his next, the kudamuzha, a percussive instrument which finds mention in the Cilappathikaram. "It's a five-piece drum on a vat-like structure, with different tones such as the snare, bass, etc. Along with the flute, these two were used for guests to dance to on joyous occasions such as weddings. I decided to create an ecosystem of such instruments, an entire soundscape."The yazh is way older than the western instrument harp as there are references to it in the Tholkappiyam, says Tharun. "It was present in every household and was probably the first stringed melodic instrument."It's been five years since Tharun made the first yazh, and it's been received well in the mainstream as well. The Indian Music Experience Museum in Bengaluru has one of the yazhs on display. He also conducts exhibitions of the instruments frequently in different cities across the country.Composers such as Santhosh Narayanan and Aniruddh have used his yazhs for their films, while Kamal Haasan praised it once when they played it on stage in his presence. "We want the next generation to use these instruments as much as possible, and I hope to collaborate with music schools," says Tharun, who is now making a syllabus for them.It's unfortunate that most people today don't know of the existence of these traditional instruments, says Kishore Das of Musee Musicals, one of the oldest music schools in Chennai. "Many instruments originated in India but were adopted by other countries, while they disappeared from India. It's not just the yazh; we had 18 varieties of the veena, out of which we have only three or four today. Why the guitar and the pianos are alive today is because they are used a lot. The harp is still used but not the yazh. It's great to see someone making the effort to revive these instruments," he says.Tharun was recently chosen as one of the four executive vice-presidents of the International Harp-Related ICH Safeguarding Association, formed under UNESCO, by the Museum of Hong Kong. The committee invited representatives of 10 countries for a conference in December 2024, on a five-year plan to protect and promote ancient harps.Email your feedback with name and address to southpole.toi@timesofindia.com.