NATIONAL FESTIVAL OF VEENA - 2005
Mudhra conducted National Veena Festival on 29th and 30th October 2005 at Narada Gana Sabha and Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha in association with Veena Foundation, New Delhi.
OCTOBER 29, 2005
SEMINAR ON VEENA
at Narada Gana Sabha, 254, T.T.K. Road, Chennai - 1810.00 am TO 1.00 pm
Chairperson : Dr.V.V.Srivatsa
Convenor : Dr. Radha Bhaskar and Eminent musicologists, musicians and scholars participated Papers for discussion included: Veena : History, traditions and evolution Veena as an experimental medium for Karnatic Music Gayaki style on Veena, Teaching methodologies and Veena ? making Spiritual, Cultural and Artistic Aspects of Veena
2.00 pm to 9.30 pm - "VEENARPANA" by
- Rajeshwari Anand
- Saroja Srinivasan
- Kalyani Ganesh
- Shyamala Sajnani
- S.P.Ramh
- Vidya Shankar
- Kalpagam Swaminathan
- Suma Sudhindra
- Pichumani Aiyar
- Padmavathy Ananthagopalan
- Saraswathi Rajagopalan
- Geetha Krishnamurthy
- Revathi Krishna
- B. Kannan
OCTOBER 30, 2005
Valedictory
At Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha
At Vani Mahal, 103, G.N.Chetty Road, T. Nagar, Chennai
2.00 PM TO 9.30 PM- VEENARPANA
- Hemalatha Mani
- Jayalakshmi Sekhar
- S. Sundar
- S. Srinivasan
- Shanthi Rao
- Karaikudi Subramaniam
- Rajeshwari Padmanabhan
- R. Venkatraman
- Vasanth Kumar
- S. Ravindran
- P. Ganesh
- Jaysri Jayaraaj
- Tiruchi Sivakumar
Veenotsav2009
The Veenotsav2009 conducted by Mudhra and Brahma Gana Sabha was a highly successful event with about thirty eminent veena artists participating in it. The fest started with S.P.Ramh's reposeful play of Sarasiruhasanapriye (Nattai) and Ramani samanamevaru (Karaharapriya).Kalyani Ganesan's rendition of the rare song of Subbaraya Sastri "Ninnu vina gathi" was bhava laden. E.Gayathri was at her best and she presented a beautiful dimension of Kalyani in the alapana, tanam and kalpana svaram for the kriti "Nijadasa varadha."
The fest was inaugurated by Dr, Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti who commended both the sabhas for thinking of such a unique fest.
Veteran Kalpagam Swaminathan offered glimpses of Kanada and Hamir Kalyani but they were an outpour of her rich years of experience. Every phrase communicated so much to the listener! Mudikondan Ramesh whose concert was the last to be featured on the first day, tailored his slot rather thought provingly. He played a raga malika in the alapana and aesthetically followed it up with Swathi Thirunal's Bhavayami Raghuramam.
The second day of the fest had a marathon session which started at 10a.m and went on continuously till 10p.m. Some outstanding items were Dr.R.S.Jayalakshmi's Keeravani, Maheshwari Venkatraman's Jyothiswarupini, Anantharaman's Saveri, Sriram's Simhendramadhyamam, Padmavathy Ananthagopalan's Pantuvarali, B.Kannan's Nasikabhushani and Jayalakshmi Sekhar's Todi which had good substance and offered a lot in terms of musical content. Every artist maintained perfect classicism and their play revealed their commitment and dedication to the art.
As a time saving measure, two stages were erected and just as one artist was about to finish, the other artists settled down in the adjacent stage. Also, two big clocks were kept in front of the stage to enable artists to perfectly maintain the time schedule.
A special highlight of the fest was a multi-media presentation on Veena evolution, style and stalwarts by Shobana Swaminathan in which she made a fine research based presentation on the Veena right from the Vedic times. She also presented audio clippings of past stalwarts like Chitti Babu, S.Balachander, Sivanandam- Sarada, Rajeswari Padmanabhan, Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer and others. This programme gave a good focus and meaning to the festival as it enlightened the audience on many interesting facts about the veena and related topics.
Altogether, it was a satisfying experience for all the Vainikas who felt that this was indeed a very well focused and meticulously organized festival. The rasikas also praised the efforts of the organizations for their perfect planning and co-ordination.
Veenotsav2010
Brahma Gana Sabha and Mudhra conducted "Veenotsav'10" on 28th and 29th August at Infosys Hall, Ramakrishna Mission School, Chennai. The fest featuring 32 veena artists took off with Dr.R.S.Jayalakshmi's performance in which she elaborated Kalyani in a classical manner. B.Kannan's dazzling Pallavi in Hemavathi, E.Gayathri's serene play of Sri Parthasarathy ( Sudha dhanyasi)were noteworthy. Kalpagam Swaminathan was astounding and her enthusiasm to play even at this ripe age was really inspirational.Madurai T.N.seshagopalan was at his very best in projecting the Gayaki style on the Veena. The way he sang along while playing the Veena revealed the depth of his knowledge as well as his intense intention to project the voice through the Veena. Many Rakthi ragas found wonderful expression through his introspective play.
The second day's artists included Rukmini Kannan, Tanjore Hemalatha Mani, Maheswari Venkatraman, Shobana, Sangeetha, Bhavani Prasad, Rajalakshmi Tirunarayanan, Bharadwaj, Sujana Vadlamani, V.Balasubramaniam, Nirmala Rajasekhar, G.R.S.Murthy, P.Vasanth Kumar, Punya Srinivas, Revathi Krishna, S.P.Ramh, Jayalakshmi Sekar, Radhika Bhaskar, Jayaraj & Jaysree, Ananthanarayanan, Sankarprakash.All displayed different styles and dimensions to the Veena, thus making it a colourful expression of the great instrument.
A.Natarajan (Vice President, Mudhra) inaugurated the fest and appreciated the efforts of Brahma Gana Sabha and Mudhra in joining together in organising this unique fest.
Veenotsav2011
Mudhra organised a marathon veena festival in association with Brahma Gana Sabha on 27th and 28th August 2011 at Infosys Hall, Ramakrishna Mission School, Bazullah Road, T.Nagar. 33 veena artists, 17 mridangam, 7 ghatam and 1 kanjira artiste participated i n this festival. Two stages were erected side by side and each artiste performed for half an hour. Eminent Cine Art Director, Sri.Thotta Tharani inaugurated the festival. For the first time in the history of carnatic music veena festival was broadcasted a live online web telecast which has been arranged by mudhra recording co. for the benefit of the rasikas all over the world.
Veenotsav2012
Mudhra and Brahma Gana Sabha organized Nalli Veenotsav’12 on 15th and 16th September. The fest was inaugurated by Mysore V.Subramanya and Dr.Nalli Kuppuswami presided. A.Natarajan felicitated. The fest featured about 40 eminent Veena artists who played spectacularly andmade the fets a grand success.
