Three grand Veena concerts are being held at Sri Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha this weekend, on the occasion of the birth centenary of the legendary Veena maestro M.J. Sreenivasa Iyengar — MJS (1924-2013). These concerts also mark the conclusion of the year-long centenary celebrations.

As part of the celebrations, 25 veena concerts and a National-level competition for upcoming players have already been held across 11 venues over south Karnataka. A compendium of pre-published articles on the artiste and a video-documentary showcasing his achievements have been brought out. An e-book, comprising the original class-hour notes on songs, along with swara-lipi (notation in Kannada), written by Iyengar, is also being released during the valedictory. This book is supposed to form an easy reference document for music practitioners.

The concert on May 18 will be by Vid. Bharadwaj Raman, the grandson of legendary vainika Vid. S. Balachandar. Vid. Bharadwaj will be accompanied by Vid. G.S. Ramanujam on mridanga and Vid. Shamith Gowda on ghata.

The programme on May 19 will be a veena duet by Vidu. Jayashree Jayaraj Krishnan and Vid. T. Jayaraj Krishnan, from Chennai. Vid. A. Radhesh (mridanga) and Vid. Sharath Kaushik (ghata) will provide accompaniments. 

The celebrations will conclude on May 20, with a brief tribute-address by Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh, a frontline veena artiste, followed by a concert by her. Dr. Jayanthi has carried out studies on different schools and styles of veena playing, for her Ph.D. Vid. Tumkur B. Ravishankar on mridanga and Vid. Trichy S. Krishnaswamy on ghata will accompany her. Vidu. Dr. Sukanya Prabhakar will be present on the occasion.

The three-day programmes are being organised by Sri Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha, under its annual ‘MJS Endowment,’ instituted by Iyengar’s family members, students and admirers. The concerts are scheduled to begin at 6 pm daily.