Ganabharathi is organising a two-day veena festival in memory of Veena Maestro Vidwan M.J. Sreenivasa Iyengar on Feb. 21 and 22 at Veene Seshanna Bhavan in Kuvempunagar at 6 pm.

On Feb. 21, prize winners of national-level veena competition held in memory of M.J. Sreenivasa Iyengar — Surabhi Gopal and Rakshita Ramesh — will present a veena concert. They will be accompanied by Vidwan Mysore A. Radhesh on mridanga and Vidwan S. Manjunath on ghata.

On Feb. 22, veteran veena artiste Vidushi Kalyani Ganesan will render a veena concert. She will be accompanied by Vid. V.N. Ganeshan on mridanga and Vid. G.S. Ramanujan on ghata.  

Veena Vidushi Kalyani Ganesan is among the senior musicians, who play in the traditional gayaki style. She was introduced to music by her mother Rajalakshmi Haran who belonged to the music lineage of Harikesanallur Muttaiah Bhagavatar. She was trained by veterans like M.A. Kalyanakrishna Bhagavatar and Kalpakam Swaminathan in the Central College of Carnatic Music, Madras. Later she took to teaching in the same college and taught for 25 years. She is an ‘A Top’ graded artiste of the AIR and Doordarshan. She is the recipient of Senior Musician award from Narada Gana Sabha, Veena Nada Mani from Charubala Trust, Kalai Nirai Vithagar from Tamil Nadu Government Music College and Sangeetha Seva Niratha from Sri Thyagaraja Vidwat Samajam. The latest of the many accolades she has received is the TTK Award from the Music Academy.

Karaikudi V.M. Ganesan is the son of acclaimed mridanga Vidwan Karaikudi Muthu Iyer. He has accompanied several prominent Vidwans like D.K. Jayaraman, T.V. Sankaranarayanan, O.S. Tyagarajan, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Dr. S.R. Janakiraman  and M.D. Ramanathan.

G.S. Ramanujan, a senior disciple of Vidwan P.G. Lakshminaraya, is a senior percussionist, and has vast experience of accompanying senior artistes and percussionists.

Rakshita Ramesh is the winner of first prize in MJS Memorial competition. She has also won first prize in the All India competition held by AIR and is a ‘B’ graded artiste of the AIR. She had her initial training under her mother Chaitra Ramesh. Now she is pursuing under Vidushi Yogavandana. Studying in I year B.Sc., she has availed CCRT scholarship and performed in different reputed venues.

Surabhi Gopal is the second prize winner in MJS Memorial competition. Studying in first year Ayurveda Medicine, she is learning under Vidushu Geetha Ramanand. She has also availed CCRT scholarship and has won many prizes in the competitions organised by prestigious Sabhas.   

Vidwan A. Radhesh is a promising artiste trained under Vidwan P.G. Laxminarayana and is now under the tutelage of Vidwan  Mannargudi Eswaran.