BENGALURU: Veena, the instrument of Goddess Saraswati, is meticulously hand-carved out of the wood of a jackfruit tree, which makes every veena unique. “Each veena has a story to tell,” says veena maestro Jayanthi Kumaresh, who will be performing in the city at a curated concert at the Bangalore International Centre on October 29 (tickets Rs 499 onwards). She will also weave the history and mystical significance of the instrument into her musical performance to create a more layered storytelling experience for
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The concert, curated by Devina Dutt, co-founder of First Edition Arts, a performing arts production company based in Mumbai and Bengaluru, is the first of a series of concerts called Quest. The series will feature the instrumental maestros of India, who will not only perform but also tell the audiences about the history and evolution of the instruments, overlaid with the artiste’s own personal history of the instrument.
“They are starting the series with the national instrument of India, the Saraswati veena. I have been playing the veena for half a century. They want me to not just perform a concert but also share the history of the instrument and the different styles of playing the veena based on the four different states – Mysore Bani, Thanjavur Bani, Andhra Bani, and Trivandrum Bani,” says Kumaresh, who started learning the instrument at the age of three, not surprisingly, since she hails from a lineage of musical artistes spanning across six generations.
Dutt, who has been in this space for around 10 years, says that the challenging part is to ensure that the diversity and plurality of classical music is not lost. “Often, a lot of market forces tend to convert Indian classical music into big concerts, which is worrying. We have to create the ecosystem and the presentation of the music in keeping with its character. It has to be a slow nurturing process to create an audience for this music.”
The show will not only have the maestro performing her own compositions and the compositions of the trinity of Carnatic music – Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri – but will also showcase a 100-year-old veena from Kumaresh’s own collection.
“The audience will be able to see this heirloom veena lit up on stage. The conversation will also go into the making of these instruments, how it has evolved which will make more knowledgeable and sensitive audiences,” says Dutt.Kumaresh will be joined on the stage by percussionists Jayachandra Rao on the mridangam and Trichy Krishnaswamy on the ghatam.