Veena Mahotsavam 2025

Veena Mahotsavam 2025, organised by the Bharata Ilango Foundation for Asian Culture (BIFAC) in collaboration with Narada Gana Sabha and Kalakendra, brought together a remarkable confluence of musicians playing veena and its allied instruments. Kannan Balakrishnan and his team has been conducting this festival celebrating the veena since 2009, and this year saw the participation of close to 250 vainikas and musicians.

The first phase of the Mahotsavam unfolded from 5-16 September 2025, at the Narada Gana Sabha Mini Hall, featuring 12 consecutive evenings of music. Over 75 short concerts were presented and they were live-streamed on Kalakendra.com, making the festival accessible to global audiences.

Following a brief inauguration ceremony, the festival commenced with the auspicious Sree raga varnam by Rajesh Vaidya. He was accompanied by Karaikurichi Mohanraman on the mridangam and Karaikurichi Subramaniam on the ghatam. Each short concert lasted approximately thirty minutes, with a pair of experienced mridangam and ghatam artists providing percussion accompaniment for every two-hour segment of performances.

The festival featured a diverse array of artists, ranging from ages ten to eighty, spanning five generations of vainikas. This included veterans like R.S. Jayalakshmi, Mudikondan Ramesh,  Jayanthi Kumaresh, Jeyaraaj Krishnan and Jaysri Jeyaraaj, to younger promising talent such as Charulatha Chandrasekar, Rakshitha Ramesh, Veena Venkatramani among others.

A few highlights

Several special segments highlighted the breadth and versatility of string instruments. Days were dedicated to the veena’s close relatives—the mandolin and chitravina (gottuvadyam). The mandolin segment featured an entire musical family: U. Raju and Nagamani Raju performed a duet, followed by solo recitals from their two sons.

In the gottuvadyam segment, tanam in Poorvikalyani by Allam Durga Prasad and Parithapamu in raga Manohari by Chitravina Ravikiran, both accompanied by Vijay Natesan (mirdangam) and N. Guruprasad (ghatam), were a highlight.

There were also segments dedicated to vainika duets from the same family and a few guru shishya pairs. Jayalakshmi Sekar and her disciple Samanvitha Sivakumar played the Tiruppugazh Marukkulaviya, Kalyani Ganesan and her disciple played the Todi swarajati, Mudikondan Ramesh and his daughter Sowmya (sang and) played Kumbeshwaraya Namaste. Each pair complemented one another, creating rich and engaging musical dialogues on stage.

Aptly dubbed the ‘next generation young stars’, an entire day of the festival was dedicated to showcasing young and promising talents. Ably guided by prominent gurus from the veena fraternity, the performances of youngsters like Hiranmayi, Vaidehi, Sai Harini, Haripriya and others offered a glimpse of the future of this classical tradition.

Vivadi ragas

Another notable characteristic throughout the veena festival was the masterful handling of vivadi ragas by various vainikas. One could listen to detailed explorations of vivadi kritis such as Kaa Guha in the raga Kosalam, Arul Seyya in the raga Rasikapriya, Pariyachakama in the raga Vanaspathi, Evvare Ramayya in the raga Gangeyabhushani, Kanakambari Kaarunya in the raga Kanakambari, Santana Manjari in the raga Santana Manjari and even a ragam-tanam-pallavi in the raga Nasikabhushani.

In contrast to vivadhi, some popular compositions such as Janani Ninnu Vina in Reetigaula, Meenakshi Memudham in Poorvikalyani as well as kritis in ragas like Sahana, Charukesi and Keeravani provided a sense of familiarity through the strings.

Exclusive ragam-tanam-pallavi performances were among the festival’s highlights, and they deserve a special mention. Vidushi Jayanthi Kumaresh presented a pallavi in the raga Kantamani and tala roopakam on Kanchi Periyava, while vidwan D. Balakrishna presented a pallavi in the raga Bhairavi and tala chathusra Jhampa (kanda nadai) on Goddess Meenakshi. J. Vaidyanathan on the mridangam and Ghatam Karthik on the ghatam provided expert percussion accompaniment for the same.

Some more performances that lingered in the memory were the first aavarna kriti of Dikshitar’s Kamalamba Nava Varnam by Hariram, Dikshitar’s Mahaganapatim by Sangeetha Narayanan, ragamalika tanam and Bhajare Re Manasa in Abheri by Durga Prasad.

108 Veena Nadanjali

The next phase of the Mahotsavam was the grand “108 Veena Nadanjali” held at the Narada Gana Sabha Main Hall on 21 September 2025, an ensemble of over hundred veena artists led by Kannan Balakrishnan and other veterans in the fraternity. Aswini Srinivasan and Shrisainath provided percussion accompaniment on the mridangam and ghatam respectively.

Gam Ganapate set in Hamsadwani, Parathpara Parameshwara set in Vachaspathi, Brahmamokate set in Bauli and other kritis were presented in unison by the artists. The music resonated in harmony just as their tag line suggests, “Harmony of Strings for Human Harmony”.

Kannan Balakrishnan, the organiser, in his inaugural speech, stated that the final phase of this Veena Mahotsavam will premiere online in November and it will feature veena artists worldwide.

The Veena Mahotsavam 2025 showcased the timeless beauty and evolving vitality of the veena tradition. Bringing together hundreds of musicians across twelve evenings and culminating in a grand ensemble, the festival celebrated five generations of artists—from seasoned maestros to emerging talent. With themed segments, global streaming, and a broad array of repertoire, the event honoured tradition while pointing firmly to the future. Ultimately, it affirmed that the veena is not only a revered instrument of heritage but a living, resonant voice for today and tomorrow

Curator Kannan Balakrishnan deserves special praise for his tireless efforts in organising the Veena Mahotsavam year after year—a task that demands immense dedication in coordinating artists and managing countless details. In an age when audiences for instrumental music are steadily shrinking, festivals like these remind us of the depth, beauty, and timeless appeal of instrumental artistry.

Vid Dev

(Techer and student of Carnatic music)