Karan praises Tamil Nadu for preserving dance, music traditions

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Apr 13 (UNI) South India, especially Tamil Nadu, has played a great role in preserving India's dance and music heritage, Indian Council of Cultural Relations(ICCR) Chairman Dr Karan Singh said today.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating a four-day Festival of Veena at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Dr Singh said "the Saraswati Veena tradition has continued in the south over the centuries." The focus of this festival being on the Saraswati Veena, he said the musical instrument finds mention even in ancient texts like 'Shukla Yajur Veda' and 'Tetriya Brahmin'.

Referring to the film "Making of Veena in Tanjore" by Rajeshwari Anand, screened earlier in the programme, Dr Singh said "Veena making shows the hard work and prodigious talent of our musical instruments makers." Dr L M Singhvi, Founder chairman, the Veena Foundation, handed over CDs containing recordings of legendary Veena maestroes, books and photographs to Dr Karan Singh for preserving in the IGNCA archives.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Singhvi said, "Veena is the mother of all instruments as Veena, Venu and Mridang are the primary musical instruments." On the occasion, he presented the "Veenavadan Tattvagna" award and a memento to Thiruvananthapuram-based maestro R Venkataraman for his great contribution in research on 'Veenas' and 'Ragas'.

This is the second national level Veena festival being held by the foundation. The first one was held last year in Chennai.

Earlier, the festival opened with a rendition of saint Thyagaraja's "Pancharathna Kritis" by Prema Mallikarjuna accompanied by Nalini Sampath, Geetha Mohan, Veena Venkataraman and Uma Balasubramaniam.

The film on Veena making depicted how a log of jackwood is converted into a fine quality musical instrument by traditional artisans. It also noted that some youths from other families were also taking up this profession.

The first day's programme concluded with a recital by R Venkataraman.

UNI

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