Chennai: In what is going to be a treat for music fans, a veena concert with 45 musicians, is all set to take place at Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha (Vani Mahal), T Nagar, 5 December.
The person behind the show, Shobana Swaminathan, a veena vidwan at Mahadevan Street, speaks to News Today.
“I was not born in a musical family, but was interested in arts right from childhood. My passion was identified by my parents at the right time. I was subsequently put under vocal training, and gradually went for instrumental music, under the tutelage of late Jayalakshmi Narayanaswamy. disciple of late Pichumani Iyer,” she begins.
About her performances, she states, ‘I started giving concerts in-and-around the city at various sabhas and also at places like Singapore and Scotland. I have also conducted a workshop on veena for a month, at the temple of Fine Arts, Singapore.’
‘At one point of time, when many of my students started performing on stage, I began to organise ensembles, which received overwhelming responses from the audience. On this Vijayadasami, I conducted one such event with 150 students at Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, and also during Navarathri, our team with 40 members performed at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, T Nagar,’ she explains.
Speaking about her most memorable performances, she says, “We had earlier presented a 61 veena ensemble to mark the 61st birthday celebrations of vidwan E Gayathri at TAG Auditorium, T Nagar. I was also thrilled to perform at Sri Sathya Sai Ashram in Puttaparthi before Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, on the occasion of International Women’s Day.”
Shobana has also been training overseas students in the art form.
‘Many come from far away countries, stay here for several weeks to learn the instrument, she states.
It may be noted that apart from her academic qualifications that include Ph.D, she has cleared the NET exam conducted by UGC and received Junior Research Fellowship from Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
‘Currently, I am a guest faculty at Tamilnadu Music and Fine Arts University and Vels University, guiding M Phil and Ph.D scholars,’ she notes.
She can be reached at 94446 25773 or 9444957845.