Meet Veena Vidushi Manipal Aruna Kumari, an excellent veena artist, as well as a vocalist and violinist.

Born in 1966, she lost her vision at the age of 7 years, in 1973 due to bilateral retinal detachment. All medical treatment failed. Her parents then suggested that she should learn Carnatic classical music. Her foundation training was under Vidwan Udupi Vasudeva Bhat, and later under Smt Lalita Ballal and Vidwan Sooralu Parameshwar Bhat. She began learning veena under Smt K R Lakshmi Iyengar, and violin under Sri K Raghavendra Bhat. She has has passed all the grade levels of music examinations, upto proficiency grade, with Rank, honours and distinction. She is also an MA in sociology. She is the recipient of many scholarships and awards including the Union Government Cultural scholarship under Vidwan A Ananthapadmanabhan, and the Karnataka Sangeetha Nrithya Academy award.

Aruna Kumari teaches Veena, violin and vocal music to a few selected students. Her mission is to revive the popularity of the veena by conducting veena concerts and fusion music programmes at temples, public functions, etc, and to teach music to propagate it amongst the youth. She is determined to attain this noble vision.

The extraordinary achievements of Vidushi Aruna Kumari are enviable even for normal persons with all their faculties. That a differently-abled person can achieve all this is indeed heartwarming and inspiring for all of us.

Jeyaraaj Krishnan and Jaysri Jeyaraaj Krishnan (popularly known as Jeyaraaj and Jaysri) belong to the direct Shishya Parampara of Nadajyoti Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar - who is one among the famous Trinity of composers of Carnatic Music. Jeyaraaj and Jaysri started their intensive training in vocal and veena music at a very tender age with Vainika Vidwan Late A. Anantharama Iyer and his sister Late A. Champakavalli whose father Brahmasri Ananthakrishna Iyer, was a direct disciple of Ambi Dikshitar, the great grand nephew of Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Jeyaraaj and Jaysri are also being guided in their musical quest by esteemed Carnatic Music Exponent, Sangeetha Acharya, Vidwan Shri Chingleput Ranganathan. "A" grade veena artistes of AIR Chennai, this husband and wife team has regaled audiences in India and abroad. They are passionate Vainikas who believe that Veena holds a revered place in Carnatic Music and have dedicated themselves towards preserving and propagating the "Gayaki" style of playing the Veena. The couple has started an organization called "VEENAVAADHINI", where they teach keen students the art of veena playing; conduct chamber concerts to provide an accessible platform for musicians; retrace Muthuswamy Dikshitar's pilgrimage and sing kritis that he has composed on various deities. They are now undertaking a mammoth project of playing on the veena, 1000 compositions and 100 raga alapanas and archiving these as recordings.

This far-sighted couple has been using the electronic veena Sunadavinodini for many of their concerts. We interviewed them to ascertain their views on the electronic veena as well as the status of the veena today.

1. What are the features of the Sunadavinodini that persuaded you to use it for your concerts?

Ease of portability, fullness of sound (with adjustment features), sound does not die down while playing elongated phrases, volume is good for a larger audience, easier maintenance due to absence of wax, inbuilt mikes and speakers obviating the need for carrying them separately, inbuilt high quality electronic tambura. Accompanying artists on the mridangam or upapakavadyam need not tone down their style of play to almost inaudible levels for fear that their sound may overshadow that of the veena.

2. Did you have to make adjustments in your gamaka-laden style of playing, or alter / compromise your style to adjust to the Sunadavinodini?

We did not have to make any adjustments.

3. How comfortable are you with the Sunadavinodini?

Very comfortable, quite at home with it.

4. In terms of audience appreciation of your concerts, what is your opinion - have they been better able to appreciate your playing, after your adoption of the Sunadavinodini? Or have you received negative reactions?

The audience has experienced a significant difference in terms of hearing ease. They do not have to strain their ears to catch the nuances. More importantly the standardized manufacturing process ensures uniform sound quality which is helpful in duets.

5. You are well known for your Muthuswamy Dikshitar Sishya parampara lineage, and your traditional paathaanthara. It is indeed surprising that you have accepted and adopted the electronic veena Sunadavinodini. Does the concept not go against your traditionalism?

We believe in traditional presentation of music and would like the instrument to be an enabler. We are traditional but not necessarily conservative. We adopt the benefits of technology improvement to help us in our endeavour to present the Gayaki style of playing veena.

6. What, in your opinion, is the concert status of the veena today, and what can be done to widen the audience for it?

There are lot of people wanting to hear classical music on the veena. What we need is organizational and technical support.

7. Can the acoustic veena and electronic veena co-exist side by side, and if so, what are the specific niche areas that each should occupy?

Sunadavinodini can be regarded as the electronic version of the acoustic veena. The Vadhya Dharma does not change, so one does not feel that one is not playing a "veena". So they can happily coexist and are interchangable. One might want to play the acoustic veena in the quietitude of ones puja room, but for a sizable audience where one needs to sound to reach out to all corners of the auditorium, one can choose the electronic veena. The need today is to encourage innovation with a purpose that will help present and retain music in its classical form without compromising on its purity.

32-year-old vainika N. Karthik of Bangalore has entered the Guinness World Records for holding 50 concerts in 24 hours. Guinness World Records Ltd. has granted him the world record. The previous record was 41 concerts held by Adam Tas of South Africa. Karthik's record has been mentioned in the 2008 edition of the Guinness book.

Mr. Karthik adhered to the rules set by Guinness World Records Ltd. Twenty-four hours, according to the rules, meant one complete cycle of 24 hours, including rest breaks. Other rules were- each concert must be played at a recognised venue with a registered audience capacity of 300; each concert should last at least 15 minutes and it should be of a professional standard; and the performer must be paid or tickets must be available for sale. What made it possible was the fact that Malleswaram, a locality in Bangalore, is a place where many small auditoriums are located within a few hundred metres of each other, within a radius of three km. Mr. Karthik said that he had achieved this feat with the help of a 20-member team with three vehicles and three veenas. "While I perform at the first venue, tuned veenas will be ready for me at the next two venues," he said. He attempted to enter the Guinness World Records on November 29 and 30 2005. He was accompanied by N. Kumar on mridanga and Narasimha Prasad on khanjira. The team took a long break of three hours (from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m)

Son of veena vidwan C. Nagaraj and veena teacher Manjula Nagaraj, Karthik was trained by C. Krishna Murthy and M.V. Krishna Murthy.