VEENA: ASWIN ANAND Nada Inbam 19 Dec 2011

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Young and promising Aswin Anand gave a superb Veena recital for Nada Inbam on 19 Dec.(4-6 p.m.)

1.Koluvaiunnade-Devagandhari-Tyagaraja
2.Thulasidala-MMGoula-Tyagaraja
3.Ninusevinchi-Yaduulakambodhi-Subbarayasastri (outstanding Raga alapana)
4.kanukonusoukhyamu-Nayaki-Tyagaraja
4.Ennadunee-Vachaspati-Patnam S iyer
5.Sree Rajagopala-Saveri-M Dikshitar (Main item of the concert)
6.Tillana-Bihag-Veena Seshanna


It was yet another occasion to see for oneself that rasika patronage for Veena is dismal. We fail to realise that in the process we almost disregard the hard work and commitment of some of the excellent Veena artists (who could have taken up the 'comparatively easier alternatives' of specialising in Vocal or violin!)

The Yadukulakambodhi aalaapana Aswin rendered was simply superb. He seems to have imbibed the best from every great school of Veena tradition and the kriti was also played to perfection. Saveri aalaapana stuck to the kriti paddhati of Dikshitar with the characteristic usage of Nishada in the avarohana. He executed niraval at 'Dheeraagraganya' in two speeds (It is well known that it's difficult to obtain the right impact while playing niraval for '2 kalai' kritis in Veena.)

Ganapathiraman (M) and Venkitasubramanian (G) gave unobtrusive percussion support. The pitch of he ghata was so perfect it blended well with the meettu of Veena.

Aswin (who is an engineering professional based at Bangalore) is also learning vocal music from Smt.R Vedavalli (and that shows!)

He's a candidate to watch.

[Nick H]

Had other business, and had not planned to attend any concert before Sumthra's, but I'm delighted that I caught at least the last half hour of what must have been a superb concert. This was first-class veena; first-class music.

In the short time that I was there, one thing that I noticed was that Aswin seems to have the technology very well sorted out. The tone and sound quality of his veena amplification was very good indeed. I have a hunch that he might have invested heavily in this, in both time and money.