Bangaloreans gathered in thousands to witness the staging of an unique event "Sahasra Veena Jhenkara" at the Palace Grounds. Jointly organised by the Art of Living and Ranjini Kala Kendra. Event was held on March 28,

Pic: Sridhar C R

The audience witnessed 1110 Veena Artistes of Karnataka from age groups 7-70. Prominent among those who participated in the show were noted Artistes Suma Sudhindra, D Balakrishna, Anuradha Madhusudhan and Dr Hema Ranganathan, Vijayalakshmi from Shimoga.

The programme was inaugurated by Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji of the Art of Living along with Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda and Suparna Ravi Shankar of Ranjini Kala Kendra, the brain behind the show.

Addressing the audience Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji stressed the importance of music in our daily life and hoped to create a bigger platform for many more Artistes for the future editions.

Pic: Sridhar C R

According to Suparna, the inspiration behind the idea was the Art of Living’s Brahm Naad event held in 2008 that brought 1094 sitarists on one platform for the first time in the world. It led her to realise that platforms had to be created to not only uplift practioners of ancient arts but also enhance exposure of Indian classical music. The event was also an attempt to gain entry into The Guinness Book of World Records.

Shekar D Sajjanar, State Information Commissioner, was spotted among the audience enjoying the concert. Asked to comment about the show, he said that it was a unique event that he did not want to miss. He appreciated the effort of the organisers in assembling so many Artistes on a single platform.

Venkatalakshmi Sridhar, a well known Veena teacher from J P Nagar, trained about 25 students for the mega event. She was happy that the hard work of the Teachers paid off. The participants were specially trained for the event by about 50 teachers who were identified for the purpose.

The teachers were felicitated for their contribution at the event.⊕