Veena maestro visits Sydney
Mr Raghurama Ayyar, 79 year old, Veena Maestro recently visited Sydney and has been again impressing audiences with his veena skills. He is a widely traveled person who has had a lot of success attached to his name. His only mission at the moment is to revive the interest in veena and is also providing lessons and mentoring to many veena students in India. Tennis start Bjorn Borg heard Raghurama Iyer just before the 1980 Wimbledon and then won the tournament as the Veena recital put his mind at rest and he was able to fully concentrate on the game.
The veena, a long, seven stringed instrument with two bulbous resonance gourds is perhaps the world oldest surviving musical instrument. It is named after the Hindu goddess of learning and the arts, Saraswati, who is usually depicted seated upon a swan or peacock playing a veena.
Mr Ayyar has performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London in the past, apart from going round the globe six times. He is soon going to London to promote veena in an event organized by Veena Foundation of India, which will be inaugurated by the Queen Elizabeth. The Veena Foundation set up in Delhi, is the brainchild of Raghurama Ayyar, a votary with extraordinary passion, concern and drive for the revival of interest in the veena.
Talking to The Indian, he said, “Veena is the queen of all musical instruments. Veena is an instrument of enlightenment and not entertainment. It is a gateway to peace and spirituality. The music from it has a therapeutic effect. Audiences often find that the melodies from the instrument catapult them into a state of spiritual awareness. I want to sow the seeds of peace in the heart of man, to spread the religion of love and peace so that there is peace in the world. It will bring mental peace to everyone who listens to it. At 79 years of age I have never been ill and never ever had even a headache and it is all thanks to the veena.”
Raghurama Ayyar has in his most treasured possession a 250 year old instrument given to him by his guru Srinivasa Ayyar. This veena has been made out of jack-fruit wood, cut from a tree which grew in a Chennai temple 250 years ago.
Added Raghurama, “I am a journalist by profession but a musician by passion.” He has also worked as Principal Information Office in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s office and later in PV Narasimha Rao’s office. He is currently Advisor to Indira Gandhi Arts Centre and is also the General Secretary of the Veena Foundation in India. Recalling his days with Rajiv Gandhi, he said, “Rajiv Gandhi would often ask me to accompany him and he used to drive his own jeep and would sometimes give the security people a slip. He was an extremely energetic man and had he been alive, India would have been a different country.”
One of Raghurama Ayyar’s recent successes has been organizing ‘Veena Navarathri’, a nine-day concert series featuring eminent artists in different parts of India. Organised by New-Delhi based Veena Foundation and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, the festival is aimed at attracting crowds to veena performances.
Mr Raghurama performed veena recitals for Sydney Theosophical Society and Hare Ram Hare Krishna temple audiences, apart from giving private performances during his Sydney trip.
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