 Veena Gayathri
 A child prodigy veena vidushi stormed into the world of music with her inimitable style. Guess the name of the artiste? It is none other than Baby Gayathri, as she was called then. She is blessed with a musical background. Her father was music director Ashwathama and her mother, vainika Kamala. No wonder Gayathri inherited the musical acumen of her parents. Her childhood was spent travelling and performing. The smooth flow of sensitive fingers on the frets made Gayathri a veena player with musical values.
Her maiden performance at a very young age was a defining moment in her life. She was flooded with offers from sabhas throughout India. Her marathon practice session perfected her art. The tala pattern is intrinsic in her and she does not look at her accompanist for any intricate tala and this unique feature made her scale great heights.
 Her foray into films made her interact with all leading music directors. She wanted her music to reach the masses. She has been successful in playing Ghazals, jugalbandhis, fusion, Hindustani, Western classical, etc., and she has released many CDs. She has toured the world and has won plaudits from the stalwarts of the musical world.
A devout person, Gayathri says she owes her success to the grace of the Almighty. The Goddess of Learning, Saraswathi, poses with the celestial instrument which symbolises Vedic Shakti, opines Gayathri. One should not let one’s veena be handled by others, she feels, as prana shakti flows into the instrument while playing it and some sort of a rapport develops between the instrument and the player.
 She does not believe in dismantling the instrument while travelling as it almost equals disfiguring a person.
Nadopasana is one way of realising God, declares Gayathri, who is involved in it by invoking divinity in the instrument. Saying tradition is the backbone of classical music, she blends sampradaya with creativity. She strongly believes that only by playing properly can the raga devata be propitiated. According to her, playing veena is a sort of yogic exercise and needs enormous mental and physical prowess.
 Her music has tremendous reach. Even the plant kingdom has benefited by her lilting music, according to a horticulturist from Bangalore. A paralytic is recuperating by repeatedly listening to my music, says Gayathri, which confirms that music has a lot of therapeutic effect.
Decorated with a slew of awards like ‘Kalaimamani’, ‘Sangeetha Kala Nipuna’, ‘Hanumath Ghana Sironmani’, etc., she is also the asthana vidwan of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt and Sringeri Mutt. She is focused on playing for dying patients as salvation through music is the basic principle of our art.
You can mail her at
veenaagayathri@hotmail.com
or browse her site www.veenagayathri.com
Mira
Mira60@rediff.com
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