Sreerama Center of Performing Arts presentsVTP VII · Bengaluru · 22–24 January 2027VTP VII · 22–24 Jan 2027
Learn moreFounded in 2014 by Vidwan Prashanth Iyengar under the aegis of the Sreerama Center of Performing Arts (SCOPA), Veena Tattva Prakashika brings together musicians, musicologists, instrument makers, and researchers in Bengaluru. Across each edition, the conference connects traditional concert performance with scholarly presentations, exploring the musical, historical, and scientific aspects of the Saraswati Veena.
Foundational Charter || Core Purpose
The conference is organized around two complementary pursuits: keeping performance traditions alive through practice, and understanding the instrument through research and critical inquiry.
The veena lives in the hands of its practitioners. Through full-length recitals, VTP creates a dedicated space for traditional repertoire, different regional baanis, and nuanced gamaka handling. Senior masters and younger exponents share the same concert platform, encouraging close listening and the oral transmission of technique from teacher to student.
Alongside performances, VTP provides an academic forum to study how the veena is constructed, tuned, and experienced. Presentations examine historical music treatises, instrument making, fret mathematics, and physiological studies of playing posture and sound perception. Musician experience and scientific inquiry inform and enrich each other.
Vidwan Prashanth Iyengar
Founder & Artistic Director, VTP
Artistic Direction || Origins
Veena Tattva Prakashika was established in 2014 by vainika and composer Vidwan Prashanth Iyengar to address a practical need in Carnatic music: while the veena is held as the foundational instrument of the tradition, opportunities for sustained, unhurried recitals and serious technical study had become increasingly scarce.
Through the Sreerama Center of Performing Arts (SCOPA), Bengaluru, he envisioned an annual gathering that placed the veena at the center of attention. Rather than treating the instrument as one slot in a busy general festival, VTP was designed to give vainikas the time and acoustic space to present full concerts, while giving students and rasikas direct access to the nuances of technique and repertoire.
“Our aim from the beginning was straightforward: to give the veena its own dedicated stage, where musicians can perform at an unhurried pace, and where practitioners, students, and instrument makers can discuss the instrument’s grammar and acoustic craft openly.”
Organized in sustained partnership with cultural institutions including MES Kalavedi, Malleswaram, the conference has grown over six editions into an important annual forum. Performing artists, musicologists, physicists, and luthiers participate on a shared platform, ensuring that performance practice and academic study remain connected.
Sampradaya || Living Lineages
In the Carnatic tradition, the Saraswati Veena is rarely mastered through printed notation alone. Its subtleties are transmitted orally through Guru-Shishya Parampara—internalized through the ear and the fingers. Every performance is an intimate physical dialogue between the right hand, whose plucking discipline (meetu) articulates meter and timbre across the melody and drone strings (pakkasarani), and the left hand (viraladi), which deflects strings across fixed brass frets to coax vocal contours and microtonal oscillations (gamakas).
Over the centuries, this discipline crystallized into distinct regional schools (baanis or paddhatis), nurtured within South India’s royal courts and musical centers. The Mysore Baani, cultivated under the Wadiyar dynasty, is celebrated for its metric crispness, split-finger plucking (koota-meetu), and intricate mastery of multi-speed Tanam, preserved through masters like Veene Seshanna, Subbanna, and Dr. V. Doreswamy Iyengar. In the Kaveri delta, the Thanjavur Baani prioritized the gayaki idiom, using deep lateral string deflection to draw multiple swaras from a single fret, achieving the continuous vocal resonance (akhanda nada) epitomized by Veena Dhanammal and the Karaikudi lineage. In the northern coastal courts of Bobbili and Vizianagaram, the Andhra Paddhati developed agile upper-register fretwork, sparkling slides (jaru), and dynamic emotional phrasing, championed by Emani Sankara Sastry and Chitti Babu. Meanwhile, the Travancore Baani, shaped by Maharaja Swathi Tirunal’s court, favored a contemplative, unhurried tempo (vilamba kala) with understated attack, allowing the instrument’s natural acoustic sustain to unfold with devotional serenity.
In an era where modern stage amplification and digital broadcasts often smooth regional idiosyncrasies into a uniform sound, Veena Tattva Prakashika provides a deliberate space for these lineages to retain their identity. Through full recitals and focused lecture-demonstrations, senior exponents and upcoming vainikas demonstrate the distinct plucking angles, deflection techniques, and repertoire that define their parampara—ensuring that the living diversity of the veena remains vibrant and accessible to the next generation.
Conference Format || Daily Schedule
At most music conferences, academic presentations happen in the morning to half-empty halls, while concerts are pushed entirely to the evening. VTP follows a very different format. Concerts begin in the morning session and continue throughout the afternoon and evening. To keep the energy high and avoid listening fatigue, short paper presentations and lecture-demonstrations are scheduled directly in between recitals during the daytime. This allows listeners to experience music continuously while gaining specific historical and technical insights into what they hear on stage.
Morning · Afternoon · Evening
Recitals run throughout all three sessions of the day, featuring young talents, seasoned performers, and veteran vidwans accompanied by mridangam, ghatam, khanjira, and morsing.
Morning & Afternoon Interludes
Short, focused 20-to-30-minute sessions placed between daytime concerts. These presentations give listeners practical context on ragas, playing technique, history, and instrument craft.
Continuum || 12-Year History
Every edition of Veena Tattva Prakashika has marked an important milestone in the documentation and celebration of the instrument.
| Edition | Dates | Venue | Key Milestones & Focal Research |
|---|---|---|---|
| VTP I | 2014 | Mantralayam | Inaugural conference founded by Vidwan Prashanth Iyengar. Benchmark paper: Historical Development of the Veena through Vedic and medieval Grantha literature. |
| VTP II | 2–4 Nov 2018 | Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bengaluru | Exploration of regional Baanis and ergonomics. Landmark paper: The Role of Posture in Veena Playing (Dr. Swathi S) on spinal alignment and RSI prevention. |
| VTP III | 23–24 Nov 2019 | Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bengaluru | Symposium on microtonal 22-shruti fret placement, vocalized gayaki articulation, and master ensemble recitals. |
| VTP IV | 4–6 Nov 2022 | Bengaluru | Post-pandemic assembly focusing on neuromuscular physiology. Research: Imaging of Upper Limb Muscles in Veena Plucking (Dr. Durga Prasad). |
| VTP V | 17–19 Jan 2024 | Bengaluru | Mathematical physics of string vibration. Presentation: Mathematics Meets Veena: Signal Analysis using Ramanujam & Fourier Transforms (Dr. Anil). |
| VTP VI | 30 Jan – 1 Feb 2026 | MES Kalavedi, Bengaluru | Landmark edition: Pallavi in Rare Allied Talas; 250th year of Muthuswamy Dikshitar; CT radiological imaging (Dr. Durga Prasad); and materials science (Sunil Anandatheertha). |
Core Principles || Values
From its first edition in 2014, Veena Tattva Prakashika has been guided by a few straightforward commitments to the music, the musicians, and the listeners:
Admission to all sessions—both concerts and paper presentations—is entirely free. There are no tickets, registration charges, or delegate fees. Anyone interested in the veena, from young students to seasoned rasikas, is welcome to attend.
The veena is a soft, quiet instrument. Audio amplification at the venue is kept clear, balanced, and minimal, avoiding loud volumes or heavy equalization so the instrument sounds natural and true to the ear.
The conference is designed as an open discussion rather than a formal academic exercise. Senior vidwans, researchers, students, and instrument makers share the same hall, encouraging honest questions and practical learning.
Seventh International Edition
Bengaluru, India · 22–24 January 2027
Musicians, organologists, scholars, students, and rasikas are warmly welcomed to participate in three days of contemplative recitals, master lecture-demonstrations, and living tradition.
