The Veena with a hoary tradition associated with goddess Saraswati,has always lent itself to ecsatic treatment to pout out one's heart in sonorous sounds that stir the soul of the listener.Smt.Shanti Rao of Bangalore who gave a Veena performance for Sri. Parthasarthy Swami Sabha, Madras played to a rapturously attentive audience.It may be of interest to know that the artiste had undertaken a cultural tour of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in 1977-87 delighting numerous lovers of music.The delicacy and ease with which she operates the massive stringed instrument was a treat to the eyes and ears.

 

    With every haunting luck of her veena,Shanti Rao in reminded of her father's last wish to carve a niche for herself in the world of celebrated muscians.

Here on a holiday cum performance trip, Shanti gave a stirriing private performance to invited guests last night.

 

   "She plays Veena with great ease abd refreshing vitality.The gamakas are swift-paced and there ar some splendid aesthetic flashes."

 

    Shanti Rao excelled as Veena player in her programme on Sunday under the aegis of Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha,After the varnam in Abhaoi in 3 speeds, she introduced an overture of Natakuranji for Pallavi Gopala Iyer's infrequent Kriti Needu Murthini.It was no wonder that with her admirable grasp over layakri she exploited in full the presence of V.Praveen(mridangam) and K.N. Krishnamurthy(gatam) and indulged in trantalizing swara dialoguess with them for almost every song.

 

5. Sri Rama Seva Mandali, Shankarapuram presented a scintillaing programme on Tuesday evening with a superb Veena recital by Shanti Rao, accompanied by Praveen on mridangam and Manjunath on ghatam. The concert was outstanding in many respects.Shanti's deft fingers could fetch any note or phrase felicitously, her sense of swara alignment revealed a calculative mind and her refreshing orginality in approaching and expounding ragas with a keen feeling for lyrics, all these bore the stamp of a great artiste. Balamurali Krishna who was present complimented the artiste of the evening and conferred on Shanti the title of 'Mahati Mohini'

 

   Shanti took to Veena about eight years ago and in a short span her progression to the top has been smooth and uninhibited.In her recital Shanti Rao played her repertoire with irresistable dash and vitality.Naganandini, an infrequent raga and the Kriti ' Dakshayani' by Balamurali Krishna were specimans of her expertise.

 

    Veena is an instrument on the wane, It is the most musicial and most beautiful of them all.Shanti Rao who gave two delectable concerts in December , one at the Sree Ram Center, proved to be one of the few saviours of the instrument.With her emergence on the Carnatic music scene, there is new hope for the Veena.

 

    Her musical imagination is very refined and some of her phrasing were sparkling and went straight to the heart.For example in Kanada, the operation of the bass strings almost swayed the audience.

 

    Veena Vidushi Shanti Rao is a bright star in the musical firmament.In her  veena recital at the Sri Rama Seva Mandali, Fort High School, Chamrajpet, she made known her mastery of her technique with a realistic path of 'manadharma'. The artist created for herself a personal musical language also adding a bit of gimmickery ceating an exotic experience also.

 

     At the Viveka Cultural Center, this highly endowed yound vainika cast a spell over the audience with her masterful flight in raga alapanas in ragas like Vasantha bhairavi, Hamsanadham, sketched with an escalating spontaneity and sureness of touch.....Shanti employs a madhyamakala that makes you sit up and notice her absolute control over swarasthana, laya etc.,Any musician's stock-in-trade is like a battery on which he draws for a lifetime, although he may go on charging it but for Shanti, one volt of it properly applied, was enough to make a phrase or 'pidippu' alive.

 

     Jazz Yatra '90, held from Feb 26th to March 1st at Chowdiah Memorial Hall provided the mixed audience evenings of high quality music- Pure Jazz, Pop, Rock and Carnatic music. Each evening began on the right note, which was maintained through the performances.

 

Special mention must be made about the unique group called Anubhav, a group consisting of both Indian and Western instruments. The Veena artist, Shanti, was simply superb as she started with ragas like Hamsadhwani, Revathi and El Katiya a number in which, in rhythm with the guitarist she went into harmonic labyrinth of Pop, Rock and Jazz.

 

 

Concert  at Cornwall-UK.The musicans gave stunning performance to a packed house, they received three standing ovations and are still talked about in the village some three years later.

 

     A new band fusing flugelhorn and Veena, percussion and tabla is making waves.'Pulse' sends an unmistakeable message- desi western has come into its own.FM Radio has delunged with requests to play selections from the cassette.

 

     (Tamil Isai Sangam, Chennai)- It will be no exaggeration to point out that the Veena, which requires very delicate fretting is gradually vanishing from our midst.Shanti Rao from bangalore is one of the pioneers in this field as she maintains the speed, the glides 'sruti' with extraordinary care. In earlier years of this festival she had proved her mastery on Veena and this time her recital was equally sublime. A rare raga called 'Jyothishmati' was briefly played to indicate the delicate method of resenting a vivadi tune. Elaborate sancharas were coaxed on the strings in her Ananda Bhairavi with plenty of admirable swara krvais.

 

    The melodius sound of the Veena and flute resounded in the museum premises. The understanding between both artistes was remarkable....An enthralling concert.

 

     International Women's Day was celebrated under the auspices of Prasiddhi Foundation at the Guru Nanak Bhavan featuring Sukanya Ramgopal and her team called Sree Tal Tarang for percussion and Shanti Rao with her team of 6 for Veena....Shanti Rao crafted the programme very carefully and revealed the strength of our culture, mirrored through the music of different schools. It was an all women's musical extravangaza with drums, bass guitar keyboard etc.

 

17. She is what I would describe as a thinking Veena Artiste.

 

18. Her brevity of expression and subtle ideas had a special appeal to the initiated. Her recital greatly transcended the usual levels of a Veena concert.(Concert for Nalinakanthi Sabha- Chennai)