Veena Recital By Geetha Bennett: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR VEENA RECITAL BY GEETHA...

The South-Indian Cultural Association (SICA) is organising a veena recital by Geetha Bennett of USA, on 16th January, at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium. She will be accompanied by Dwaram Satyanarayana Rao on the violin, M L N Raju on the mridangam and Hari Babu on the ghatam.

Accomplished veena and vocal artist Geetha Ramanathan Bennett is dedicated to continuing the tradition of her guru and father Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. S Ramanathan. She has performed extensively in India, the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Singapore. She was the first veena player to perform in Hong Kong, and has appeared in many prestigious venues and series.

Geetha has been awarded the highest rank, "A Top", for veena performance by All-India Radio / Doordarshan for the last ten years. Her performances have been broadcast by Indian National TV, All-India Radio, the Singapore Broadcasting System and Malaysian Television.

Married to US-based composer, arranger and percussionist Dr. Frank Bennett, Geetha was awarded the Best Veena Player Of The Season by Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai. She has received the Dr. Padmavati Ammal Endowment Prize, the Chellapally Ranga Rao Award endowed by Sri Chitti Babu for her veena concert at the Madras Music Academy, and The Best Veena Player award by the Indian Fine Arts Society, Chennai.

SICA was founded in 1959 by Dewan Bahadur Aramuda Iyengar, the Finance Minister of Hyderabad's Nizam and a great patron of Carnatic music. The association has since organised more than 1,000 concerts. It has provided a basic platform for upcoming artistes like U P Raju and Nagamani, Mandolin Srinivas and the Malladi Brothers. It conducts workshops, felicitates artistes, and provides both moral and financial support to upcoming artistes. Dr S Chakravarthy, IAS, former Chief Secretary to the Govt. Of AP, is the current President of the association, and R Chakrapani is the General Secretary.

The entry to the concert is by invitations for members - members of the general public need to buy donor passes of Rs. 25 or Rs. 50 per head. Please contact V Ramachandran at 92461-61420 for further details.