Veene Sheshanna

Veene Sheshanna (Kannada: ವೀಣೆ ಶೇಷಣ್ಣ) (1852-1926) was an exponent of the Veena, an Indian string instrument, which he played in the classical Carnatic music style. He was a concert musician at the court of the princely state of Mysore in south India.

Veene Sheshanna was born in Mysore in 1852 in a family of musicians. His father, Chikkaramappa, was a Vainika (player of the veena) in the court of the Maharaja of Mysore. The musical history of the family goes far back and Sheshanna was the descendant of Pachchimeeriyam Aadi Appayya, a noted composer of Carnatic music. According to contemporary practise in Mysore, Sheshanna was married at the age of twelve. His father died soon afterwards.

Sheshanna displayed precocious musical talent as a young boy of five. At an early age, he caught the eye of the Maharaja and received expensive gifts from him. He learnt music from Mysore Sadashiva Rao and Veene Venkatasubbayya. He was a diligent student and practised music for several hours each day. The story goes that he would have a heap of a hundred tamarind seeds and each time he played a composition, he transferred a seed to another heap. He did this under the watchful eyes of his elder sister who herself had an excellent knowledge of music and was a demanding tutor. He initially learnt vocal music but then switched to playing the saraswati veena, in which he soon gained proficiency.

He toured South India and gave performances at various places. These performances were at the homes of rich patrons of the arts and in the courts of the Rajas as public performances as we know today were practically non-existent in those days. On his return from his tour, he was appointed as the court musician in the court of the Maharaja of Mysore.

His musical talent was prodigious and is reputed to have a mastered many instruments other than the veena, like the violin, piano and swarabat (a lute like instrument also known as swaragat). Once, a musician from North India played the jal tarang (a tuned percussion instrument made of porcelain cups tuned with varying amounts of water) in the court and the Maharaja was very much impressed by it. Sheshanna requested the artist to leave the instrument with him overnight and the next evening gave a concert of Carnatic music on that instrument in the Maharaja’s presence.

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