Rudra veena

The rudra veena (also spelled rudra vina, Hindi: रुद्रवीणा, Bengali: রুদ্রবীণা), and also called bīn (Hindi: बीन in North India, is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani classical music, one of the major types of veena played in Indian classical music.

It has a long tubular body made of wood or bamboo with a length between 54 and 62 inches. Two large, round resonators, made of dried and hollowed gourds, are attached under the tube. Twenty-four brass-fitted raised wooden frets are fixed on the tube with the help of wax. There are 4 main strings and 3 chikari strings.

As Rudra is a name for the Hindu god Shiva, rudra vina literally means "the veena dear to Shiva". ]]

It is an ancient instrument rarely played today. The rudra veena declined in popularity in part due to the introduction in the early 19th century of the surbahar, which allowed sitarists to more easily present the alap sections of slow dhrupad-style ragas. In the 20th century, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar modified and redesigned the rudra veena to use bigger gourds, a thicker tube (dandi), thicker steel playing strings (0.45-0.47 mm) and closed javari that. This produced a soft and deep sound when plucked without the use of any plectrum (mizrab). The instrument was further modified as the shruti veena by Lalmani Misra to establish Bharat's Shadja Gram and obtain the 22 shrutis.

Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry

Chembolu Seetharama Sastry (popularly known as Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry) (born 1955) is an Indian lyricist known for his works in Telugu cinema. He won the Nandi Award for Best Lyricist 10 times and Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist – Telugu 3 times. He was the key note speaker at the Telugu Association of North America's celebrations held in Chicago between 2 and 4 July 2009 He is currently the highest paid film lyricist in Andhra Pradesh. Recently, He was also felicitated by the Bay Area Telugu association.

Career

Seetharama Sastry debuted with writing songs for Kasinathuni Viswanath. Though his debut song was for Janani Janmabhoomi (1984), where his name was shown as Ch Seeta Rama Sastry, the songs in the movie Sirivennela were so phenomenally popular that the name of this movie got tagged to his given name.

The songs of this movie are wonderful and rich in meaning that each of the songs is remembered to this day as landmarks in Telugu film-music.

A particular highlight of the movie is the song "Vidhata Thalapuna", sung by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and P. Susheela. The song is about Aum, the most sacred syllable in Hinduism, from which the Veda traditions originated. Other notable songs include Adibhikshuvu Vadinedi Koredhi and Ee gali Ee Nela. The songs and their lyrics became hugely popular with Sastry, subsequently winning his first Nandi Award for Best Lyricist for the song "Aadi Bhikshuvu". He won Nandi Award for his first film itself, which was an unprecedented and never again record.

Asad Ali Khan

Asad Ali Khan (Hindi: असद अली खान) (1937 – 14 June 2011) was an Indian musician who played the plucked string instrument rudra veena. Khan performed in the style dhrupad and was described as the best living rudra veena player in India by The Hindu. He was awarded the Indian civilian honor Padma Bhushan in 2008.

Life and career

Khan was born 1937 in Alwar in the seventh generation of rudra veena players in his family. His ancestors were royal musicians in the courts of Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, and Jaipur, Rajasthan in the 18th century. His great-grandfather Rajab Ali Khan was head of the court musicians in Jaipur and owned a village land holding. His grandfather Musharraf Khan (died 1909) was court musician in Alwar, and performed in London in 1886. Khan's father Sadiq Ali Khan worked as a musician for the Alwar court and for the Nawab of Rampur for 35 years. Khan grew up in a musical surrounding and was taught the Beenkar gharana (stylistic school of rudra veena playing) of Jaipur and vocals for fifteen years.

Ali Khan

Ali Khan may refer to:

Asad Ali

Asad Ali (born October 14, 1988 in Faisalabad, Pakistan) is a Pakistani cricketer who was selected for the Pakistan national cricket team squad in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He is a right-arm fast bowler and bats right-handed.

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