B. R. C. Iyengar the noted critic warned that Veena is going the way of Nadaswaram as a concert instrument. At one of the recent concerts there were only five other rasikas, he said. Veena, played by goddess Saraswati is the only indigenous instrument that can produce all the 22 srutis, 12 basic swaras and different gamakas precisely. He added that in this land that produced stalwarts like Emani Sankara Sastry, Veena Chittibabu, and Kayanakrishna Bhagavatar we may see the instrument relegated to be a museum piece, if the art of Veena playing is not nurtured carefully by artistes and encouraged by the rasikas. Iyengar was giving a keynote address at the 3-day Veena festival at Ravindra Bharathi organized by the Mahati Trust founded by Achala Shankarnath.

On Day 1, Achala accompanied by her daughter Vineetha and supported by S.A.Ravikiran (Flute), I.V. Renuka Prasad (Mridangam), V.S. Sreedharachari (Ghatam) and Joy Calvin (Guitar) gave the concert which included Kritis in Gowla, Hindolam, Saraswati, Nalinakanthi, Abheri, and Revathi Ragas as well as Thillana in Hamsanandi. Dr. Yella Venkateswararao, the noted Mridangist was the guest of honor and Dr. Suma Sudhindra released an audio cassette by Achala.

On Day 2, Dr. Suma Sudhindra performed on the Tarangini Veena (Electronic counterpart which has no resonating gourd) supported by Charulata (Violin), Divya (Veena), Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma (Mridangam) and M.A.Krishnamurthy (Ghatam). Her renditions comprised of Kalyani Varnam, Kritis in Nattai, Behag, Kamalamanohari, Yadukulakambhoji, and RTP in Poorvikalyani. Guru N.S.Srinivasan presided.

On the concluding day, it was the turn of D.Srinivas, with Peri Sreeramamurthy (Violin), M.L.N. Raju (Mridangam), P.V.Ramanamurthy (Ghatam) and Ghantasala Satyasai (Morsing) providing the accompaniments. His performance included Saveri Varnam, Kritis in Nattai, Sama, Ghambeeravani, Sankarabharanam, Hamsanandi and Kaanada. B.R.C.Iyengar was the chief guest of the day.

All the concerts were well attended and appreciated by the rasikas of the twin cities.