Biography

The hum of musical tunes that swirled around in their very being; the beats and the tapping of the feet that always exhilarated them; the great yearning in the heart to make a mark and the single minded pursuit of a passion that nestled deep inside the soul; was what made Venkatesh and Veena, united in their innate love for melody, become a couple through marriage.   Venkatesh was always fascinated by harmony. Even as a young boy. And so was Veena. Deep inside them, they had a sense of raga and taala; a subtle understanding of the finer aspects of lilting jingles; the ability to catch the impressive and the expressive among songs rendered by the greats of Hindi filmdom. So it was that the basic musical training happened under the tutelage of Kamalesh Kumar, Krishna Rao Gawai and Mahendra Singh Bedi, stalwarts in their own right.   So it was, in 1994, that Venkatesh and Veena decided to start their own musical troupe and aptly named it, Sunehri Yaadein, to evoke in the hearts of music aficionados, lovely memories of a pristine bygone era of soulful melodies. Of haunting rhapsodies. The troupe, Sunehri Yaadein, had just three musical elements; a guitar, a tabla and a keyboard. This was a soothing departure from the loud, brash and showy music being dished out by various other troupes of that time. Sunehri Yaadein, in contrast, was melodious, soft, soothing and easy on the ear! A lovely treat! Musical legends like Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Hemath Kumar, Lata Mangeskar, Asha Bhosle, Jagajit Singh and Talat Mehmood began to come back to life through the mellifluous voices of Venkatesh and Veena. The old Hindi songs and ghazals of the 1960’s and the 70’s began to spread their juicy charm all across south India. Across all genres of music. From romantic ballads and soft numbers to dance numbers and emotional odes.   The pronunciation was impeccable and the rendition so perfect that Venkatesh and Veena slowly began to enter the minds and hearts of music lovers in various places. Mysore, Bangalore, Coorg, Belgaum Chennai, Coimbatore, Ooty, Hyderabad, Calicut and Vizag. Just to name a few venues. And a programme across the seas in Dubai too. Some 2000 programmes later, Sunehri Yaadein is a name synonymous with quality, sincerity and commitment.     MUSIC ALL THE WAY   Venkatesh and Veena select their accompanying artists with care. Quality first is what they ensure. Mainly from Calicut, Chennai and Bangalore, these accompanying artists have profound knowledge of music and are well versed in the craft of playing musical instruments to suit the occasion. In fact, some of the artists from Calicut have had the honour of  accompanying the great Jesudas in concerts done by the legendary musical genius.   MUSICAL HIGH POINT   The high point of Venkatesh’s and Veena’s musical career happened, when once, at a live programme, a man in the audience stood up and loudly proclaimed that it feels like the two arenot singing in their own voices but lip syncing to an audio recording of the melodies on offer! It was a back handed compliment to the sheer perfection achieved by Venkatesh and Veena!   Since Sunehri Yaadein is known for its live music shows and not sing-along karaoke, the audience simply loves every moment of it.     The upper crust of society, the educated, the knowledgeable and the well informed; all genuine connoisseurs of music are almost always seen seated eagerly at venues where Venkatesh and Veena perform.   SOCIAL COMMITMENT   Sunehri Yaadein has always been a musical troupe with a social conscience. As many as five shows involving popular singers from across India like Anil Bajpai, Vinod Seshadri and Mukhtar Shah have been organised to resounding success in Mysore in aid of patients needing kidney dialysis. Following are the Video Clippings of my songs sung in shows Hume aur jeene ki: