Famous mridangist Neyveli Venkatesh attracted the common man and made him enjoy the flavours of his musical rhythm which was more welcomed with zeal and enthusiasm in foreign countries. In a freewheeling chat, he opens his heart and gives us a peek on what makes him tick.
Venkatesh started his practice at the age of seven with kanjira on his father’s compulsion and gradually switched over to mridangam. His first performance was held at the Neyveli Pillaiyar temple when he was just 10 years old.
He took to mridangam, called the king of percussion, as he was waiting for a job. The gnawing pain of being jobless made him resilient and he started to practice hard.
He was keen to achieve something in life. He played non-stop for a record 28 hours in Neyveli, which caught the attention of people.
The secret of this record was his guru P P Venkatesh and also Ramanathapuram M N Kandaswamy.
He soon attained the status of being one among the foremost mridangists by performing with leading artistes such as Sanjay Subrahmanyam and T N Seshagopalan, to name a few. ‘It is very difficult to shine in this field,” remarks Venkatesh, though he reached the pinnacle of his profession at such a young age.
Ulagam sutrum valiban
His first performance abroad was in South Africa. That was the real turning point in his career which gave great excitement to him and his guru, but his father was not alive to see him tour abroad.
His overseas performance began in 1994 and has not stopped till now.
His beats are heard almost all over the world - South Africa, London, Canada, Europe, Singapore, Maldives, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Holland, France, USA and Austria.
Fusion at international fest
The International Rhythm Festival in Germany was a collage of traditional instruments. Exclusive, solo performances were given by Indians, Germans and Africans and grabbed the attention of the audience. India was represented by Neyveli Venkatesh.
His happiest moment was the fest held in London, called ‘London Durbar Festival’.
 Achievements and awards
Venkatesh is covered in glory: he won awards such as ‘Layamani’ and ‘Mridanga Chakravarthi’. He is an ‘A’ grade mridangam artiste and ‘B’ grade kanjira artiste in AIR. Apart from group performance, he also released a solo CD, ‘Laya Madhuriyam’.
The guru
Venkatesh finds that foreign students are more drawn towards mridangam than Indian students. He may be kind and gracious towards his students, but when it comes to arangetram, he expects his students to give a clean performance. His style of playing is seen in Sudhan and Janarthanan who are Sri Lankans settled in abroad.
He was thrilled to see his best set of students performing excellently in London.
Wrapping up the interaction, he signs off philosophically, saying, “If you ignore opportunity, it will ignore you, and good beginning makes good ending.”
M Suryakala
P.S. Vinodhini
A Hepsy Evangelin
S Anisha Mercy
M Mahalakshmi
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