Blessings from Guruji Nithyananda Paramahamsa Swamigal.

It was indeed a great blessings to have got an opportunity to perform at the ashram of Guruji Nithyananda Paramahamsa Swamgal - Bededi, Bangalore on the 27th Dec'08 for 2 hrs as part of his birthday celebrations which is on the 01st January.

As we were readying ourselves to perform amidst 100s of people doing meditation, the screen in front of us opened and it was a great sight to see Guruji adorning the Simhasana, giving dharshan to all the devotees. When i had the opportunity to see him eye to eye i realised getting some kind of great energy passing through me and all us were totally thrilled and excited to have got the chance to perform in front of this guruji.

I started off with a sloka in his name, composed in three ragas namely Revathy - a carnatic feel, in Mohanam - a folk feel and in Sankarabaranam - a western flavour and this was very much appreciated by all the devotees and Guruji in particular. As we had restrictions of taking photos or videos have requested them to send the same and hope to have it uploaded soon.

The sight of 100s of devotees and guruji himself dancing to our songs rendered - particularly the one which had 56 lines on Nithyananda swamigal kept us the artists spellbound and infact we also at some time started dancing on the stage! Swami Keerthana and Ma Keerthana ji had taken care of us during our stay in teh ashram and also sang with us in teh concert.

The entire team with Prem uncle (Sri Sivamani uncle's brother) - drums, Nanganallur Srirma uncle on Mrudhangam, Pakala Jayaprakash anna- Violin, Pradeep uncle on tabla, Sowirarajan uncle - Ghatam, Morsing, Kanjeera and Konnakol, Suri uncle on Bass guitar, Ravishankar, my amma Lalitha and appa Krishnababu on vocal support had a great day at the ashram and were thrilled to receive personal blessings and a gift of Rudhraksha malai from Guruji after our performance. I cannot forget the alingana blessings guriji gave to me and my appa and we actually were charged with great energy. A great blessings for the New Year indeed!!

Salute to my Western Music Master Mr Alphonse



I am grateful to my western music guru Mr. Alphonse (Mr. Tall) - can be contacted on +919841055985 - and i thank him for having invited me to perform in is yearly celebration of Alphonse school of Music for the year 2008 held at MRF Hall, Layola College, Chennai on the 22nd Dec'08. I performed one piece of his lesson from my 8th grade and also a carnatic krithi "Mahaganapathim" in Naatai. I was so thrilled to see a huge audience which had turned up and was also happy to see my friend Vignesh, POGO 2006 Winner (Singer Category).

Appa spoke his heart out in praise of Mr. Alphonse and also recollected how Mr. Das of Musee Musicals has been supporting my efforts in attending the exams from my age of 4. Mr. Das was the one who had personally represented to Trinity College, London and got me a medal for being the youngest to pass grade IV in 2001. I was moved when he gave me a gift for being with him on this day. We as family felt sad for not being there for the entire programme as we had to proceed to see my Paternal Grandfather who was in the hospital undergoing a surgery. Every one present in the hall, especially Mr. Das, Mr Parvai Opticals Natarajan (uncle who was the first person to buy my cd album and one whose designer frame specs i wear for concerts) and Mr. Chandrasekar (Vignesh's dad) comforted us and said that they all would pray for my grandfather's speedy recovery. A great moment indeed!!!

A great day of memorable events.

It was a great day today -13th Dec'08, with a performance once again for my school bhajan group from 7 - 845 am at Krishna Gana Sabha. I was just on time on stage as they were about to start the Bhajan as i got delayed. Thank god i made it in time. I felt bad to have given my music teacher a little tension.

After this bhajan i went to attend Muthukumar uncle's 60th birthday celebrations. He has been a great well wisher and a motivator for me with his support to bring out two albums namely Vaatapi to Vandematharam from Kosmic Muisc and Sathya's Synthesis a DVD project from Moserbaer. I was fortunate to meet a Swamiji by name Senthil Thuravi and got his blessings.

In the evening i went out with appa and amma to attend Sri Anil's Piano lec -dem alongwith Sri Gurucharan. What a presentation! It was golden 1 hour i had spent there and learnt lot of techniques from Anil uncle's presentation. Well let me try and use it and see if i am successful in the attempt. In fact i try this style during heArtbeat concerts when i play with my uncle Sri Embar S. Kannan, and today i learnt how to polish it better. Gurucharan anna's singing was excellent and they two gave a different dimension of music as a whole!! Congrats to them and i was fortunate to be there, thanks to appa being a member of Rasikas.org thru' witch we got to know of this program.


We then went to inauguration function of Myalpore Fine Arts after this lec-dem and was there when Sudha Raghunathan aunty was conferred the title for this year. As tomorrow is the first of the concert i would be playing for this December Music Festival, i had the oppurtunity to get the blessings of almost all the well wishers of mine like Nalli uncle, Natarajan uncle, Venkatraman uncle, Sudha aunty, Sundaram uncle, Kumadam Chandrasekar uncle, Pyarilal uncle to name a few. was really moved when many people who were telling me that they have been coming for my concerts when my amma was handing over handouts of my Dec'08 schedule. I had the oppurtunity to take photos with Vanavarayar uncle and Kathadi Ramamurthy uncle today. A perfect day to meet and get the blessings of all and now look forward to a grand beginning tomorrow with the blessings of the almighty & gurus and wishes from all well wishers.

Concert opn the 7th & 8th Dec'08

Concerts on the 7th and 8th were of contrast in nature with the 7th being film based fusion and the 8th Dec being a light classical based concert. I was very happy when ARR uncle asked me to play Durmagachara - in Ranjani with alapana for this concert. While we had a team going together in a car on the 7th, we spent lot of time at the lawn of the venue on 8th Dec'08 concert. We all really enjoy spending time with other and that really boosted up our performances also.

Concert on Dec 05, 2008

The team of Karaikal Venkat anna (Violin), Kumakonam Swaminathan(Mrudangam), Sridhar anna (Drums), Rajagopal uncle (Tabla) with Praveen on Bass guitar joining us for the first time had a wonderful big stage for ourselves and performed carnatic krithis, light classical and some film numbers. Karthick uncle with his PA system helped us to enhance the concert and the families of the bride and the bride groom were appreciating us at the end of the concert. The greatest thing was that the bride and the bridegroom said they were energised with our performance to stay on stage for the large well wishers of the couple who had turned up to greet them.

Dec04'08 - Concert in Coimbatore without my dear Gopi mama!

It was indeed an emotional trip to Coimbatore to all of us as we have always been taken care on arrival into Coimbatore by Gopi mama! May be it was blessing that we continued to get the same treatment for this concert also with the organisors being so good to us. We, Venkat anna (violin) Trivandrum Balaji anna (Mrudhangam and Hari anna (Ghatam), my parents and self, went to Gopi Mama's house and had a coffee after spending time in one of the most visited homes by all artists! With his blessings the concert also was well attended by audience showing great interest to our carnatic music and this helped us present a concert which, i understand was well received by the audience, as said by the organiser.

I always like train travel and the incidents happening in our journey. We were booked in a eight in one sweater / berth arrangements on on onward journey but were given a nine in one seater/birth coach, which appa and Trivandrum Balaji tried to explain two of our co-passenger who had occupied our seats. H/ever the lady and the gentleman refused to accept their words and when finally TTR came and asked them to shift they did not even feel sorry for all the arguments they made! I think it is better to keep quiet in many incidences when we are not sure of things - well people will have to follow this which will reduce hatred feelings amongst one another!

Welcoming the holy month for all the artists - December

It was indeed a great oppurtunity to be art of my school Bhajan group to perform on the 1st Dec'08 at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha. What else can i expect to start this holy month with a Divine bhajan performance! I look forward to a good presentation of my concert during this month. I am also happy to know that this year also i am getting an award and i.e. from a very renowned forum of the legendary Dr. Balamurakrishna's Vipanchee - "Yuva Kala Vipanchee". Looking forward to meeting you all in some of my concerts. You can log on to http://concertschedules.blogspot.com/ for the details of my concert venues.

Concerts on the 29th & 30th Nov'08



Concert on the 29th Nov'08 was indeed unforgettable as we were getting out of the house after almost 4 days of heavy rain in Chennai. Thanks to the rain god who decided to slow down on the 29th Nov'08 we all could reach the venue in time. With Tabla Rajagopal uncle's son Vijay coming in to the team for the first time we had a fairly good show with Ananthakrishnan anna on violin, Kumbakonam Swaminathan anna on Mrudhangam with Padhu uncle on the rhythm pad. Sangeetha Raja anna of Karthick audios was great as ever and Mrs & Mr Raghu from Singapore who had coordinated for this concert, expressed that all the audience appreciated our team's performance.



Concert on the 30th Nov'08 was a concert for the friend of Trivandrum Balaji anna and was for the first time the bridegroom came to our stage and requested to play Sankarabaranam notes as a gift to her bride! We all enjoyed with my appa giving some nice talk on this. I was with the team of AK anna, Suri uncle, Harish - kanjeera and Chandru on Ghatam and performed a concert with a nice audience. Infact for the first 1 hour or so every one was sitting infront of us and looked as if we were performing a Sabha concert!

Concert in Chennai on the 24th Nov'08

The concert on the 24th Nov'08 went well with Ananthakrishnan anna on violin, Arjun Ganesh anna on Mrudhangam and Nerkunam Sankar anna on Kanjeera. We were performing a kind of "Rasika's Choice" concert as it turned out to be a concert which from the start to the end hand audience request. A Music director by name Sri Manibharathi had come and he later called home to give his compliments for the team's performance. Special mention to Sampath audio whom i was meeting after a long time and they presented with perfect PA settings to enhance the show.

It was indeed a great opportunity for Sathya to perform on the 6th year of his website http://www.keyboardsathya.com/ which was presented to him by Sri Senthil, the domain name and Sri Pyarilal, the design and space. This is a live recording of a private show performed with Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan on Mrudhangam and N. Sundar on Tabla. It was a coincidence that Sri Tabla was the first accompanying artist onstage and was also with him for his 525th concert today. I am sure you will like the tracks rendered.

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Private concert for Padma Sarangapani Trust family 09Nov'08

As December is approaching the concert on the 9th Nov'08 was indeed kind of a prelude with this private concert with very knowledgeable audience and showing keen interest to listen. With Villiwakkam Raghu uncle playing with his new Silent Violin (very quality one), Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan uncle on Mrudhangam and Sri Swaminathan uncle on the Ghatam it was a pleasant concert. Infact i started off with Virubhoni varnam and also had a request from a 80 year old rasika to perform raga allapana for Gowla raga when i was about to play Dhudukugala. That shows the interest the audience showed for our concert and the sucess of our concert.

Concert on the 1st Nov'08


It was a nice concert we, Ananthakrishnan anna on violin, Srikrishnan anna on Mrudhangam and Nerkunam Sankar anna on Kanjeera performed for Arjun Ganesh anna's friends wedding on the 1st Nov'08. The bridegroom was a mrudhangam artist and most of the audience were seen to be enjoying the music. This gave us extra energy and the concert in total came out well.

Kudos to the "Men in Uniform"

Congrats to the team of "Men in Uniform" who had fought with great determination and brought the city of Mumbai to calmness!

Kudos to people of Mumbai for showing support to these "Men in Uniform".

Kudos to all the news channels and their staff for their tireless coverage of the events LIVE from the action place.

Let's all take a owe now that we should support of Politicians who are ready to serve the people in real honesty else just should throw them out like how the Men in Uniform dealt the terrorists in Mumbai. Let's pray the almighty to give us all this mental strength to take India forward!

My dear Gopi Mama is no more with us!

A real sad news was awaiting me when i woke up this morning when i got the news that my dear Coimbatore Gopi mama passed away late in the night yesterday 30th Oct'08. Gopi mama is so dear to me that he was and is one of the major reasons for me to be like this in the field of Carnatic music. When i met him last, during my trip to Coimbatore for a concert organised by him on the 19 Oct'08, he was remembering our first meeting at the gate of KrishnaGana Sabha two years back with Thadi Sarathy uncle and i did not know that would be my last ever meeting with him! I could not take this news and feel very sorry for him. Gopi mama had great vision as far as my carrier is concerned and let me do all that possible and make his ambitions come true! I request all who see this message to pray for his soul to rest in peace! I am sure this is not only a loss for me and our family but a great loss for the Carnatic music in general.

My Deepavali Celebration - 27 Oct'08

Diwali Celebration of Sathya & Embar S. Kannan

Birthday Celebrations for Three days!!!

Yes it is indeed a unique feature in our family that the birthdays of three generations falls on the successive days in October and it goes like this:

Generation - 1

23rd October - Birthday of my Paternal Grandfather Sri K. T. Pathy

Generation 2

24th October - Birthday of my Chithappa - Sri. Sriram [grandfather's 2nd son]

Generation 3

25th October - Birthday of my Chithappa's son - Chi. Suryanarayanan [my grandfather's grand son]

We celebrated the first 2 Generations birthday today itself and the pictures are uploaded on same. Surya, Sowmya [Surya's younger brother] and self enjoyed firing crackers on this day. We have a good party on the 25th Oct'08 and shall report on same later.

Concert no. 3 of 3 in 2 Series 18/19 Oct'08.

With the grace of God we did manage to be there in Chennai and at the venue in Annanagar at 650pm and started the concert at 7pm. Ananthakrishnan anna and Suri uncle with Sowrirajan uncle on Ghatam & kanjeera were there already and we gave a performance which once again impressed the audience and it was exhibited by Smt & Sri Ganesan & family from Bangalore giving us a cash reward. Sorry for the pure photo quality as we had only my appa's mobile to take one!

We were totally dependant of various factors beyond our control like the flight being on time, traffic jam due to the new over bridge being opened in front of the Chennai airport, developments of problems in the vehicle we travel like puncture etc. and the rains in Chennai which was continuing for the 4th day in succession. At the end of it all with the grace of Almighty we accomplished the task of 3 in 2 and it did give us lots of experience in terms of logistics and also added our faith on the Almighty! "Do your duty and the rest will follow you" & "Have faith on God and taste the success" are the two great theories i have started believing after this 3 in 2 experience!

Day Two Concert no. 2 - 19th Oct'08 of 3 in 2 series

We reached Coimbatore and had a good coffee at GowriShankar near the station before going to my Gopi mama's residence. After having a wash and change had good breakfast and proceeded to the venue of the concert number 2 which was to be performed from 11 am. With Pakala Jayaprakash anna, [thought of uploading his photo as it was not done before] Kumbakonam Swaminathan anna on Mrudhangam and Hariharasubramanian anna on Ghatam we presented a concert which was appreciated by the audience with Smt & Sri Periasamy family blessing me with cash reward also. Special applause was extended to my amma for her singing two devotional songs during this concert. {I accompanied only on the keyboard this time though!). While appa and self were to take Paramount Airways flight to Chennai at 1640 hrs for performing a concert in Anna Nagar, Chennai same evening, the rest took the train back to Chennai leaving at 1445 hrs. Every thing went as per schedule including our flight departure and the train for the group from Coimbatore.

Thank you Lord for Three in Two for the weekend18/19 Oct'08

It was a great weekend and was looking forward to it as we were to perform 3 concerts of 2 and half hours in two days. It was indeed a godly act and Almighty's grace we could perform these concerts without any trouble. The first of the concert was in Chrompet in Chennai on the 18th Oct'08 with Ananthakrishnan anna on Violin, Suri uncle on Mrudhangam, Hari anna on Ghatam and Sathya on Morsing. After may be 2 hours i was looking at appa if i had to finish early but appa was confident of the plan of going to Central by Electric train and at the end it did work. The learned audience were giving us a feeling of performing in a public forum instead of a private concert and this made us to extend the concert a little. The concert was over by 855 pm we, appa, amma and Hari anna and self left the hall. My athai had already arranged to pack dinner for us and thanks to Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan uncle's student Sri Anand, who was kind enough to go early to Chrompet station and buy our tickets to Park Station.

We took Electric train to Park station, walked to Central Station to catch Cheran Express to Coimbatore and reached at 1005 pm. The train actually left 5 mts or more later and understand it was probably due to the traffic jam because of a political rally held in Island Grounds, Chennai. God's grace we were in time. Pakala Jayaprakash anna [on violin] and Swaminathan anna [on Mrudhangam] also reached station in time and we were discussing about our experiences of reaching Railway station due to the traffic jam before going to sleep.

Welcome Indiran uncle from Mauritius

Even though i was in school on the 17th Oct'08 it was nice of Indiran Uncle from Mauritius to have visited our house. Yes he is so special to be as he was one among the artists who was there in my first foreign tour to South Africa & Mauritius under Indian Academy, Durban South Africa arranged by its Director Smt Vasantha Naidoo in May 2003. I am sure we will surely meet up soon probably during his next visit to India during December Music festival which he has been attending regularly. Indiran uncle is a Bharathanatyam dancer and has a school in Mauritius also. His wife Smt Malina is also a Bharathanatyam dancer and works for Mauritius University as a professor. Their 4 year old daughter Vardhini also understand is catching up on the dance and i am sure she will become a great artist in the years to come.