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.