First time in Mysore for presenting a concert - Ganabharathi on 10th Feb'08

I was happy to have presented this concert in a different format like a thematic concert with alternate number on the compositions of Sri Purandharadhasa and Sri Thyagaraja. Thanks to Aaha Fm which relayed the krithi Rageethandheero sung by Smt Aruna Sairam, which was recorded by my father, i listened took notes on watching India win over Australia on TV in the hotel room and was happy when it came out well in the concert. I am sure i can do better presentation than this after few times. But i was happy at the level it came out. Ramanujam uncle was at his best on the Mrudhangam and so was Ramesh uncle. Rajesh anna was good and we all enjoyed the concert very much. A good trip after which i have written by exam also well!! (yes i am saying the truth only). Thanks to Dr Krishnakanth uncle and Iyengar uncle for giving me a lovely oppurtunity. I loved the photos above and hope every one will like it too!!

Here is the link of the audio tracks http://tinyurl.com/38hjmm

A concert in which a Muthu Malai was presented - 9th feb'08

The day started off with a pancharathna krithi performance at Padma Sarangapani Cultural academy and ended with a good concert for a private function in Chennai. Today with Rajeev anna on violin, Thillaistahanam Suriyanarayanan uncle on Mrudhangam, Nanganallur Swaminathan anna on Ghatam and Venkatramanan anna on the Kanjeera, the concert went very well and had a great satisfaction also. I was blessed with a old patti coming and presenting a Muthu Malai [Pearl chain] and i was totally moved on her gesture. I pray almighty to give me all strength to live up to all the expectations.

Yesterday's concert with heArtbeat was a great experience as i had to perform few new items which actually i learnt the same morning only. It was also for a sabha, Nanganallur Sri Thyagaraja Swami Sangeetha Sabha for their 18th year celebration. I am happy it came out well. Here is the audio link and if you have time pls listen and forward your comments. Thanks to Sri Video Raman uncle for teh excellent photos sent to me.

http://tinyurl.com/2vfwsv

Thanks to the team of heArtbeat!

It was for a private function i was performing in heArtbeat ensemble unit of Dr Ghatam Karthick uncle along with my mama Embar S Kannan. It went very well with Karthick uncle, Poongulam uncle, Sowri uncle, Sankar anna and my mama were encouraging me. I enjoyed performing with this team and look forward to get more oppurtunities. Good photos taken this time by my father

You can see few video clippings of this performance below:

Entering in to the Teens. My birthday - 1st February





I had a great day on the 1st Feb with lots of wishes over phone and email messages pouring in greeting me & welcoming me in to the teens. I take this oppurtunity to thank one and all for the wishes. I had a good day at the school and had a quiet satisfying party time with my kannan uncle, grandparents (appa's parents as my other thatha was out of station) Athai and her son my dear brother Vikram Sarathy, well wisher - Sarathy uncle and Murali uncle. We all had met at Mylapore Saravana Bhavan and had informal dinner. I missed my chithi, chippa and their sons who were busy packing to proceed to Bangalore the next day. I got many gifts and most important was the oppurtunity to perform with my uncle in heArtbeat on teh 2nd Feb'08, my first concert in the teens!!

The 2nd trip to Hyderabad in Jan'08

This was indeed a trip i was looking forward to as i had planned to visit "Charminar". I was happy we had a good concert on the 29th Jan and was invited for lunch with the team by a 86 year old young man Sri Royallu, who is the son of a Gyanapetta Awardee,. He is a great writer i understand and he showed most of his works also as books. It was a great honour to have been to his house and take the blessings of his wife also. He is also doing research on Sama Veda and he is a citizen of US having home at LA. We presented a chamber concert in their house and he interviewed me for writing it in his forthcoming book. Before going to his house i went to Chanrminar with Suri uncle and appa and also visited the famous Masjid. There i had pleasant time spent with lots of Kabuthars for who i gave kana also. In the evening i was surprised to see my appa's friend Ramesh uncle's mother with two packets of lovely Karachi biscuits and i really was moved with this gesture of them.

It was probably the greatest day for me as I had the oppurtunity to be there at Thiruvaiyaru Saint Thyagarajar's Sannadhi on the 25th Jan'08. I felt as if I was performing live in front of St. Thyagaraja a great experience which I cannot put it in words! I can feel that I have acquired lots of positive energy after this performance. I was fortunate to get blessings of great vidwans who were present in the audience and also great devotees of Saint Thyagaraja who were there in large numbers. I was given oppurtunity to perform 3 songs ( I believe for a first timer I have been very lucky) and I played Sobillu, Koluvamaragatha and Kantajutumi.

The audio track is available in the following link: http://www.blogger.com/

The video clipping are available in the following: http://uk.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=901A2610CA36D01D

It was for the first time I was performing at Thiruvaiyaru and so my grand parents (my appa's parents) were very much eager to be there and so we hired a Tavera through Perumal uncle and the owner cum driver Sri Hariharan uncle was also very good to us and gave us a pleasant tour experience. Suri uncle and Ananthakrishnan also came with us in the car and after the concert at Thiruvaiyaru we went to Suri uncle's birth place - Thillaisthanam and had a great time in the cauvery river. We went to his uncle's house and later stayed in a hotel in Kumbakonam. We met Gopal mama, Secy of Ranjani Sabha - Kumbakonam and spent few hours.

Then next day we went to lot of temples starting with Uppiliappan temple, Prethingara Devi Temple, Chidambaram, Vaitheeswaran Temple, Ananthamangalam Anjaneyar temple and Nangoor. We went to Poompuhar with lots of expectation but was not satisfied as it was just like our beach only. Then on way back we went to a temple built for "MahaPeriyava" Sri Chandrasekara Sankarachariar by one Sri VenkataSubramaniam of Chennai and it was indeed a new experience for me. There was a lively statue of Periyava and there were around 25 students studying Vedams and the temple, the school and the environment was great and the students are really blessed. I hope to give a performance in this sannadhi very soon.

A great satisfying trip indeed.!!!

Andra Pradesh Concert tour 12th - 16th Jan'08

I enjoyed this trip as it came just after a hectic schedule and here i was enjoying train travel. I enjoyed the 2nd leg of travel between Secunderabad and Kakinada which we had to travel by 2nd AC as we could not get normal sleeper class seat. Having accepted the concert appa said we will go ahead. Kakinada sabha people were also considerated and compansated a sum. The interesting part is when appa booked Thillai Suri uncle's was on RAC 1 and as my appa said in the morning of travel he got his seat confirmed in 1st AC! Yes we all travelled in 2nd AC and Suri uncle had the privilage of travelling in 1st AC! I was happy to have been in that for some time and slept in 2nd ac next to appa's berth.

The concerts went well with the grace of almighty and i also thank god for having given great time spent with joy. We played cricket to heart's content at Kainada and also visited Dhakaramam temple [one of the Pancharama temples of Lord Siva] which is as old as 8th century! A great temple indeed. Having come back i now have my exams and preparing for the same. I look forward to the Thiruvaiyaru trip on the 25th Jan where i will be performing from 2 - 215pm that day.

Chennai Sangamam 2008

I was happy to have been part of this great festival as an artist for the inaugural function on the 10th Jan'08 and also perform at the Nageswara Rao park in Mylapore on the 11th morning. It was a real great experience to have worked with a team of 40 other carnatic musicians with individual miking and kudos to Dibanshu uncle & team which worked under Paul Jacob uncle for making it a great success. Controlling almost 100 live mikes in a open auditorium is indeed a great job and hats off to the team for their show on the 10th and 11th Jan'08. It was great time having 16 days of rehearsals which brought us all to become a family and almost every one felt sorry on the 11th Jan'08 after the show as we had to wait for another oppurtunity to meet up.

Thanks to my school administration who allowed me to write my exam in a separate room on the 10th morning after i finished a concert around 1030am in Mylapore. After the exam i straight went to IIT for the Chennai Sangamam stage rehearsal followed by the show presentation. Infact after the hectic music season Chennai Sangamam rehearsals and the show kept me very busy and i really enjoyed every bit of the moment. I was also happy that amma got an opportunity to sing the prayer for the Chennai Sangamam shows at IIT and it was indeed a great New Year Gift by god to her.

Congrats amma for good photos of mine

All most all the photos now a days uploaded by appa in our blogs are taken by amma, particualarly the ones taken during the concerts. However i always like few and the above is two of the recent best.

03 jan'08

Its a great day for me as my mother was appearing in a programme in Jaya TV for SPB uncle's Nalungumavu "Ennodu Pattu Padungal" as a judge for the on going singing competition. In fact my self and appa went to see her in the shooting and surprisingly Balu uncle called us both and introduced us in the camera for the audience. I was in my school uniform and appa was just in casuals. It was indeed great honour and thanks to SPB uncle, now my mother will also be know to the world for her own credentials of being a good singer.

01 January 2008

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year

The first day of this year was really a gift of sort as I had again the pleasure of spending time with my uncle and his son Nakul at the beach and then at City Centre. I also had a performance at a well wisher's house and it came out very well. A perfrect way to start the new year with joy. I am looking forward to having good concert on the 2nd and 3rd Jan'08.

A great send off for 2007

It was indeed a great send off to 2007 as I had two concert on the penultimate day I.e. 30th Dec'07 at Vani Mahal in the morning and at Padma Sarangapani Cultural Academy in the evening. The morning was special as it was recorded by SaReGaMa and will be released as "live concert" in the last week of Jan'08 and the evening concert was special as it was one of the evening main slot. Both went very well and I sincerely enjoyed the both.

31st December was indeed a great day as I had attended three concepts concerts of my uncle Embar Kannan who performed a carnatic ensemble under heArtbeat in the afternoon, then accompanied OS Arun uncle for his bhajans and late in the night / early hours of 1st Jan accompanied for Malladi Brothers who sang Hindustani. It was indeed a great treat for me and I also enjoyed to get the blessings of great vidwans under one roof at Music Academy where Carnatica has organised a great get together. I look forward to a great New Year.