A Sad Day

It is indeed a sad day today as i have lost one of my greatest well wisher and guide in Dr. T. P. Naidoo uncle who i understand breathed his last at 10 am today morning in Durban, USA. He has been a great inspiration and a mentor to me and our family. He has done immense society to the Tamils and in Particular Indian in South Africa and it is indeed a great loss for all of us.

For i am what today, it is also because of the efforts of this great uncle and his daughter Smt. Vasantha Naidoo, through Indian Academy, Durban South Africa, giving me an opportunity for a concert tour to South Africa in 2003 just when i was 8 years! Unless for this tour i would not have met Dinesh Naidoo uncle and the albums he made on me! 

The first photo is the one i had taken during his visit to India in 2005 and the second one is the one i had taken with him in my first tour of SA.

May we all pray for his soul to rest in peace!

self in "Yugiyudan Yugiyungal" May 04, 2012

I have seen and also been in many talk shows and this is indeed one special as you are focused on humor all through the show but message reaches in the easiest way possible!

Thanks to Yugi uncle who was very nice to us and made us feel at home and enjoy the show! The shooting started around 1145 pm and ended around 230am! What an effort he takes and kudos to his dedicated team who work with the same energy level as that of Yugi uncle! In fact his colleague Sri. Ganapathy Narayanan penned down lyrics for a composition of mine and i hope to have that sung by my mom and will upload it later! This happened as we were waiting to go on the recording and he was indeed amazing!

The team full of thoughts and energy and that's the reason it is a Success Show!

I performed a concert for Layapriyan Sri. Papanasam Kumar who had organised a ahendam concet series for this year's Shivarathiri and was performed at Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, Mylapore, Chennai on the 20th February, 2012. The concert is being telecast on 12th and 13th Mar'12 in RAJ DIGITAL Channel from 630 - 7 am. Please watch and forward your comments.

It was a team with Sri. KJ Dileep on Violin, Sri. Neyveli Ramkumar on Mrudhangam and Sri. Sai on Morsing.

Audio track of today's concert telecast is

01. http://snd.sc/wtPwNk - AnandaNatamaduvar Thillai - Poorvi Kalyani - Rupakam - a composition of Neelakanta Sivan

02. http://snd.sc/yiMZCl - Ananthanatanaprakasam - first attempt of Kedara raga Dikshidar krtihi


03. http://snd.sc/AwyLCU - Evasudha - Tyagaraja krithi in Sahana

 

Audition on Harmonium!

Most interesting thins happend at the start of my journey in to my 18th year is the Audition i went through on Harmonium in All India Radio! Yes when i tried playing the few krithis on Harmonium some time last year in a concert appa asked me if i would be ready for applying in AIR! As i had always a liking to the instrument, i immediately said yes to it and had initialised the process. We got the letter from informing that the audition will be on the 3rd Feb'12 in the first week of Jan'12 and we now started scouting for a Harmonium! 

We actually asked almost every one we had known whom we thought would have a Harmonium and understandably only Mr. Ramani sir of my school had one and that instrument was always used for Bhajans sung during Anusham. Also it is indeed such a wonderful Harmonium, many artists using the instrument for Bhajans try and take it from him always. So we did not want to give him the trouble but what are we going to do! Buying one at this stage i thought is little premature and so decided to check with Palladam Venkataramana Rao sir - the magician on the instrument! He has on date only two instruments, one which he had bought almost 50-60 years back and the other for his students to learn! So end result no instrument! However I sincerely thank Palladam Vankataramana Rao ji for his expert suggestion / guidance extended to me to better the handling of the instrument when i went with an instrument later.

God is always kind to us and this statement was made true once again by Prasad Uncle! Father of Shyam Prasad who is interacting with us to develop his vocal chords in our KBS Inculcation, when asked on this help, at once called up Lakshman Sruthi Musicals and made sure we have the instrument in 2 days time! Now all i had to do was to go to  Lakshman Sruthi Musicals and pick one of my choice! The people in  Lakshman Sruthi Musicals were so nice to me, the manager Mr Lakshman in particular, they extended all help and i now had the instrument with me clear 2 weeks ahead of the audition!

I have now appeared for the local audition in All India Radio, Chennai and hope to get a call soon for the next level i.e. actual audition to be sent to New Delhi for grading my performance. Well that is possible only if i clear the local audition and so this is crucial and now awaiting the result! 

After finishing the audition when i wanted to return the instrument,  Lakshman Sruthi Musicals were so nice and have offered me a 4 read Scale shift Harmonium! Along with Prasad uncle they have now imposed the confidence that i will surely get through the local audition and from now on i shall start practicing for the Delhi audition! 

I am so happy that God has been so kind to me and i am sure he is, to all of us and always!

Few more links of my Harmonium attempts:

A Bhajan - Nandhanandhanu / Muralidhara Gopala / Jagajanani

I request you all to pray for my good result and I shall keep you all updated on the same.

Here is the link for the Sarvani Sangeetha Sabha concert and i am sure you all will like it.
   

Birthday Celebrations in United India!

My birthday this year was clebrated in "United India" ! I mean in India and also in the premises of United India Insurance office Head Quarters in Chennai and it was indeed a pleasant experience.! Having the number 1 of the company - CMD Sri G. Srinivasa for the entire concert was in itself a great blessings and bonus was that three more front line officials in GMs also stayed back and enjoyed our presentation along with the offcials and their families from UII.

My team actually have to thank as always to my parents for having made a concept for this presentation and it became a good effort!  Being Republic day we presented more of Patriotic numbers which had helped seed the great feeling of Independence among our people during the British Regime and these are the ones which make us feel proud even today! Having celebrated my day of landing in this Mother Earth, in a grand manner thanks to UII, the actual birthday i.e. 1st February also went well with a surprise party in the evening. 

My parents had bought me a cute little monitor speaker, thanks to my Mamoos for buying it for us from Singapore. I got lots of gift this day fromArjun Ganesh anna, Sankarnarayanan anna, Vikky, Nads Bala bought me T-shirts, gifts from students of KBS Academy, my mamoos, my grand parents and many more. Sridhar anna kalakified with the wonderful Cake and Giri Trading Raman uncle uncle gave me a good back bag for Laptop!

The day went well with lots of happiness around and hope God will be kind to hold it for me ever!

Here is the video clipping of the songs we thought were apt for the republic Day!

Thank you All

எனது மனமார்ந்த நன்றி !

प्रनाम्स

It is indeed a great day and i thank my parents for having brought me in to this wonderful World! It has been my pleasure to receive all your wishes and blessings through sms, phone calls and on Facebook, Twitter and Orkut. 

I cherish this day and look to carry all your wishes and blessings with the sincere hope that i will have more loads of these in the coming years as well!

A great trip to Thiruvaiyaru

It is always a blessing to visit temple and more so to visit St. Thyagaraja'r during the Aradhana days. Even more great is to perform few krithis there on one of these days!

I got this oppurtunity and we left home in time to be at Thirvaiyaru little early and had a good Dharshan. It was so sad that the river alongside was almost empty and had a long stroll in the sands! What to do? no water! The schedule time given to me was 545 pm and it was perfect going and got to the dias in time. I had Ms Rajajeswari on violin, Sri Venkatsubramanian on Mrudhagam and Mstr Sai Balaji on Morsing.

It was divine feeling and to perform there we are not only blessed also feel like cleansed after the performance. What was surprising this time for me was that after 3 krithis i thought of getting up Sri Srimushnam Raja Rao sir, Sri Deccan Murthy sir, Sri OS Arun sir and many office barrers who were actually listening to our performance from near the stage asked me to continue performing another krithi! What a blessing for our team and i thought it is indeed a great good sign for the prosperity of the instrument! I sincerely thank one and all for this gesture and pranams to St. Thyagaraja for his Grace!

Concert at Bhairavi Pondicherry

I had a good trip to Pondicherry with Villiwakkam Raghuraman uncle's car along with appa and Kumbakonam Swaminathan anna. Thirukannapuram J Sowrirajan uncle joined us in Pondicherry.  We actually wanted to start little early and have a good relaxed time at the hotel room before going for the concert. But as Raghu uncle had some work we started little late and also went on a wrong route travelling around 25 kms and had to come back and reached hotel only by 4pm! Of all hotel restaurant Suruguru - a fast one delayed to bring our food and so went to the room only by 5pm! Had some snacks and changed costume & proceeded to the venue.  

It was an excellent ambience but the audience was not the usual good strength in number and they sighted recent rain / Thane wind and others for the comparatively not a strong turn out of audience. We enjoyed the concert presenting some rare raga / krtihis and returned to Chennai after having a good dinner at Adyar Anandha Bhavan!.

You can listen to the performance by our team in the link:

http://www.esnips.com/thumbnails.php?album=4555183&page=1&view=1

New Year Eve celebrations with Vidwans and Vidhushis at Music Academy!

It was another great year which i enjoyed welcoming 2012 with many great Vidwans and Vidhushis, thanks to Carnatica's effort to bring in all of them under one roof - Music Academy! I think it is for the 3rd or 4th year in succession i have enjoyed this New Year Eve programme! This time again i teamed up with my dear Mamoos - Embar S. Kannan ji, and gave a mix of just film / Carnatic music on a concept of tempos / nadais and it came out good!

I was also happy to get greetings and enquiry on the Jugalbandhi concert i had performed with Pandit ji at Brahma Gana Sabha just before coming in to this programme! I shall post the video of the same at thee earliest for all of you to enjoy! However the last couple of minutes is lost due to no space in the camera as my mom had also used the same for the earlier concert. I look forward to welcoming 2013 soon!!!

In the process of this Jugalbandhi Concert i missed out on detailing the 29th Dec'11 concert performed with M. Rajeev on Violin, R. Sankaranarayanan on Mrudhangam and Sunilkumar annas at PH Mahal, Chitrakulam, Mylapore for Sri Panchamuka Anjaneya Music festival committee which was a grand show indeed. With rain god showering his best with the help of his friend Vayu Bhagawan with "Thane" the possibility of the concert was in fact remote! However there was a good audience turn out and the performance was also of good level with our team giving our best with the Grace of Lord Anjaneya! I always love playing in this forum as it is indeed a divine atmosphere and feel as if Lord Anjeneya is omni present to listen to us!

Great Experience of performing with Inventor of Mohan Veena and a Grammy Winner!

It was indeed one of the most memorable day in my life time - December 31, 2011 ! Yes it was like a dream for me to be realising at 715pm on this day that i was performing with Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt ! Humble Personified personality and i was only fortunate to have had this opportunity! I am confident and hoping to get more such occasions  in the future! A dream New Year Eve indeed!

Panditji was so humble to come home the earlier day with his wife and had dinner - simple Dosas - at our house and we had gone  for a short drive on to the beach side and he was feeling so bad for the effect of "Thane" strom and as he got out of our car he said, "All the best Sathya, let's make a great day tmrw evening". It was a great blessings and i was so stunned to see a person of his stature to be so simple and even more simpler was his wife Ma ji and it was one of teh best moments i had in my life time.

The day of the action i.e. December 31, 2011, appa left home early to see through all arrangements for the evening as Giri Trading Agency had decided to make a Video  & Audio albums of the concert. I was very excited on the show and just tried to concentrate and practise few ragas for slow and speedy phrases as i thought of the Hindustani phrases and ones i might have to give a good response!

God was kind to me with the presence of good number of audience and i thought that was indeed the respect Chennai rasikas gave for this Maestro Mohana Veena Inventor! While doing the sound check we understood teh "Reverb" key was faulty and Pandit ji was so humble in saying, "let's play with whatever resource we have". A great learning for me and for any artist as this is the best mind set one should possess instead creating a big issue and make a scene which might bring in more and more of unpleasantness!

Thanks to my dad's idea of checking with Mr. Ranganathan, incharge of Giri Trading  Agency who was captaining the the recording stream, they brought the studio mixture  from Surang, As we were playing the raga aalapana the new mixture was made set and before we went on to Thanam the equipment was fixed in no time - Thanks to teh sound engineer and team! It was kind of non stop music for the next almost 1 hr 30 mts and as we finished our piece on Madhuvanti - Dharmavathi combination we realised it is time to end the concert! Panditji in all humbleness asked me what we could play to end the concert, i suggested "Vaishnava Janatho" which happend to be one of the best renditions in a Jugalbandhi concert as said by Panditji, Ms. Vaijayanthi Mala Bali and others who had attended.

I sincerely thank Eenadu to have carried an article on the Jan 02, 2012 and Dinamalr on Jan 15, 2012 and you can log on to http://reviewsonsathya.blogspot.com/ to read the reviews.

I also thank Brahma Gana Sabha for having thought of this combination of Jugalbandhi Concert and Pandit ji in particular for suggesting to do a Jugalbandhi instead of his Solo which was in first place asked for!

Let's now look forward to Giri Trading Agency to bring out the DVD & Audio CD of this concert and i just cannot wait for a long time to see the same!

Let me also take this opportunity to greet you all for a Very Happy 2012!

One of the Great days ahead - December 31, 2011!

Yes indeed a day I look forward to perform with "Padmashree Awardee, Grammy Winner" Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - a Jugalbandhi concert i actually have not even dreamt off!

The concert is being enhanced by Shri Ramkumar Misra on Tabla and Shri Arjunkumar on Mrudhangam. I request all my well wishers to try and promote this event and come in large numbers not to just listen to me but to 

a) Respect humble personified Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's thought to perform with me

b) Show your strong support to Brahma Gana Sabha for having organised this concert, which will in turn give them the confidence to promote young and sprouting talents like me!

c) cheer / support / wish and bless me on the great occasion which will give me strength to perform on this great day!

To book the tickets please log on to

http://events.whyq.in/Events.aspx?Event.172 

I wish you all a "Happy New Year in Advance" and look forward to greeting you all the same on the New Year Eve after the concert!

Unforgettable moments - 2011 the Album Launch!

I sincerely thank my parents, grand parents, my gurus, well wishers, school management, teachers school mates, all enhancing vidwans who have been performing with me, the audio technicians and all who have been my pillars to the bring me up to this position of where i am today! I owe my gratitude and hope to become a good musician and above all a good Human with all your wishes.

Here are the video clipping taken during the album lauch of Giri Trading Agency's album release in association with Brahma Gana Sabha.

My source of strength has been my parents amma recoding every great moment in my life not only in her mind but also in a camera and appa for making it my website! Here are the photos:




I am so honored, blessed that in the first concert on the 9th December 2001, Sangeetha Kalanidhi Violin Vidwan Dr. M. Chandrasekaran sir had come and blessed me and today into my 11th year's first concert as well he was there as Guest of Honor to release one of my 4 albums! What a blessings and thank The Almighty for all teh blessings showered on me!

Album Launch

Wow!!! 10 years gone and into the 11th year of my performing career! Thanks one and all for this support, wishes and blessings. Do make it to my Album launch on 10th Decemebr'11 and bless me for the future.

Another feather in my elder brother's - Vikram Sarathy-  cap!!!

Congrats to you and your team and i like the importantance given for the team work!!!

01

02

04.

03

1. my mom with Facebook friend Smt Savithri Vasan
2.. Mom Violin Sri Raguraman & Mrudhangam; Mr Poovanur Viswanathan
3. engathu 2011 Golu's first visitors Deepatha & Dikshitha - Cute Twins
4. Mathura Raghuraman with ehr Golu arrangements at home



I am on way to Raleigh and will be there few days and then on to Charlotte and to Albany! The concerts are going good and i am enjoying the very nice climate in Madison right now!!  Some news from India i thought of reporting and that is :

I know Facebook helps us to connect together and was thrilled to know from my dad that it found a good friend in Mr & Mrs Vasan who on seeing my appa's message in FB came for my mother's concert ydy! Thanks to Mr. Vasan for the photograph of the concert!

I was also happy to know from my parents the visit of Golden Sisters - Deeptha & Dikshitha for our Golu. Yes i really miss the fun of Sundals & kindals!!! Understand my concert performacne for a fusion concept ws again broadcastin Podhigai Channel and when my parents went to Villiwakkam Raghuraman uncle's house were happy to see a good Golu!! Congrats Mathura Mathangi - Raghu uncle's daughter for the nice work!! Happy to know that Sri Sambamoorthy uncle Murali uncle and many others from Villiwakkam Sathy Sangam enquired about me and i am blessed with all their well wishes.

Congrats Sai Sharan for winning VIJAY TV  Super Singer 3Title!!

Pranams to Ramjhi uncle for spotting talents and bringing them up to the lime light with perfect opportunities!!

God answers the question - a nice title Dad!

It has been a dream come true for me when i got the information from my parents that i have been awarded the prestigious YUVA KALA BHARATHI for this year from Bharat Kalachar! 

I sincerely take this oppurtunity to dedicate this award and all the recognition the instrument - Keyboard has received till date & will be receiving in the coming years, to the Grace of The Almighty, blessings of my Gurus, wishes of my well wishers, forums & individuals who have been supporting and promoting with great opportunities and the hard work put in by my team of enhancement artists including the audio system persons, our close friends who have been always with us from my early age of 5 and most importantly my Parents who have taken this as a "Yagna". 

I know if i have to list all individuals the BLOGGER administrator might take me out of this as it is endless from my Thatha Embar Sadagopan, Nadopasana Srinivasan sir for the first oppurtunity, Panneer Selvam uncle for the oppurtunity he tried to extend to me through Ms. Vasantha Naidoo, Indian Academy South Africa, Dinesh Naidoo uncle (South Africa) for giving me the support to bring out my first album at the age of 8! Special thanks to my school - Padma Seshadri K.K. Nagar management, teachers & friends for giving me immense support and encouragement!

Let me once again thank one and all who have been of great support to me directly or indirectly for my progress and dedicate this award to them! This also gives me great responsibility to keep trying my best to live to all the expectation of my well wishers!! Pranams to my Gurus and you all!! he award function is on the November 2,6 2011 at Vani Mahal, T. Nagar and i would be pleased to have amny of our personal presence. 

I also thank many of you who have posted their wishes in FB and other forums for me receiving this prestigious Award!!

Reached Austin!

I am so happy to interact with you all after quiet a long time!!  Good news in plenty to share as i am on the USA & Canada Concert tour with heArtbeat Ensemble!! We have already performed 4 concerts and have just arrived Austin for a concert on 24th Evening local time!

I had a great concert back in Chennai on the 25th August at Sri Sakthi Vinayagar Temple near my mentor,
Guide and first professional Guruji Sri Mandolin Shrinivas sir's house. I was overwhelmed on that day with the presence of large audience and also the presence of Palladam Venkataramana RAo sir who is indeed a Jambavan of Harmonium instrument and an early exponent of keyboard!

Latter in the following week the article in Dinamalar was a great gift for our efforts during this   concert and by the time we had also performed at Pondicherry Manakula Vinayagar Temple which is one of the temples i always wanted to perform both for the sanctity and the love for Lord Vinayaga!!

I got the information about my cousin brother Vikram Sarathy's interview in Indian Express and i am so happy for him!! Congrats on the new film project and my only issue is i am unable to be a keyboard artiste with him and would have loved to just play few bars in his first movie!! Well i had this trip to enjoy and probably lost the oppurtunity to be with him!! But this is life - we gain some and may be get few latter!!

Happy appa for having taken Ammamma for a Holiday trip to Meshana !!





I am so happy to see the photos of your trip to Ahmadabad & Meshana to see Jaya Patti - your mom's (my ammamma!) youngersister and her family! Nice to see all the relatives and their pictures! Rekha akka's son looks so cute and so is Anitha akka's daughter! 

Congrats Bala anna - Adyar D. Balasubramani - Nadaswaram Vidwan!!

I am happy to inform you all that my dear friend and anna nadas bala has been awarded witht eh title "Issai Thendral" by Deiviga Iyal Issai Mandra, Adambakkam on the 5th August'11. The second photo is with his proud father!

I am a proud owner of iMac!!

Thanks to my dad's birthday coming up on the 8th August, which i have taken as a reason to buy a new Apple iMac which i have always been hoping for! Yesterday it became a reality!! Yes it is now in our house thanks to Datalogics who have been so nice and gave us a great shopping experience!! Its so wonderful and i also tried my first attempt on it and here is the link:

Invocation by keyboardsathya

All is going good and look forward to get the US Visa for my concert tour with heArtbeat ensemble during September - October this year! My dad has already spoken to the school and hope i have no problems getting leave for the trip!! Will keep you all informed once i get the travel documents and the ity confirmed!!

I am proud of my borther "Viky The Great" and my friend " Drums Bala"

A great achievement to be selected as Top in India and participate in an International competition! Congrats! here is the link of an article in  today's -  The Hindu Metro Plus Page 1 Looking forward to seeing a live performance of the band "STACCATO" on the 1st July, 2011 at The Spring Hotel, New No:11, , Kodambakkam High Rd. Nungambakkam, Valluvar Kottam High Road, Kodambakkam, Chennai, Chennai Phone:  40509999.

One of the greatest Moment in my Life!!

The above two links says it all!! I was amazed at the gesture of Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt ji when he asked me to perform with him for 5 mts sooner he saw me perform (check to see the video here)

It was just a dream and it took lot of time for me to realize that it was true that i performed with him! Such a Humble  person he is, when i asked him if i can use the video footage - he simply asked me, " Do you want it to be uploaded in You tube?" and when i said yes he with a smile told me "Go ahead and let the world see your performance". Magnanimity at its best! I still remember how got to join as a Sishya with Mandolin Shrinivas sir and Dr. Balamuralikrishna sir, the oppurtunity to perform with Sri Ravikiran sir and  this is another great moment which came through on the World Music Day - June 21 !!! This will be in my memory for ever! Thanks to each and every one who has seen these video and wished and blessed me!

Blessed to be in Bangalore on World Music Day this year - June 21st, Tuesday

I am really happy to be a part of Handshake Concert Music festival to be held on the World Music Day i.e. on the 21st June, 2011. It is a great occasion to interact with extraordinary Musicians and take their blessings. I am blessed to have got an oppurtunity to perform for 15 mts during this grand celebrations to be held at Chowdaiah Hall, Bangalore from 6pm on wards. Looking forward to seeing many known faces and making new friends on June 21st, 2001. Excited to meet and interact with Grammy Winner Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt!!

Here is a link of a report on this event http://www.mybangalore.com/article/0611/celebrate-world-music-day-on-june-21-at-handshake-concert-.html

A great Saturday 11th June, 2011

I was informed by Sri JJ Prasad & Mr Alex of Nickelodeon channel that they would like to shoot me for a programme in their channel to be broadcast ( i shall let you all know for sure!) and had to be ready by 830 am at my aunt's house in Besant nagar. Unfortubnately they had gone out of station and myself and my father went little early and waited for the crew. We did not know the power cut in that area was from 9 - 10 am and as the crew came up they had to claim 3 stories! Thanks to my Principal who had spoken good things only to the team when they went on Friday and my classmates were so thrilled to see a TV crew coming to the class to take some bytes!! Well this is a new class and many of them were new friends and it was a real surprise and nice feeling for me too!!!

As soon as the crew was ready we got call from my aunt saying that almost every one in the block apart from the security & caretaker had called her to inform that some one was using their premises! I was so happy to know that our society is indeed vigil / alert and was also happy to understand how good my aunt had been for so many of them to really take it up to call her on this!! 

my mom, Sri DSP and Murugan uncle PA to DSP Sir.

As we were doing the shoot i got a call from my mother informing that DSP - Devi Sri Prasad, a leading Music Director had accepted to  say words about me and asked us to come to his house as early as possible. It was indeed a real surprise to me and when we went to his house he received us like a nice friend and was shocked to she his humility! What a great person he is and was so nice of him to have shown this gesture of talking about me in the channel! I do not want to go further on this as i thought it will be nice if you all can see the programme! I shall try and put the full thoughts of his impressions after the broadcast! thanks to Murugan uncle and his son Mani anna who were coordinating this meet. 

the crew Mr JJ Prasad, Mr Alex and Mr Soloman

This Day i learnt our Society is Vigil / alert and also learnt and pledged to be as humble as possible with the meeting i had with  DSP Sri. Devi Sri Prasad

I am into 11th Standard!

I am happy to inform one and all that i scored 7.6 on 10 in my 10th Standard examination. I am also happy to inform that i scored 9 in English 8 in Sanskrit and 7 each in Maths, Science and Social. I had decided to take up Commerce stream and had opted for that before the exams. I am into 11th Std with English, Accounts, Economics, Business studies and Entrepreneurship as subjects. Its already over a week into 11th std and yes it is indeed totally a good jump from 10th to 11th and could see it in all subjects.  

The next 5 years are very crucial in academic studies and it is also equally crucial for me in the music field. I need to concentrate more and i sincerely hope to achieve the best in the forthcoming years so that it will be a good foundation for my future. Praying The Almighty and hope for the best as always!! 

My Summer Holiday 2011 (Second as i already went out with my mamoos!! to Thekkady) in Ooty was a planned after the concert we got in Coorg!. Then when my appa wanted to check about the quality of hotel to Mr. Ananthakrishnan of NCA, where we had performed in September 2006, he also asked if we would be willing to give aperformance in Kothagiri! So it turned up to be concert cum Holiday trip and we enjoyed it thoroughly! 

The climate and the hotel we stayed Lake View Resorts, were good through out but we egiterians, will have to face problems here in Ooty as there are not quality restaurants to caterto our needs. Its almost with restaurants cooking / serving both Veg & Non-veg from the same kitchen! We scouted for a restaurant of our requirement and landed up at Saravans (no way related to our dear Sarava Bhavan!!) and here we did get some quality food and thus managed though out our stay. 

We spent lot of time walking, viewing few movies, playing UNO and relaxing ourselves with Game of Cricket! Nadas Bala anna (Adyar D. Balasubramani  Nadaswaram Vidwan) and Swami anna (Kumbakonam Swamithan - Mrudhangam vidwan) joined us from Coorg after the Machamada Cup concert at Coorg. All of us enjoyed the concert we presented at Kothagiri for NCA as we had a large turn out in particular the school students of St. Jude's Public School & Junior College, a resident school, which was the venue of our concert.



We interacted with them by informing them on the thalam patterns and as my dad was on stage for Thalam almost the entire student group started following him and it was indeed an amazing sight! Had fun travelling in the local bus for just Rs 3/- for a distance of around 4kms (by Auto it was Rs 100/-!!) ate chocolates and enjoyed the bakery items too! It was a good holiday this year as the one we had in Kodai last year!

Machamada Cup 2011 - concert May 15, 2011 in Coorg

Tipped as Hockey’s largest gathering in the world this Hockey tournament was held between April 22 and May 15, 2011 at Ponnampet Junior College ground( FMC Kariappa Ground & Gen Thimmaiah Ground). Our team was invited to present a Fusion concert in the evening after the Finals and it was indeed a great Experience for our team of Sri. SP Ananthapadmanabha on Silent Violin, Adyar sri. D. Balasubramani on Nadaswaram, Sri. Kumbakonam Swaminathan on Mrudhangam, Drums Balasubramani, Bass Guitar Sri. Yuvaraj, Sri. Pradeep on Tabla and my father triedplaying Jempai & co-ordinated as MC for our programme. 

Thanks to the show on the 6th May, 2011 in Chennai Mr. Suresh of Lasershow India, Bangalore who had seen that concert had suggested our group for this big event and on reaching Coorg around 12 noon on 15th May we were quiet shocked seeing a huge crowd for the finals being held and we were not sure of the audience response for our type of Fusion Music! To state few facts about this Hockey Tournament here are few lines:

The Kodavas have genes that express hockey. This is the 15th year of this Hockey festival and was hosted by the Machamada family. This month long event  witness spectators in thousands. The Machamada family hails from the southern part of Coorg. The game of hockey has always been supported enthusiastically by the family. In family hockey festivals conducted over the past few years, the Machamada family hockey team has won the second place twice and the third place thrice. The family now looks forward to promoting the game.

The Kodava Family Hockey Festival was organized under the aegis of Kodava Hockey Academy with support from Coorg Hockey Association and under the title Machamada Cup 2011. This event— considered a festival and tournament for the people of Coorg— ran for 25 days starting in April. About 250 teams  participated and this fact is in the Limca Book of Indian Records.

As planned we reached the venue, a big open stadium, around 645pm only and as we started to set up our instruments int started raining. The locals and the large audience who had turned up knew the climate conditions very well and informed us that it will rain only for 20 mts and it actually rained only for 20 mts!! We just took 15 odd mts to do sound check as the crowd was large and getting little impatient.It was a nice experience - even though not good - to do sound check while cracker sow was on! Kudos to the experienced team members of our group and an excellent organiser in Mr Suresh & the technicians involved, we started the show at 735pm and went on for an hour. 

Starting with Mallari and then on to Mahaganapathim i performed my own composition in Chakravagam and Mohanam and it all looked great with audience appreciating our efforts in total. However as t was a huge crowd and also as it was more of mood to start dancing for the youth present, few of them started coming nearer to the stage and asked for some numbers with fast rhythm. Sathya turned on to folk tune and 6/8 tempo and this was welcomed by this huge gathering! We decided to get on to some very popular film peppy numbers and presented them in a medley format and ended our show after around 75 mts! The crowd applauded our efforts and it was totally a different show presented with great experience gained!!

This is indeed a concert to remember for me as i am using both Korg Micro X and X 50 models in a concert together and also the style of placing them!! Thanks to Nadas Bala anna for the idea which i developed and made it!!



B. Ananthakrishnan anna on Violin, Pradeep Uncle on Tabla and Bala anna on Drums was a great combination and hope we continue doing many more!!!

Will upload audio and video soon!!!

Last Moments of a Tree!!!

While it is sad a tree was being felled, it was also fortunate that they took the decision as the tree actually has become hallow inside and probably would have fell on its own if they had left for few more days! Trees and particularly Coconut trees do not harm human is a saying and this tree lived true to this statement!!

My trip to Thekkady with mamoos!!!!

I had a great trip to Thekkady with my momoos and we enjoyed the holiday at Club Mahindra Resorts! I shall detail same with pictures in a day or two.

Blessings from Baghwan Sathya Sai Baba!

It is indeed true that Baghwan Sathya Sai Baba was there when you thought of him even though he was in Puttaparthy and will continue to be there with all of us for ever!

Korg Micro X arrives Vasudevapram!!!

Some time during last month my appa was asking me to scout or another lighter keyboard so that i can carry on my on if i had to probably travel alone due to some reasons and landed on this model in Google! On seeing some of the video samples i was astonished on the features and decided to ask my dad to get this. Thanks to my dad's college group community "against-all-odds" many of his friends came forward to help and get this keyboard. Finally we took the help of Mr Sashi who inturn coordinated with his friend Mr Eswar Rao in Ne Jersey to buy this and hand over same to my Mamoos Embar Kannan who went to NJ. The keyboard was handed over on the 17th itself at NJ and on 18th morning i had the pleasure of seeing it on skype!

Today my mamoos reached Chennai after going to Abudhabi and i am now with this wonderful instrument!!! Thanks to every one who has been nice to us in getting this keyboard. It will take some time for me to get used to it and i shall try and do my best to bring the features of this instrument to get myself enhanced in my future concert.

Wow What A Day!



India is the World Champion of Cricket!!!

Cricket & Concert trip to Karaikal!

The promise Sridhar anna, Swami anna and Nadas Bala anna made on my birthday - to play Cricket at the beach! - came true, thanks to Karaikal Venkat anna choosing our team to perform for his wedding reception at Karaikal on the 27th Feb'11! It was fun all through out the trip right from the word go! Yes as we left Chennai in the night around 1145pm we decided to watch movie instead of playing UNO! We reached around 530 am and were greeted with a great coffee at that early hour! The rooms were large and we decided to take a nap and be ready by 10am to go for the beach side match!

After having lovely breakfast went to the beach with our cricket kit and made two teams with Suri uncle and Pradeep uncle as the captains! Suri uncle, Sridhar ann, Nandu vikky, Nadas Bala and myself in one side and Pradeep uncle, AK anna, Swami anna and appa on the other side. Decided to play 3 match series naming itself as Kenley Empty plastic bottle Cup!

Having won the toss we decided to put them in! While i started the bowling Swami anna opened their innings! 2 wickets fell and appa came to bat. As he pushed a ball and started running - probably due to no active running / walking in daily life!! - he slipped and fell flat on the ground and got himself run out! The we all decided to give a bye for him and declared that ball as dead ball! In few overs later when he pushed a ball on the leg side where there was no run - Sridhar anna tried to act smart and dived to stop a ball of no reach at all! - He slipped and sprained his right knee and almost started cribbing to have joined the match! Later applying some ointment and with a real good sportsman spirit continued his participation. When we played appa and Arun anna bowled well but some how we managed to win the match scoring 57, with Nadas Bala anna being the hero! I am not detailing about myself here as i just could stand for few balls only scoring 5 runs! (suna pana immm apadiye maintain pannu!)

The second match was even more interesting with they winning the Toss and decided to bat first! They scored 68 with appa playing very well scoring almost 30 plus runs! Sridhar anna was the best bowler giving almost 10 wides and more!! Now in reply appa took 3 wkts in the first over itself and in the 3rd over i had to play single man innings to score off the runs. I did it in style and our score reached 67 when i just knowingly defended the last ball without scoring in order to ensure that both teams win a match each! I scored 58 runs and the rest were extras! We shared the cup as almost every one had lost energy and went to Venkat anna's home for lunch which was indeed a real feast!

The concert also went well in the evening and we decided to stay overnight and left around 530 am next day. Started viewing film again, we reached Pondy and had breakfast. Then started viewing "Payanam" and had a good journey back to Chennai!. What a great trip! Look forward to many more like this in future was the feeling not only for me but also for all in the group!

A great rewind of memory!!!







As i was looking at the hard disk in the system i found this video footage and was so happy to see it! It was funny seeing me speak like the way i have spoken and i am sure you ill all enjoy this clipping!

This is the one which appeared in the "Vijay News" on the 17th August, 2003, the day after the launch of my first Album in the year 2003!!

February 01.- A great day being My birthday!

It was one of the good birthday i celebrated, thanks to my parents who had a surprise gathering of my artist friends at home to play NO game and also to go for a grand dinner! After coming from school i was surprised to see one by one coming home with Nadas Bala anna, Sridhar anna (drummer) Arun anna (keybaord artiste) Swami anna (Mrudhangam) and we all sat for the game and planned to go to beach in the evening My mamoos also joined beore leaving for a concert and with the game going with great interest decided to skip beach and later proceeded to Dosa Calling a restaurant in Mylapore, one our friends had not been to! Nice thought dad & mom!!

At the restaurant I was once again surprised by the presence of Pyarilal uncle (my website designer and well wisher), karaikal Venkat anna (violin) and Mouli uncle (Studio Engg.). My mamoos also joined  us after the concert and we were there enjoying the delicious food till almost 1130pm! It was fun all through the day with almost 5 hrs of UNO and 3 hrs in the restarant. Every one gave me presents but i feel their presence with me for this day was indeed the greatest gift of all!!!

Concert at Thiruvaiyaru on January 25, 2011

I really enjoyed the concert at Kakinada performing for the first time with Sri Sathyanarayana Sarma on Violin, Sri Mandapakka Ravi on Mrudhangam and Sri Hanumantha Rao on Ghatam on the 22nd Jan'11 followed with a good enjoyable duet with my mamoos Embar Kannan for a private concert.

The most important concert after "AIR" recognition on keyboard is the performance at Thiruvaiyaru this year which actually got out of my hand! Yes originally they had asked me to perform on 24th Jan'11 and as i had committed a concert in Chennai on that day and requested Sri Raja Rao uncle to change the date to 25th Jan'1. He was so nice and said that he will try his best and thanks to his efforts and with the grace of St. Thyagaraja i did get the oppurtunirty and here is the video clipping above and hope you will also like it!

The great thing about this trip was that we went by our car and on return actually reached Chennai from Trichy in 3hrs! Great roads and i am any way not canvassing during this election period!!!!

2011, January 15 - Chennai Sangmam concert at my home ground

After a lovely concert at Sri Ganapathi Sachidananda Ashram for Nadasudha - Velachery on the 13th Jan'11, it was once again a great home coming for me this year as Chennai Sangamam gave me the venue as KK Nagar Sivan Park on a important day - Kanum Pongal day! There was indeed a sea of people assembled at the venue watching a lively old dance performance with great rhythmic patterns! In fact our team was actually feeling if we could hold on this audience  immersed with pure folkish music and thought if we should start of also on a folk tune!

My dad had clearly made up his mind and decided to go with our original idea of starting with a Mallari and believe me it worked! Thanks to Nadas Bala anna, Mrudangam Swaminthan anna, Drummer Sridhar anna, Bass guitar Suri uncle, Tabla Pradeepuncle and Percussion Rajagopal uncle and of course the audio provided, made it a grand evening with crowd actually started growing up instead of going done which we thought would happen initially!

It was one of the most successful concerts performed in terms of holding a huge audience after a good popular show with instrumental music and i just remembered our performance for Rasika Fine Arts on the Jan 02nd evening we performed after a great vocal concert of Sow. Sriraranjani Santhanagopalan's concert. Full marks to the team and the audio support for this great success! I am sure you will agree with me after seeing the video clippings above.  In fact i was pleasantly surprised to get good report on the performance from Smt. Neyveli Santhanagopalan, when we happened to meet in a private function! It was so nice of aunty to praise me and my team's effort including my dad's anchoring the show as usual in a great style! 

Concerts with Sri Malladi Brothers party at Kakinada & Hyderabad.

I was really blessed to get an oppurtunity to be performing with sri Malladi Brothers and their father Sri Malladi Suriyababu for two concept presentations made by them at Kakinada on 10th Jan'11 and the other at Hyderabad on 11th Feb'11. The first one was on Utsava Sambaradhaya Krithis on Sri Tyagaraja and the other was lyrics composed by Sri Samaveda Shanmugasharma for which music was composed by Sri Malladi Suriyababu. I was happy to be part of these presentation and the fortune of playing with them.

Pleasant Experience at Hyderabad!

I was very eager to go to Hyderabad this time for two reasons! one i was to meet my good old friend Drums Wizard Siddharth Nagarajan and 2. meeting my well wisher - rasika Smt. Revathy and her children! Revathy aunty (in the first photo) had come to the hall almost 1 hour before and we reached little late due to traffic jam! Traffic is really bad in Hyderabad. I was moved when she gave me gifts and two write-ups (in this photo album). Her children Srivatsan and Anushree were also very nice and all of them stayed back for the entire concert. She also presented me with a beautiful Perumal Photo and it is now in our Pooja room! Thanks aunty and i hope i live up to all your expectations!

After the concert on the 11th we stayed at Taj Mahal Hotel Secundrabad and was taken to my friend Siddhanrth's house by his mom Vidha Nagi aunty. It was so nice of her to come all the way and i was happy to met his sister Dhanashree and the entire family after almost 5 years in their house! I met Siddhu and his mom in November last but was just for a short time after the concert at Sivam - Hyderabad with heArtbeat concert.Spending time with Nagi uncle - Siddhu's father, a great drummer was indeed special too!!!

We spent lot of time interacgting with each other and i was amazed the way Siddhu has come up as a great drummer! Very stylish and he now looks a real great Artist! Vidhya aunty had prepared good food for us and we all went to Siddharth's school to see the annual day function where he was to get 1st Prize for running 400 metes! As it was getting late for the train we left without having the fortune of seeing him get the prize! All the best Siddhu! Looking forward to interaction on stage soon!

Concert in IIT CLT Auditorium on 4th January, 2011

After a hectic two days of the start of this year i had a break on the 3rd and had a concert on the 4th Jan'11 for a conference at the CLT auditorium of IIT, Guindy, Chennai. We presented a lec-dem type of concert with a old friend of mine Giridhari anna on violin, Nadaswaram Balasubramani anna, Sri Sangeethamshare moderator Sri Sridhanran on Mrudhangam and Hriharasubramanian anna on Ghatam and Morsing. It was organised by Sri Kamokaoti of IIT and we had a good response for           the concert.

This concert recording is available in www.sangeethamshare.org vide serial number 054 under the folder Sathya (Keyboard) on the main page under Rasika Uploads. You can listen / download these logging in with your google or yahoo ids. I loverd teh main piece in Manavyalakimchara apart from our usual medley!

Second day of 2011 - 02 January, 2011 - Also two concerts!
Chamber concert in the morning and Public concert in the evening!

The second day of the year also went well with a concert for a closed group of Aluminis from a college in Mumbai! They had their group meet in Chennai and they loved our presentation this day. We also had a great lunch - from a Mount Mani Iyer,  a person who actually had served food to Lord Mountbatten when he had visited Chennai!






Rasikas Fine Arts, K. K. Nagar

This is one of the best surprise concert where we had a large audience and we actually did not expect that! The feeling was also reflected by the President who spoke after the thani avarthanam praising our efforts and mentioning that he was actually pleasantly shocked to see a large audience! He also said may be he misunderstand the effect of the instruments's strength to produce hard core classical music! A real concert great compliment indeed! This was performed  at Jayagopal Garodia School premises from 4:30 to 6pm on the 2nd January, 2011 with Sri B. Ananthakrishnan on violin, Sri Arjun Ganesh on Mrudhangam and Sri Hariharasubramanian on the Ghatam. Pls nte videos are being uploaded.

Last day of 2010 & First day of 2011

After the New Year night meet at The Music Academy with many musicians and after a satisfying performance with my Uncle Sri Embar S. Kannan (just the two of us) i went back home with a great satisfaction of taking the new year ahead with great confidence!

It has been a great 2011, year starting off with two concerts -  in the morning for Indian Fine Arts and in the evening for Kunnakudy Schol of Music & TS Mahalingam & Sons at Sri Marundeeswara Temple, Thiruvanmiyur. What a contrast of th3e audeicne present in these two concerts! Morning it was hand full and in the evening it was Temple full! The interesting moment was that the children who had come with their parents started putting thalam for few songs see my father doing it!

It was also first time i was teaming with Mrudhanga vidwan Bangalore Sri H.S. Sucheendra sir and he sincerely complemented me for my efforts. To get blessings from him on the New Year morning was indeed very inspiring! Srinivasan uncle - Secretary TIAF gave a nice speach and made me do a lec-dem on Desh with his singing! Salute to his age and the spirit with which eh is working!