0 7th Aug'07 - A day in Sri A R Rehman's AM Studios for Sathya's new DVD project

It was a great day 7th Aug, 2007 for all of us as Sathya's first video project titled "Sathya's Synthesis" was shot yesterday. The interesting fact is it was done at the "AM Studios" the state of the art studio owned by Sri A R Rahman. Sathya is indeed blessed to have got this oppurtunity and this is another great day to be remembered.

Originally the shoot was to have happened on the 4th followed by a live concert on the 5th Aug'07. However due to unforeseen circumstances it could not happen and when we were worrying on the status of the project, Mr Paul Jacob who has taken all efforts for the making of this project called up on the 6th afternoon and informed to be ready for the shoot on the 7th at the studios of AR Rahman. We were thrilled and so were the other artists involved in the project namely Donan Murray - Lead guitar, Balu - kanjeera & mrudhangam, Siva - drums, & guest artists Embar S Kannan - Silent violin & vocal and Ananthakrishnan - Hinsdustani vocal.

Mr Balaji was co-ordinating the camera units with Mr Anias and the audio was controlled by Mr Siva the engineer at the studio along with Mr Tony, his assistant. While the set up took a little time the recording started around 1245 pm and the entire list of songs were shot by 1030pm. It is indeed a miracle of sorts that this could happen as normally for this kind of a project it takes a minimum of 2 - 3days considering this to be visual project.

The project consists of a sloka redention by Sathya to begin with followed by Mallari. Two pieces of Sathya's own composition on ragam Keeravani & Thilang, Six Thirukkural phrases for which Sathya has composed tunes and performed in ragamalika format with vocals, one on Srothasavani by Embar S Kannan, classical numbers in Narayana - Suddha Dhanyasi, Niravathysukatha - Ravichandrika, Krishnanee Begane baro - Yamuna kalyani and kavadi sindu are the other numbers.

The recording was indeed a great success thanks to Mr Paul Jacob and team lead by Mr Hemanth administrative incharge who had put lots of efforts for the same. It will take a while for editing the visuals and should be ready for release by mid September. We look forward to perform a live concert before the release in front of large audience and request all your support for the same.

Happy to share few photos taken during this recording. It has been a great experience working on this project and it is certain the album will satisfy the interest of the viewers.

Concert at Kala Bharathi- Vizag on 31st Jul'07

It was indeed one of the best auditorium Sathya has performed in India at Kala Bharathi for Visaka Music and Dance Academy, Visagapatinam on the 31st July'07. While not much of concerts happened in July the ones performed were indeed great ones with Sastri Hall concert for Balaganamrutham and the wedding concert for Sri Sadha's son's wedding on the 10th Jul'07.

This 2 hr 45 mts concert was enhanced by Karaikal Venkatasubramaniam (disciple of Sri T. N. Krishnan) - Violin, Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan (disciple of Sri Kumbakonam Rajappa Iyer and Sri Thanjavur Kumar) - Mrudhangam and Sri K.V. Ramakrishna, Tenali (disciple of Sri B.V. Prasad) Ghatam. The person behind the PA system was indeed one of the best enhancers of the concert.

As requested by Sri Sri Rambabu, Trustee of the Academy, Sathya presented a concert of great value to bring out the nuances of carnatic music during the concert. Starting of with Abogi varnam Sathya elaborated Hamsadwani, Nagaswarali, Vakulabaranam & Shanmugapriya ragas during the alapana and special mention was for the sruthibetham he effected to bring in Srothaswani during the alap of Shanmugapriya. and the thanam played during the RTP. Every one appreciated the thala gnana of Sathya and the thillana composed by Kalaimamani Ku,. A. Kanyakumari stole the entire show at the end. All the enhancement artists enjoyed the concert and so was Sathya which made this concert a great success.

The authorities indeed were happy to have had a decent turnout for the concert and promised to patronize Sathya continuously in the future. This was indeed a great credit for Sathya's efforts as it was indeed a great forum of knowledgeable audience. Mr Rambabu, Trustee (on the extreme right) and Dr P.V.C. Sharma - Programme Organising Committee along with the President are seen in the photo above.

The song list is as follows:

01. Varnam - Abogi - Adi
02. Gumganapathim - Hamsadhwani - Adi (thisra nadai) (R &k S)
03. Sobillu - Jaganmohini - Rupakam
04. Entharomahanubhavulu - Sri - Adi
05. Garuda Gamana - Nagaswarali - Rupakam (R & kS)
06. Marivere - Anandha Bhairavi - M'chaappu (O.R)
07. Vakulabaranam - A composition of Remember Sakthi (R)
08. RAgasudharasa - Andholika - Adi (kS)
09. Om Namo Narayanan - Karnaranjani - K'chaappu
10. Kamalasini - RTP - Shanmugapriya - Adi (N & KS with thani)
11. Brahmamokate - Ananmacharya krithi
12. Thillana - Sindhubhairavi - Adi (composed by Ms A Kanyakumari)
13. Mangalam.

Concert for Balaganamrutham in Sastri HAll on 29th Jul'07

Yesterday's (29th Jul'07) concert under Balaganamrutham of Sathya at Sastri Hall was presented well with good enhancement artist in M Rajeev on violin and Kumbakonam Swaminathan on the Mrudhangam. While there was problem of power fluctuation due to which Sathya had little problem in the varnam with regarding to voltage, the concert went very well. Awaiting a report from one of the rasika and will upload same here in a few days as we are proceeding to Vizag for a concert on 31st July'07. Hear the audio tracks in http://audiotracksofsathya.blogspot.com/

The highlight was that the founder secretary Mr Balasubramaniam was of all praise to Sathya and the team and even confirmed that Sathya's performance has given him the feeling that he can be fitted in a commercial slot for any forums as he had the observation made for Mstr Balamuralikrishna who had sung the earlier day.

The list of songs were:

01. Varnam - Sri Ragam - Adi
02. Srimaha Ganapathim - Gowla _ M'chaappu (ragam & swaram)
03. Brochevarevere - Sri Ranjani - Adi (krithi with Swaram)
04. Jalandhara - Valaji - Rupakam (Ragam & krithi)
05. Thulasibilva - Kedhara Gowla - Adi
06. Nannupalimpa - Mohanam - Adi (Ragam & Swaram + thani)
07. Thillana - Sindhubhairavi - Adi (composed by Kalaimamani Ms A Kanyakumari)

10th Jul'07 - A concert of great value

Sri Sadanandam's (s/o Late Sri R Sudarsanam - Great Music Director) son's wedding reception was indeed a high profile wedding function what with great personalities like Maestro Sri Ilayaraja, Smt Susheela and Sri A. R. Rahman attending and blessing the couple. Sathya with the oppurtunity to perform yesterday evening had the blessings of every one who attended the function. He was being enhanced with the team of Sri Embar S. Kannan on violin, Sri Poongulam Subramaniam on mrudhangam & Dr. S. Karthick on the ghatam.

All who attended the function praised the team for having given a great performance in particular the own composition on ragam Srothaswani by Embar S. Kannan and one based on ragam Thillang by Sathya. Link for this is http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qrpnk-GZ5MI

It was also interesting to have the audience attention to both Sri Poongulam Subramaniam on mrudhangam & Dr S. Karthick on ghatam getting special applause for their thani avarthanam. Thank you Sri Sadanandam sir (Sathya's western classical guru) for having given a great exposure and blessings to Sathya with this oppurtunity.

Sathya with Dr Ravi Dattatreya (USA) & family in Bangalore on 30th June, 2007

It was indeed a great day for Sathya as he had the first oppurtunity to meet Dr Ravi Dattatreya, USA (sitting with his left arm on the chin in the top right photo) the person who had gifted a KORG PRO - Workstation - Keyboard to Sathya in Nov 2004. Well it is true that the major part of Sathya's success should got to this great person for his wonderful gift to Sathya. The entire dimension and approach of Sathya and his efforts to perform Carnatic music on Keyboard took a great upward curve from the day Sathya started performing on this gifted board from Dr Ravi Dattatreya.

Dr Ravi Dattatreya had been to Bangalore for a private function with his family and on the information that there was a possibility to meet him this time Sathya with self reached Bangalore and spent a great 3 hours of time with Dr Ravi Dattatreya & family who were all so keen to know the Success story of Sathya and his prowess on his ability to perform on the board.

Sathya however had taken his new board and gave a real solo concert for all the relatives of Dr RD who were very knowledgeable and appreciative of his efforts. (look at a child concetrating and putting thalam in one of the photos above). It was indeed like a concert of rasika's choice and by the grace of god most of the request were known to Sathya. Sathya ended up with the Rama namavali and every one started chanting the bhajan and the atmosphere was indeed full of positive energy. Dr RD & family also made Sathya richer with their whole hearted blessings and also with the cash reward.

We as family would once again like to thank Dr Ravi Dattatreya for the hearty blessings & wonderful gifts to Sathya and also for the oppurtunity extended to meet him with his family in Bangalore. We also thank Sri Dwarakanath for co-ordinating this lovely get to gether.

More photos and Sathya's views in his blog http://keyboardsathya.blogspot.com

Private concert in Bangalore 25th Jun’07

It was a good concert once again and the specialty is that Sathya performed here for almost 2 and half hours with just Sri Prashanth (disciple of Sri C.P. Vysa Vitala who is a disciple of Sri Harishankar – synonym of Kanjeera) as his enhancement artist with a good audio system provided by MSR Audios. This once again proved our theory that Success of a concert lies on the team effort of the artists with that of a quality audio system.

Special mention about the spell bound audience who were all there through out the concert and appreciated Sathya for his wonderful concert. Sri Prashanth was also given his due credit as this was just the first time he is performing with Sathya and gave good and very supportive performance.

Kudos to Sri Madhavan father of the bride groom to have thought of this concert to hold it just after the breakfast for this early muhurtham. Thanks to the bride’s family too for having organized a good Mrudhangam artist (could not make arrangement for another violin artist as the one who was arranged could not turn up in the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances) and a good audio system.

It was so nicely timed that every one had leisure time to concentrate and listen to the concert and this was indeed a great show of audience response for a private function of this nature. May be this is the start to have many more to come like this. Our sincere thanks to Podhigai’s programme which was seen by Sri Madhavan and made him to arrange this concert.

Thanks to MrIt was a good concert once again and the specialty is that Sathya performed here for almost 2 and half hours with just Sri Prashanth (disciple of Sri C.P. Vysa Vitala who is a disciple of Sri Harishankar – synonym of Kanjeera) as his enhancement artist with a good audio system provided by MSR Audios. This once again proved our theory that Success of a concert lies on the team effort of the artists with that of a quality audio system.

Special mention about the spell bound audience who were all there through out the concert and appreciated Sathya for his wonderful concert. Sri Prashanth was also given his due credit as this was just the first time he is performing with Sathya and gave good and very supportive performance.

Kudos to Sri Madhavan father of the bride groom to have thought of this concert to hold it just after the breakfast for this early muhurtham. Thanks to the bride’s family too for having organized a good Mrudhangam artist (could not make arrangement for another violin artist as the one who was arranged could not turn up in the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances) and a good audio system.

It was so nicely timed that every one had leisure time to concentrate and listen to the concert and this was indeed a great show of audience response for a private function of this nature. May be this is the start to have many more to come like this. Our sincere thanks to Podhigai’s programme which was seen by Sri Madhavan and made him to arrange this concert.

Thanks to Mr & Mrs Ranganathan (my Chithi and Chithappa) who had co-ordinated arrangements for this concert from Coimbatore and is also seen in one of the photos above. who had co-ordinated arrangements for this concert from Coimbatore and is also seen in the second photograph above.

Private concert in Chennai 24th Jun’07

The concert on the 24th June’07 with the team of Villiwakam Raghuraman – Violin, Nanganallur Ravishankar – Mrudhangam, Harihara Sharma – Kanjeera and Harihara Subramaniam – Ghatam with Sangeetha Raja managing Karthik Audio System was a good short concert. Every one felt including the artists, that the concert could have have been for a longer duration.

The concert started around 740pm against the scheduled start of around 645pm due to to delay in the rituals during Nichayadhartham and Mapillai Azhaippu. Also Sathya had to leave to catch train to Bangalore as he had a concert in the morning next day.

All of them had performed with Sathya but this day it was the first time they all had been together. Every one of them played to their potential and with Sangetha Raja on song the audio was also handled very well. These were the factors which made the concert a great success. It was indeed a great blessing for Sathya when Sri T.M. Rajagopal aged 85 years (seen in the photo above) spoke and appreciated Sathya, blessing him to achieve the very best.

Sathya was very happy to have started off well with his new car - Maruthi ZEN ESTILO (Pearl Silver Colour). We hope this new car, with the grace of the almighty, would make us move to our own house which we are now on the look out to buy.

Fusion Show with Paul jacob & Team on the 6th June, 2007

It was a great oppurtunity to be performing alongside Sri Paul Jacab's (Bass Guitar) Bodhi Music for the Times of India Group's Trail Blazer TamilNadu awards 2007 which was held today (6th June'07) with Sri Donnan Murray on the Lead Guitar and Sri Balu on the Mrudhangam. It was indeed a gathering of Who's who of Chennai with many of the Companies top official from Chairmen, CEO s and MDs who were present and Sathya indeed was having a great exposure, thnaks to Mr Paul Jacob.

The team performed the following numbers:

01. Mallari - Gambeera Naatai - Adi
02. Sathya's own composition on Jog - Adi
03. Niravathysukatha - Ravichandrika - Adi
04. Narayanan - Suddha Dhanyasi - Kanda Chaapu
05. A piece from Remember Sakthi - Vakulabaranam - Adi
06. Raja Raja - Nirosta - Adi (Thisra gathi)

Here are few video clipping links:

01. http://youtube.com/watch?v=RTKLoMkW4IE Part 1

02. http://youtube.com/watch?v=vZXFecUE1Gw Part 2

03. http://youtube.com/watch?v=rMcm7slcH4M

30th May concert at Thirunageswaram Temple

A pleasant journey with an opportunity to visit and perform at the Sri Raghu Baghawan Temple premises was indeed a great thing for Sathya. The way sri Sridhar Gurukal and team took care of us was indeed appreciated and the little time we spent in Sri Gopalan's house was also real precious one.

The concert in the evening was enhanced by Sri B Ananthakrishnan on violin, Sri Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan on mrudhangam and Kalaimamani Sri T.R. Govindarajan on special thavil. It was indeed the first time Sathya was performing a full length concert along side a thavil vidwan and he was very happy on same. As suggested by the Thavil vidwan Sathya started the concert with a Mallari set to Adi thalam followed by krithis of the choice of the audience. Sathya decided to go for this as it was for the first time he was here performing and also wanted to involve the audience and to impress the value of playing carnatic on keyboard.

All the artists did a commendable job and the team was appreciated very much by a large audience turn out. Ananthakrishnan was very appreciative for the Hamsadwani kalpanaswaras of Sathya, Swaramyagam - a navagraha krithi on Ramamanohari of Dikshidhar and also the patterns for the Saranga Tharangini and Mayamalawagowla swara prayogams. Sri Sridhar gurukal, the organiser, informed that this concert was rated as the best of the evening programmes which were held for the last ten days. The celebrations was for the Vaigasi Visagam Thiruvizha. A video clipping is available in the link http://tinyurl.com/2bktaq

The song list performed were:

01. Mallari - Gambeera Naatai - Adi
02. Vathapi Ganapathim - Hamsadwani - Adi
03. Smaramyagam - Rama Manohari - Rupakam
04. Entharomahanubhavulu - Sri - Adi
05. Sri Chakra Raja - Raagamalika - Adi
06. Chinanchirukiliye - Ragamalika
07. Samana Rahithey - Sarangatharangini - Rupakam
08. Eppovaruvaro - Jonpuri - Adi
09. Medley of old songs.
10. Thirupugazh - Shanmugapriya - Misra Chaapu
11. Adikondar - Mayamalwagowla - Adi
12. Bo Sambo - Revathy - Adi
13. Chandrasekara - Sindhubhairavi - Adi
14. Kuraionrum illai - Ragamalika - Adi
15. Medley of classical numbers.

Telecast of Sathya's Concert in Podhigai Channel of DD on 30th May'07

Pleased to inform you all that Sathya's concert is to be telecast on the 30th May'07 in Podhigai channel of DD at 7:05 pm. All four songs are going to be shown including the ones shown during his interview earlier. Sri Arjun Ganesh on Mrudhangam and Sri Harihara Subramaniam on the ghatam are the enchansement artists. List of songs to be shown are:

01. Vallaba Nayakasya - Begada - Rupakam
02. Vakulabaranam - a piece from "Remember Sakthi album"
03. Marivere - Anandha bhairavi - Misra chappu
04. Manavyalakimchara - Nalinakanthi - Adi

Please do view and forward your opinion to our email id keyboardsathya (at) gmail.com

Nayaki 26th May'07 - A Concert which will be remembered by Sathya for a long time.

It was a nice cozy AC auditorium and Sathya's team was feeling great on stage right from the beginning. An audience turn out of almost 60-65% encouraged them as well. As Sri Rajagopalan paid tributes to Late Sri Ramachandran - Hamsadwani, Sathya dedicated this concert to him by starting the concert with Hamsadwani varnam followed by Sri Maha Ganapathim on Abogi - composed by his name sake. Both were performed in perfect kalapramanam and the audience response was encouraging for the team of Sathya, Ananthakrishnan - Violin, Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan - Mrudhangam and Harihara Subramaniam- Ghatam & this ensured the concert had high energy level.

Sathya then went on to perform Thyagaraja's Dhayaleni in Nayaki set to Jampa Thalam, which krithi he just decided and learnt it this morning, on seeing the notation book compiled by Sri T K Govind Rao, with the help of his mother. As one of the rasikas mentioned it was indeed a great effort and at times every one thought that artist would march into ragam Dharbar as it was indeed a slim line separating them. Sathya and team came out successful.

Thyagaraja's Kandajutumi on Vachaspathi had a detailed alapana and during the kalapana swaras it was noticed that both Sathya and Ananthakrishnan along with Suri and Hari were enjoying themselves with great co-ordination. It is indeed a great blessing for the artists to get a good AC auditorium filled with rasikas and this really added confidence levels in the artists. Dikshidar's Divakaram on Yathukulakambodhi (navagraha krithi based on Lord Saneeswara) was rendered with many of the audience also singing along with in themselves.

The high light was the RTP on Keeravani set to adi thalam with Sahithyam - Dasaratha Tanauni moravakuledha Dinamu Kshanamu was very much appreciated by everyone particularly for the placement (i.e. Moonu thalli on the last veechu). Considering that Sathya had just 90 mts he wanted to present the best possible and thought of performing this RTP even though it was with shortened alapana, Thanam, Niraval, Kalpanaswaram and a brief thani. H/ever as we say small is beautiful and also the saying - Oru panai sotrukku ore soru padam, it was just a concert every one attended will remember for a long time to come. Sathya completed the concert with a Sai bhajan - Eshwaramba thinking of Sri Ganesh Srinivasan - Doha as he love this number.

The success is that at the end of the concert Sri Rajagoplan nararted the achievements of Sathya and also informed that the forum - Nayaki would support and encourage Sathya with full length concerts in near future. Smt Devaki Muthaih, President of the Sabha, who had seen Sathya's performance in a wedding reception, presented Rs 500/- in cash as her token of love to Sathya which was handed over by Sri Rajagoplan as she could not attend this concert being out of station.

Sathya in Podhigai - DD Channel on 16th May'07

Sathya was fortunate to have an interview cum performance slot in Podhigai Channel of Dooddharshan - Chennai and it was indeed a great oppurtunity to show case to DD viewers. The photos above were taken during the concert with Arjun Ganesh on Mrudhangam, Hariharasubramaniam on Ghatam, Sri Bharathi - Producer for the show, sitting near Arjun, Sri Devarajan - the man Behind camera 2 & Mr Sathyanarayanan on Camera 2 standing next to Hari. There were three more persons invloved in this production with the interviewer, another camera man and a florr manager apart from people on the computers. The video clipping link is

http://tinyurl.com/37sn5x

Sathya performed Vallaba Nayakasya - Begada, a piece from Remember Sakthi, Marivere on Anandha Bhairavi and Manavyalakim - Nalinakanthi during this show. However today the interview with Marivere and the piece from Remember Sakthi on Vakulabaranam were shown and hope the full length concert will be shown in days to com. Sathya also performed a demo of his instrument using pitch bender and played few lines of the film song Sahana Saral from Sivaji.

We have received lots of msgs and phone calls from all his well wishers and we sincerely thank every one for the same.