A scintillating concert in the view of the rasikas at Coimbatore on 23rd Mar'08

Coimbatore and Gopi Mama has always been lucky for Sathya and that went to prove same this time too with the concert at Sri KothandaRamaswamy Temple, Ramnagar on the 23rd Mar'08 during their Kumbabisekam festival series. The team of Rajeev on violin, Thillaisthanam Suriyanrayanan (who had returned from his successful China Concert Tour) on mrudhangam and HariharaSubramanian impressed the large turnout of audience which over spilled to the corridors of the hall and it was one of the amazing site for Sathya.

In fact sunk in the love and affection of Gopi Mama and family during the stay, self came out of the house with Gopi mama and got into the car as if we had come for a holiday and returning without even realising that i had not taken the instrument in the car. H/ever, thanks to Mr Biju, the carroti, managed to be just few minutes late. The concert started off with a Sri Raga varnam (only this has been missed from the recording) followed by Gumganapathim in Hamsadhwani. The raga alapanas for Chandrajothi, Karahapriya were handled well by both Sathya and Rajeev. Suri and Hari were at their best throughout and the team gave an inspiring Pallavi in ragamalika format set to Adhi thalam. This pallavi was a small thought of self when we were coming from a trip and the words came out on Lord Rama. Infact this was performed in Brindhava Saranga in Sri Krishna Gana Sabha during Dec'07 series and so Sathya decided to do little differently this time.

The sahithyam was performed the following way:
Ramanai - Chakravagam, Sri Ramanai - Thodi,

Raghu Ramanai - Kalyani Namam - Kalyani,

Padi - Thodi, Arulperuvom - Chakravagam

Sathya sang this pallavi firstly in all three ragams and then sang it in the above order to ensure it registers in one's mind. It was indeed a great success with the team excelling during this piece and also Sathya maintained the ragamalika format even during the final thanma and korvai during the kalpanaswarams. It was indeed a new experience for Sathya with full attentive audience numbering probably more than 750 as said by the organisor. The organisor mentioned that it was one of the houseful shows which remained so till the very end.Credits to the audience as they did not move around even and after thani also. The team was very happy and with the blessings of Sri KothandaRamaswamy, this concert looked to be taking them to the next level of performance! You can listen to the full audio track except the first number in the link is:

http://sangeethamshare.org/sathya/

Please select serial number 007 and rightclick each track and use the option Save Target As to save in your system. You can also use copy shortcut option and use it in play erl option of winamp to listen to the tracks.

The list perforemd are as under:

01. Varnam - SriRagam - Adhi
02. Gumganapathim - Hamsadhwani - Adhi - Thisra nadai (OR & S)
03. Bagadhanaiya - Chandrajothi - Adhi [OR & S]
04. Marugelara - Jayanthasri - Adhi
05. Pakkalanilapadi - Karaharapriya - Misrachaapu [R]
06. Kantajudumi - Vachaspathi - Adhi - [S]
07. Neevadaneegana - Saranga - Kandachappu
08. Janaki Ramana - Kaapi - Adhi [S] - AR
09. Ragam Thanam Pallavi
10. Kuraionrumillai - Raagamalika - Adhi [AR]
11. Muralidhara - Maandu - Adhi [AR]
12. Palukebangaru - Anandhabhairavi - Adhi
13. Kanyakumari's Thillana - Sindhubahiaravi - Adhi [Ragam requested by Audience]
14. Medley - consisting Nadhapudi, Chennikula, Manemarikozhundhey,
Nadhabindhu, Radhasamedha, Vandheymadharam and Raghupathy Ragava

It was interesting that the audience started chanting Rama namam at the end and it was a flow of positive energy in the auditorium. The highlight was that after almost packing up few rasikas wanted to listen to Sathya singing the Palavi line once again and he did so. People were seen noting down the words and it was indeed a great moment.
You can view few clipping of video here :

A concert Sathya loved for the beauty of the location as well!

It was in a picturesque atmosphere the Tamil Nadu Music College in Madurai is located and Sathya loved the same. In the middle of great land scape and mountains, it is indeed an ideal location for some one to learn particularly music, away from any sort of pollution. Sathya with the new team of Nellai Ravindran on violin, Madurai Thyagarajan on Mrudhangam and Papanasam Sethuraman on Kanjeera gave a performance which was very much enjoyed by every one of the college students and also the faculties who were the main audience. The details of the song list and audio link will be provided very soon.

A great concert with blessing of Sri Ramani Guruji

It was indeed a great blessing for Sathya to perform at the Kagabhujandar Temple for Sri Ramani Guruji on the 17th Mar'08. The team of Rajeev on violin, Calcutta Karthick on Mrudhangam and HariharaSubramanian on Ghatam gave an excellent presentation. There was indeed a great gathering of people from all walks of life including many foreigners. The audio of the concert has come good will be uploaded very shorlty.

1st and the 450th concert under NADOPASANA

It was indeed a great day for Sathya as it was the 450th concert he was performing on stage. It is also a coincidence that he was performing for the same forum, Nadopasana, which gave him the first ever oppurtunity on the 9th Dec'01!

Sathya started with a brisk Sahana varnam playing two kalams and taking the madhyama kalam for charanam also performed kalpanaswaram, being first attempt.He then went on to perform Srimahaganapathey in Gowla with a good outline of the raga and kalpanaswaram. Rajeev on violin along with Calcutta Karthick on mrudhangam and Valaingaiman Hariharasubramaniam on ghatam were excellent and were enhancing the concert to their best.

Sathya detailed alapana for Begada and after the concert many of his well wishers who have been constantly following him complemented for his level of maturity seen in his approach to the raga aalapana. The krithi Nadopasana was followed by a brisk krithi in Neevada in Saranga set to Kanda Chaapu. He then gave an outline for Bilahari and performed Karpagambike set to rupaka thalam and the phrases of both Sathya and Rajeev during the kalpanaswarams and the percussion support were indeed good. Sathya took up Lathangi as the main krithi for the day and did a good aalapana, so did Rajeev and performed the krithi Piravaram Tharum set to Adhi. Percussionist gave a good thani which was followed by a Bhajan - Nanda Nandhanu and completed the concert with Karunai Deivame Karpagame in Sindhubhairavi.

Thanks to all who were present for his 1st concert on the 9th Dec'01 and were seen here too. This itself is a great blessing for Sathya. He also had few artists turning up and the greatest blessing was of Smt Jayalaksmi Santhanam, a renowned Singer apart from SAFE Sri Ramabadran and many of Sathya's well wishers.

Here is few small video tracks of teh concert as audio was not recorded.



Thanks to Calcutta Karthick who has given us the cd of this recording on teh 29th Mar'08 and the link is http://sangeethamshare.org/sathya/008_Nadopasana_02Mar08/

Sathya in Thirupoonthurhti Narayana Theerthar's 262nd Aradhana Festival on the 13th Feb'08

It was another blessed oppurutunity for Sathya to perform in the 262 nd Aradhana of Sri Narayana Theerthar at Thirupoonthurthi which is being celebrated from 2 - 14th Feb'08. Sathya also had a teamed up for the first time with Sherthalai Shivakumar on Violin, Sherthalai Ananthakrishnan on Mrudhangam and Nerkunam Sankar (who incidently held a remembarance day for the great Kalaimamani Harishankar - the synonym of Kanjeera) on Kanjeera. Sathya had learnt this great composer's tharangam, thanks to Sri Yessel, an active member of rasikapriya & carnaticsangeetham- yahoo groupss, who had helped with tracks of tharngams sung by Sri Udayalur Kalyanaraman.

Sathya learnt around 8 of them and performed 5 from this, apart from one in Neelambari he had already learnt, as per details below. Sri Shivakumar who also performs violin accompaniment with Sri Udayalur Kalyanaraman appreciated Sathya's efforts in learning those tracks and playing to his best in ashort time. Sri Ananthakrishnan on Mrudhangam and Sankar on Kanjeera encouraged and embalished the concert in a great way. While the audience appreciated Sathya's efforts special applause was given for the tharangams in ragam Kalyani & Neelambari This team looked good as though they had been perfoming for nth concert even though it was the first time they were playing together. Look forward to this set many more times in the future.

It was also nice to see Sathya's well wisher's, like Sri Subramaniam (Nalinakanthi & Hamsavinodhini), Sri Gopal from Chennai & Smt Swarna Swaminathan family from Pondy to name a few blessing him with their presence.

01. Jaya Jaya Ramanartha - Naatai - Adhi (R & KS)
02. Jaya Jaya Swamin - Mohanam - Ekam Thisra nadai (KS)
03. Veeksheyam Kadha - Ahiri - Misrachaapu
04. Kalaya Yeshodhe Thava balam - Karaharapriya - Adhi (Ragam)
05. Narayana Hari - Kalyani - Ekam
06.. Madhava Mamava - Neelampari - Adhi

Here is few video clipping's link

Concert for Ganabharathi, Mysore on 10th Feb'08

After reaching Mysore, Sathya was happy to get a hotel room with TV to watch the India Australia one day match. He was happy about the outcome of the result and so was the audience at the end of the concert here in Mysore for Ganabharathi on the 10th Feb'08. This concert was enhanced by Mysore Sri Rajesh on Violin, Sri G. Ramanujam on Mrudhnagam and Mysore Sri Ramesh on the Ghatam. Sathya presented composition of Sri Purandharadhasar and Sri Thyagarajar as per following details and completed the concert with the audience request of Sri Rajaji's Kurai Onrum Illai at the end. The composition Birana Brovayide by Tarangampady Panchanada Iyer fitted in as mentioned by Sri SR Krishnamurthy in his review in Star of Myosre as teh main krithi for the day. Link is http://starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=specialnews dated 18th Feb'08

01. Gajavadhanaveduve - Hamsadhwani - Adhi [R & KS]
02. Guruleka - GowriManohari - Kandachaapu[outline raga & KS]
03. Odibharaiya - Bhairavi - Adhi [R & krithi]
04. Ninuvina - Navarasa Kanada - Rupakam
05. Rageethandheero - Punagavarali - Adhi
06. Sivasiva - Panthuvarali - Adhi (audience request) [KS]
07. KanduKandu - Desh - Kandachaapu
08. Biranabrovayithe - Kalyani - Adhi (thisranadai){R, N, KS on ragamalika]
09. Thumburimeetidhava - Sindhubhairavi - Tisra nadai Ekam
10. Vandhanamu - Sahana - Adhi
11. Bagyadhalakshmi - Madhyamavathi - Adhi
12. Kurai onrum illai - Raagamalika - Adhi [Audience request]
followed by mangalam

The audio link for this concert is http://tinyurl.com/38hjmm

Special mention should be made on the ambience and the PA system which was one of the reasons for the success of the concert apart form the lovely learned audience who appreciated every effort made by the artists to present a good concert.

On the request of the audience Sathya performed ragamalika swaram in the main piece taking Rasikapriya, Mohanam & Charukesi. He also played these ragas on korappu format and then went on to play Kalayani for the final big round before the korvai. Mysore Sri Rajesh accompanying for the first time was all praise for Sathya's talents and expressed that he did not expect this level of proficiency from Sathya. Sri Ramanujam and Sri Ramesh were at their best and having already been with him in Shimoga were encouraging him all through out. They also presented a an elaborate thani avarthanam which added flavor to the concert.

Sri Iyengar, Secretary of Ganabharathi referred to Sri Mali and Sri Mandolin Shrinivas and blessed Sathya to come in their foot steps. While we are not sure if Sathya has got the qualities of these MahaVidwans at this stage, with the blessings of the almighty if he can get a percentage or two of their vidwath it will indeed be good for Sathya. A rare photograph of Purandharadhasa and Sathya took this photograph to be preserved.

At Padma Sarangapani Cultural Academy for Pancharathna krithi presentation 9.2.08

It was another great day for Sathya as he was invited in the Saint Thyagaraja's aradhana by Padma Sarangapani Cultural Academy, Villiwakkam where there was pancharatha krithi's performed by eminent musician under the leadership of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sri T N Seshagopalan. Sathya was blessed to have been given an oppurtunity to perofrm along with him and it was indeed a great experience.

Sathya with Embar Kanna in Ghatam Karthick's heArtbeat Ensemble on 7th Feb'08

It was indeed a great day for Sathya as he was in for a kind of litmus test. Yes just two days before Dr. Karthick enquired if he can perform heArtbeat's ensemble at NSTSS, Nanganallur on the 7th Feb'08 and on checking with Sathya and Kannan, same was accepted. H/ever it was decided that Sathya has to take a new piece in a new raga (for Sathya) Bhujangini. Sathya took this as a test for his ability and informed that he would like to take the 7th off from school and do a session with his uncle. So we went to Kannan's house in the morning around 1130 am where Kannan informed that he has planned to perform a pallavi in Gowri Manohari with words "Thyagarajaswamikku sari evvaru rama bakthudai sri" as the concert was for his aradhana at NSTSS, Nanganallur.

Sathya with no hesitation sat with Kannan and tried the numbers for the day to be performed. While we were little anxious if Sathya can do, in the evening Sathya proved too good to be praised by Embar Kannan and the entire team of heArtbeat. The audience were also applauding the efforts of Sathya. It was a great day for Sathya and here is the audio link of this concert http://tinyurl.com/2vfwsv

Do listen, enjoy and forward your valuable comments, if possible.

Thyagaraja Ardhana at Bharat Kalachar - 3rd Feb'08

It was a day of Thyagaraja Aradhana probably in many of the leading sabhas in Chennai and Sathya had the blessings to participate at Bharat Kalachar. It was indeed a gathering of artists in good number and the perfect presentation by all the artists was appreciated by a well attended audience. Special mention was made by Smt YGP on the children approx 10 in number, trained by Smt Kunnakudy Bala who has been training not only children but also elders for the pancharathana krithis. Sathya's mother Smt K. Lalitha also participated as a singer in this aradhana. Here is the link for 3 video clipping of the performance.

A fine concert to end Jan'08 for Vignan Samithi Hyderabad - 29.1.08

A great ambience was the secret of the success of this concert with a big stage, good PA system, learned audience etc. Sathya with the team of Ananthakrishnan on violin, Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan on Mrudhangam and Sai sundar on Kanjeera gave another good presentation of only Thyagaraja krithis as requested by the forum. Starting off with a brief alapana on Kanakangi for the krithi Sri Gananatham with elaborate kalpanaswaram Sathya played Ramananu Brovara in the correct kalapramanam on Harikamboji. The alapana, krithi and kalpanaswaram presented for Saranga was indeed a highlight as it was tried for the first time in the submain format. As requested by rasikas EntharoMahanubhavulu, Sobillu and Ksheerasagara were performed with a successful attempt to perform kalapanaswaram for Devaganthari krithi.

Sathya took Koluvamaragatha on Thodi as the main and gave a presentation of alapana and swaras which was applauded by one and all in the audience and special appreciation to do this raga as main was given as in this series till then no one had taken so. Sathya completed the concert with the Sahana raga krithi Vandhanamu.

Ananthakrishnan was at his best through out the concert and excelled in his raga alapanas and was always competitive during kalpanaswaras which made it interesting for the audience. Suriyanarayanan was enhancing the concert to a great value with his "sowkya vasippu" and gave an excellent thani along with the kanjeera artist Sri Sai Sundar who is actually a good mrudhangam artist. The Thyagaraja's photo was indeed a great one here! Sathya had a 86 year old well wisher by name Sri Royallu, son of the first Gyanpeeta awardee Sri Viswanatha Royallu for his literary works. He was much impressed and invited the team for lunch the following day and details on same can be had in Sathya's personal blog http://keyboardsathya.blogspot.com

Sathya in Thiruvaiyaru - A dream come tru day!! 25th Jan'08

It was always a dream for Sathya's family to have him perform at the Thyagaraja Vaibavam in Thiruvaiyaru and it became true on the 25th Jan'08. What a great experience!! A sudden turn out of audience in large number for this 15mt concert, Sri Srimushnam Raja Rao sir and Sri Haridwaramangalam A. K. Palanivel sir being there through out the concert to bless him, Mr Krishnamooorthy Secy. Thrimoorthy Sangeetha Sabha, Pozhichalur, Chennai, Sri Raja BJP Secy and many more known faces for this concert!

Sathya had a full bench team of B Ananthakrishnan on violin, Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan on Mrudhangam, Thirukannapuram Sowrirajan on Thavil, Guru Bharadwaj on Kanjeera and interestingly Krishnababu on Thalam was also announced which brought great cheers in Sathya's face. In the allotted 15mts Sathya and team presented Sobillu - Jayanthasri, Koluvamaragadha - Thodi and Kantajudumi - Vachaspathi.

Sathya said that "on this performance i felt i was indeed performing in front of the god and on arriving i did not expect this much of audience. I am blessed and i am thankful to the committee and in particular Sri Palanivel and Sri RajaRao uncles."

You can view the video clippings and listen to audio in the following links.

Video link : http://uk.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=901A2610CA36D01D
Audio Link: http://tinyurl.com/3ay48p

Concert in Mylapore street on 16.01.08

After the park concert on the 11th Jan'08 this time it was in the chithra veedhi of Mylapore near the chithrakulam on the 16th Jan'08, the day Sathya arrived from Kakinada. This was for the Dharmasatha Temple maintained by Sri Magarajothi Chandran and the concert was organised by Sri Thirukannapuram Sowrirajan. It was a percussion team of Sri Sowrirajan on Thavil, Guru Bharaswaj on Mrudhangam, Ramkumar on Tabla and Sathyanarayanan on the morsing which performed popular krithis performed to the listener's choice.

The concert had good audience response and also came out good inspite certain hardships of performing on the road side. Kudos to the general public / residents of the area who all had teamed up to make this a great successful event. Sathya was blessed to have Kalaimamani Smt Vasantha Krishnamurthy, a famous veena vidwan as one of the audience who also honoured Sathya with a shawl.

Short video clipping for your viewing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcnZkr6a9bc

The list of krithis performed are as follows:

01. Mallari - Gambeera Natai - KandajathiThiruputathalam
02. VathapiGanapathim - Hamsadwani - Adhi [S] Audience choice
03. Sabapathikku - Abhogi - Rupakam - [R}
04. Poiindri Meiyodu - Iyyapan krithi
05. Kaliyugavaradhan - Brindhavani - Adhi
06. Akilandeswari - Swajawanthi - Adhi {Audience choice]
07. Theeradhavillayatupillai - Raagamalika - Tisranadai Adhi
08. Vakulabaranam Audience choice after seeing recent Podhigai telecast
09. Bo Sambo - Revathy - Adhi (Percussion solo)
10. Jagajanani - RAthipathipriya - Adhi
11. Thirupavai - Ungal Puzhalkadai - Anandha Bhairavi - Adhi
12. Sai Bhajan
13. Carnatic Medley
14. Harivarasanam

A prestigeous concert for Sangeetha Vidwath Sabha, Kakinada on 14th Jan'08

After the concert at Hyderabad Sathya and team was rushing to the catch up train to Kakinada for a concert next day. It was probably the first time Sathya is not in Chennai with his mother for celebrating the Pongal festival. Also this is one of the times where the team had the luxury of traveling by air-conditioned class due to want of seats in sleeper class. It did give a good period of rest for the team and where very much fresh when they reached Kakinada. After having enjoyed the Boghi Lunch the team was ready to perform in the evening where specific request for performing Buntureethikolu, Pakalanilapadi and Inthasowkyamu came in as they reached the hotel room in the morning itself along with that of a krithi in Sivaranjani.

Starting the concert with Bhairavi varnam in two speeds Sathya went on to perform Sri Mahaganapathim in ragam Abogi. Sathya preferred to play elaborate raga alapana fro Vasantha, Karaharapriya and Kaapi. Ananthakrishnan excelled throughout and was seen enjoying the concert throughout. His kalpanaswarams kept Sathya improvising and this became a feast for the audience. This was seen particularly in the main krithi for which Sathya performed ragamalika swaram in ragas, Sivaranjani, Brindavani, Mohanam and Sindhubhairavi. Suri and Hari were their usual best and made the audience enjoy their thani. It was a team effort once again which was the cause for winning the hearts of the audience. One of the organisor had listened to the track of Vakulabaranam performed earlier day at Hyderabad which Sathya was checking in his system and on his request performed the same here and won special applause for the speed control on the instrument.

The list of krithis performed are as under:

01. Varnam - Bhairavi - Atathalam
02. Sri Mahaganapathi - Abogi - Kandachappu [R & S]
03. Seethamma - Vasantha - Rupakam [S]
04. Sadhimchane - Arabi - Adhi
05. Buntureethikolu - Hamsanadham - Adhi [R & S]
06. Vakulabaranam - a piece from remember Sakthi
07. Pakalanilapadi - Karaharapriya - Misra Chappu
08. Inthasowkyamu - Kaapi - Adhi
09. Ennakavipadinalum - Sivaranjani - Ahdhi
10. Palluke - Anandhabhairavi - Adhi
11. Brahmamokate - Bowli - Adhi Tisranadai
12. Thillana - Jonpuri - Adhi follwed by Mangalam.

A privilege and honour was for Sathya having got an oppurtunity to perform in one of the oldest forums of over 100 years. The success of the concert was seen with the fact that there were two concerts booked after the concert, one on the 21st Jan'08 which could not be accepted due to want of train tickets and the other in Feb'08 which probably will be effected. Also on the return travel we had a TTE who was happy to have been with musicians and even sang a song for us and HAri played Ghatam. Also one of the squad members checking the passengers Sri Gandhi, on knowing about Sathya bought his newly released Sathya's Synthesis album of Moserbaer and this was indeed a interesting happening!