MATHRUBHOOMI- A UNIQUE CONFLUENCE OF CULTURES INDEED!

It was a fine Saturday evening, the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi, the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi- one of the most noblest and purest sons of Mother India. Mathrubhoomi concert by Event art featuring current flavours of music Shankar Mahadevan and Rock star of Carnatic music (as said by Shankar Ji) Smt. Aruna Sairam was rightly premiered on this special day as the concert aimed at showcasing the various hues of our Mathrubhoomi but concluding with the note that no matter how many different cultures India holds together, the soul at the core is one and non-fragmentable.

The artistes had pre-planned their attires I guess for their outfits were themed on Orange, the colour that signifies dawn, awakening, jubiliance, gaiety, warmth and other positive emotions. Aruna ji wore a beautiful arakku colour brocade saree suitably accessorised with traditional diamond jewellery. Shankar ji wore a pattu Kurta with elegant stone work and Dhoti. Aruna ji had violin, Mridangam, Ghatam and special effects accompanists and Shankar ji was accompanied by and array of Hindustani instruments like Harmonium, Tabla, Flute and Guitar. I have sung several live shows with shankar ji and look up to him as a Guru and my inspiration for great music. I happened to meet him as soon as he entered the venue. We exchanged pleasantaries. I was seated back stage so that I could closely observe the concert. After the artistes were introduced, an audio clip was played. What we heard was the famous poetry of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati ‘Bhaarata desam endru peyar solluvar’. Shankar ji explained that when they were approached to do such a unique concert, both artistes did not want to do the run of the mill stereotypical jugalbandhi competing type of concert showing off their respective vocal abilities. Instead when they were brainstorming about a concept that could bring together both artistes’ emotive skills and present a whole new enriching experience about our motherland, they immediately jumped at taking up this Bharatiyar poetry as the backbone and sailing through it to present the musical forms of different states and take the listener on a magic carpet ride through Bharat.

The entire poetry was recited and the meaning was explained in both tamil and Sanskrit. A surprise guest who stayed on for the entire concert was namma thalaivar super star Rajinikanth who’s Hi-Funda Endhiran had just released the day before. He wore a simple white dhoti and white shirt and made a non-fussy subtle entry as just a lover of music arriving dot at 7 pm asking the organisers if he was late for the concert!! I realised what made a super star!!

Shankar Mahadevan kick started the concert singing his ‘ shree ganeshaya dheemahi’ from his private album Ganesha and was joined at places by Aruna Sairam. The artistes made use of this piece to get warmed up to the BOSE sound systems, accompanists and ambience. After this, Aruna Sairam recited the first line of the poetry

‘Velli panimalaiyin meedholaavuvom adi melai kadal muzhudhum kappal viduvom’

Mother India is flanged by the mighty snow-clad Himalayas on the North and her feet are washed by the confluence of three oceans, Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian sea in the south. The Himalayas remain a mountain range of majesty with their imposing appearance and breath -taking splendour. It is in these Himalayas, wherein according to the Vedas, Lord Shiva resides with his eternal consort Devi Parvati the daughter of Himavan, the king of the Himalayas. The artistes rendered ‘Namachivaya vaazhga’ prelude and glided into Papanasam Sivan’s crisp composition ‘sabapathikku veru dheivam’. The Neraval passages in abhogi saw both the artistes crossing each other’s territory with aruna ji embarking on Hindustani styled phrases and shankar ji giving a taste of his Carnatic prowess. But it turned out to be a treat for the audience at the end!!

‘Pallithalam anaithum kovil seiguvom’

Aruna Sairam explained that, as far as India is concerned, Gurus or teachers are considered second to only god. After being in the mother’s care, the first person that every child looks up to is the teacher. In olden days, we had the Gurukulam system. Children stayed at the guru’s ashram, did seva or service to the guru and his wife and lead a disciplined life. The Guru selflessly taught all he knew and imparted all necessary knowledge required to survive in this world to the child. Bu today, schools have also become corrupted. Gone are the days when the purpose of education was to ultimately reach the divine and gain knowledge about the absolute truth. So Bharathiyar lets out a plea to convert all schools again to temples of wisdom to reach god.
True to this meaning, the artistes embarked on the Gopalakrishna Bharati kriti ‘Eppo Varuvaaro’ in Raag Jonpuri. I enjoyed the cascading sangathis in Shankar ji’s Robust voice.

Sindhu nadhiyin misai nilavinile

What followed next was unexpected. The magic carpet took us to sindh. Shankar Mahadevan tied a kerchief on his head and so did the instrumentalists. It was amazing to see the versatile artists switch gears from genre to genre and doing full justice to whatever they sang. They rendered a Gurbaani compsosed by Guru Nanak in Raag Brindaavani. Much to our surprise, They sprinkled carnatic styled swara passages in the end of the Hindustani styled Gurbaani. Shankar Mahadevan shined in ragas like Brindavani and its cousin ragas that evening.

Sundara telunginil paattisaithu thonigal otti vilayaadivaruvom

Aruna Sairam explained about saint Thyagaraja, the first and foremost of the Trinity composers, Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Shyama Shastri who lived in the 17th century. Thyagaraja’s mother tongue was telugu. He was born and brought up in Thiruvaroor, the lap of carnatic music in Tamilnadu, where coincidentally Dikshitar was also born. He composed in Telugu and Sanskrit. He lived as an example of national integration as far as music was concert. He was a devotee of Shri Rama and composed in the praise of Rama and Seetha. It is said that Rama was so impressed and touched by Thyagaraja’s devotion that he , along with his wife Seetha, brothe Lakshmana and eternal devotee Hanuman, personally paid a visit to Thyagaraja;s house and blessed him. Such was his devotional fervour and each on of his compositions reflects this and gives peace to the performer and listeners alike.

After a shared brief sketch of Hindolam, The artistes rendered ‘Samajavaragamana’. I thought they would sing a telugu kriti after all!! But this one happened to be in Sankrit! But hey, no complaints!!


Gangai Nadhi purathu godhumai pandam

In Aruna Sairam’s words ‘We will now take you to Varanasi where Mother Ganga flows with all her beauty, command and grace making fertile the entire region and bestowing all goodness to it. Ganga is the core or the root of our civilisation. Along the ganges, we find musicians singing Thumris, Khayals and every third person is an ace table player!!’
Shankar Mahadevan shot out a Thumri made famous by Bade Ghulam Ali saab. Unlike other Thumris this one was folkish and had a lighter tone to it.

Rajaputhaanathu veerar thamakku

Rajasthan is known for valour and courage. Even the women of Rajput clan do not fear to tuck in their swords, mount a horse and bravely face the enemy on the Warfield. The wedding songs of Rajasthan are very jubiliant and are full of celebration. Though many folk singers of Rajasthan are not formally trained their vocalising techniques are complete with zeal, Harkaths and mazza. ’Bannire’ meaning little desires was a super fast wedding number and got us all clapping along and cheering them. I am sure the artistes had a ball performing this piece.

Singa Maraattiyar kavidhai kondu

Aruna ji made a witty comment saying there was a Marati Lion sitting right in front of them!! Guess who?? Yes the one and only super star Rajinikanth!! She then belted out her speciality Abhang ‘Theertha vittala’ on the presiding deity of Pandharpur Lord Vittala. When two Artists at the peak of their creative journey vibe together, find their common wavelength and decide to produce magic, the result can be mind blowing!! This is exactly what happened in the next item ‘Kalinga Nardhana Thillana’, The master piece of the earliest composer Oothukadu Venkata Subbier, a master blaster of the 14th century. It was a well deserved standing ovation that they got spontaneously from the de’ la crème’ of Chennai!
This is definitely an evening that I will remember for a long long time to come and those who missed it, hard luck!

Sri Ganesh caller tunes by Think Music

This Ganesh Chathurthi Think Music( Music label of Sathyam Cinemas) have launched exclusive caller tunes for mobile phones. These comprise of bhakthi songs and slokas and special mantras on lord Ganesha, the cute god who removes obstacles and always paves way for victory. These are rendered by me and my sister and singer Charulatha Mani of Isai Payanam and En uchi Mandaila fame. Catch your fav mantras like Ganesh Gayatri, Jai Sumirat Sidhi hoi, Gajananam, Vakrathunda mahakaya,Mooladhara Moorthy, ganesha Charanam Chanting etc rendered by me.
Following are codes for airtel, aircel, Docomo, Vodafone and Idea users!

Track Title Vodafone Airtel Idea BSNL Aircel Docomo
GaneshaCharanam 10467053 5432111916182 918602 918602 DT565522 463971
GaneshaGayathri 10467054 5432111916183 918603 918603 DT565523 463972
Jai Sumirath 10467055 5432111916184 918604 918604 DT565646 463973
Maha Ganapathim 10467056 5432111916185 918605 918605 DT565647 463974
Mooladhara 10467057 5432111916186 918606 918606 DT565648 463975
Mooshika Slokam 10467058 5432111916187 918607 918607 DT565649 463976
Vakrathunda 10467063 5432111916192 918726 918726 DT565655 463981
Gajananam 10467064 5432111916193 918727 918727 DT565521 463982
Sri Vigna rajam 10467066 5432111916195 918729 918729 DT565653 463984

Mayakkum Malai Pozhudhu 2010

Mayakkum Malai Pozhudhu- An evening of lilting melodies 2010 was held at Kamarajar Arangam this july and it felt so great to perform golden melodies from past and present. I began the show with my favorite melody katrinile varum geetham from Meera. Myself and singer/composet Unnimenon sir were the star singers for this evening. Mouna raagam provided awesome back-ups for this show done by Universal events. I felt on top of the world performing south indian melody queen P Susheela amma's Malai Pozhudin Mayakkathile from Bhagyalakshmi movie as the theme song for the evening. It came out so well. I sang duets with unnimenon sir like Pudhu vellai mazhai, Paarta Mudhal naale and my own hits like Kanaa Kaanum kalangal, Enna indha matramo etc.,

The chief guest fro the evening was legendary playback singer Malaysia Vasudevan sir, before whom i performed Aagaya gangai from Dharmayudham, one of his greatest hits in Maestro ilayaraja's music. It was one evening to remember with all proceeds benefitting a home for orphaned special children.

Mere tho Giridhar Gopal

Hey folks! Its been quite a while since i have blogged. I was pretty shaken by the death of one of the greatest singers of our times- Swarnalatha, Lady with a golden voice. Well , anyway this post is about my recent concert for Janmashtami at ISKCON Hare Krishna temple, Thiruvanmiyur on September 2nd. I am a devotee of lord Krishna and share a special bond with the lord. the connect that i feel when i render Bhajans on lord Krishna is not quite explainable in words. So when i was approached by ISKCON to do a 2 hour concert of Bhakthi Sangeeth on Lord Krishna, i jumped at it.
This was organised on Janmashtami, Krishna's birthday. So it gave me more joy and happiness to be blessed enough to perform for the lord's pleasure on this auspicious occassion. The Hare Krishna temple at first seaward road is located by the seashore. It is a very beautiful place surrounded by palm trees, pools, green lush lawns and the lord's temple to crown all this beauty.

a pretty pandhal was put up and on the stage the decorated idols of Krishna Balarama were placed amidst much paraphernelia. krishna Balarama looked really beautiful dressed in specially designed Pink and blue outfits that made them look really smart and attractive!!

I was accompanied by sunder on the tabla, Shri. Subbu on the keys and shri. Muthukumar on the flute. I planned this concert as an evening of Bhakthi sangeeth featuring an assortment of Krishna Bhajans by various composers who have glorified krishna Bhakthi through decaded like Meera Bhai, Purandaradasa,annamacharya and the Alwars , the noted , among many great composers.

I began the evening with the evergreen katrinile varum geetham from Meera, immortalised by Bharat Ratna Smt. MS Subbulakshmi. I felt this would be a fitting beginning to the concert. This piece in Sindhubhairavi Rag was the first song that i performed on Tv show sapthaswarangal way back in 1997 when i was a kid. This earned me world fame even as a child. i guess the power of the song is such.I have always loved performing this song .

Next came Hey hare dayala, a heart wrenching Bhajan in Rag Patdeep from Meera movie. The "jaya meera prabhu meera" chanting at the end never fails to take devotees to another world of transcendental bliss across the realm of Bhakthi.

I performed songs like Nanda Nandana the famous meera Bhajan, Mharo Pranam- made famous by Hindustani stalwart Kishori amonkar, Mera Shaam thu in pantuvarali, Brundavanathil, Thane Kayi Kayi, Baro Krishnayya, Dolayam and Bhavayami Gopala balam after this.

I also included " Ayarpadi maligayil" , the cute lullaby song for Baby Krishna tuned by MSV and written by Kavignar Kannadasa who was a devotee himself. this garnered much applause and i totally enjoyed every moment of this song.

This live concert will soon be released as a live concert CD. so watch out and grab your copy!! i hope to do many such bhakthi sangeeth concerts in future. Bhakthi refines, enriches and revitalises the soul.

Here is a picture from Mere to Giridhar Gopal

An ode to Swarnalatha from her fan

The death of singer Swarnalatha - The lady with the most resonant, most appealing and most sensuous voice i have ever heard is indeed shocking to the entire music industry and millions of her fans including me. I would like to share my thoughts and outpour of my heart that never failed to sway to her metallic voice, a voice that was capable of penetrating deep into the soul and shake a thousand emotions out of it.
True to her name, her voice was golden, eternal. There are some voices that are created by god that are meant to sing, to spread joy to the people.Swarnalatha's voice was probably tailor made to suit this purpose. As a young singer, the first song that i sang on Tv shows and alway won prizes was Porale Ponnuthaayi, her National award winning song. Though i was only 10 when i first sang this song, i could understand the underlying intensity of the emotions conveyed through this song through the medium of her voice and it was the first voice that greatly inspired me from within. I have met her on one occassion at a studio. she had just finished her recording and i was about to begin mine. when she stepped out of the voice console, I fell at her feet. She blessed me and kindly asked me about my work. She wore a beautiful blue salwar and wore stunning gold ornaments. Her singing reflected her persona. So full of kindness, innocence yet a lot of intense emotions stashed deep within. It is hard to believe she died of lung infection as the kind of breath control she had, only a pair of bellows instead of lungs could produce! Be it the arabic genius humming in Humma or the heart wrenching Porale Ponnuthaayi or the playful akkada or the recent Evano Oruvan or vintage Ilayaraja hit like Malayil yaaro and the longing Aalana sedhi solli in Deva's music, She has been the other name for versatality.

The other day i was driving and listening to Kuchi Kuchi Rakkama from Bombay. Her voice was crytal- like, beaming away to glory through Rahman's composition. Though she was very reserved, she was the hot favorite of top composers of our times. She held her own throne, musical kingdom in the hearts of her fans.Her voice will always remain one of its kind, Her glory will never die. May her soul rest in peace. We love you Swarnalatha ji, forever.

Ponds alaapana award 2009, My first Telugu award

SOme more good news for all my fans and friends:-)) Just bagged my first ever Best singer award in Telugu for the chartbuster Yele yele from Ganesh Just Ganesh in Mickey J Meyer's music. This was Ponds Alapana awards 2009 held at Tirupati. I received this award from Veteran music composer Koti Garu. the highlight was that, P Susheela amma was the chief guest. She lauded me for my perfect telugu diction. felt top of the world. I performed Yele for the first time for a packed telugu audience. Could feel my heart popping out and my adrenalin levels on an all time high when i began the first Yele humming and the crowd screaming. This was indeed MY moment!! Sang before Vidhyasagar ji, Ramjogiah Sastry garu(Lyricist of Yele), MM Srilekha(composer) and other distinguished personalities of Tollywood..

Next morning had a lovely darshan of my lord Venkateshwara Balaji in Tirupati. Felt at Vaikuntaa the minute he gave me Darshan.. What an image !

Raj Tv Kodai Kondattam. Erode 2010

Hey lovely people!

Not been blogging for sometime..My bad..:(
Anyways, thought ill bounce back with some lively news..ya literally, im talking about my latest live show Raj Tv Kodai Kondattam held at Erode on May 23rd at Sengundar grounds. I sang the show with Harish Raghavendra. raj Tv Kodai Kondattam happens every year. It is a series of light music shows held at different cities across Tamilnadu. In short, it is a summer musical feast. Last year i sang at coimbatore. This year, It was Erode.
Just before the show, I went to Sennimalai Murugan temple, about an hour's drive from Erode. It is a very divine place and the weather was a little cloudy, just right to go on the Sennimalai mountain top. I could see why Lord Muruga always like mountains. They are so serene, peaceful and away from the noise and buzz of the city. I was glad my mom came along. There were not many people so i had a very exclusive darshan of muruga and his lovely wives, valli and Deivanai amman. I was blessed enough to render a Thiruppugazh in praise of Thamizh Kadavul Murugar.

The show was an extension of Muruga's blessings. It was really successful. As it was my Idol janaki amma's birthaday the previous day, I sang Kannan Vandhu Paadugindran as a gift to her. I also sang some high energy numbers like Hey atha, Daddy Mummy and some serene ones like Idhu Varai, Kanaa Kaanum etc.,

so here are some pics.. This show was aired in Raj Tv in June first week..