Eastern Ethnic New Year Eve

Here is a New Year Eve celebrations with Carnatic music.
As in the past Carnatica has organised the Eastern Ethnic New Year Eve. But this time in a different venue at Vani Mahal, T.Nagar.

Veterans and youngsters will be performing collectively and individually and usher in the New Year.
If you are around in the city and is ready to venture out at mid-night, this is one you would love. Open to all.

A vintage treat at veteran Rama Ravi's concert

Rarely one gets to listen to the old-world music in Chennai. Many senior musicians are performing a very few concerts, especially during the season. Naada Inbam organises the concerts of such veterans giving an opportunity for the rasikas to listen to a vintage music as well the young performers to learn a few tips on chaste music.

Senior vidushi Rama Ravi performed only at Naada Inbam this season and that turned out to be a treat for those who attended. A tempo that was set in a pace that can be described as 'sowkhya kalam' flowed through the concert. Whether it was the Saveri Varnam or the grand Kambodhi kriti 'Koniyadi' or the padam, the presentation was just enjoyable. The simple and systematic development elaboration of Kambhodi, the chittaswaram in a relaxed pace adorned the number.

There were requests from the rasikas and the violinist R.K. Sriramkumar. The padam 'Ela radayane' in Bhairavi and a Nadanamakriya composition, which Rama Ravi remembered having rendered it during one of the Bharatanatyam recitals of T. Balasaraswati at The Music Academy and that the piece was taught by none other than Prof. T. Viswanathan.

A concert that the rasikas will cherish for long, no doubt.

Vijay Siva outranked his own standards

Was it the only concert of Vijay Siva this season? Or this December?

When Indian Fine Arts Society's advertisement appeared in The Hindu with N.Vijay Siva's name in the evening concert session on Dec. 26, 2015, many called up the sabha to confirm if the information was correct. Vijay Siva had earlier cancelled his concerts due to the recent deluge in the city and he had expressed that "I feel this is not the moment for happy singing. Hence, calling off Dec season concerts. I plan to resume on 1st Jan 2016." on his social media page.

Photo: Sripriya Ayyangar

And those who got the information confirmed before afternoon were lucky to get a double bonanza at the sabha. The sabha had scheduled Gayathri Venkataraghavan's concert before Vijay Siva's session. A ticket for the evening gave them two 'big' concerts. People were seen buying tickets at the counter for the 'only' concert of Vijay Siva, in large numbers. Soon the Ethiraj Kalyana Mandapam hall was near-full.

Beginning with 'Nada tanumasiam' in Chittaranjani, a raga that does not have the upper octave sancharas, was a quiet start. But what followed was a shower of wonderful music. As is the characteristic of Vijay Siva's concerts, songs flow one after the other without any long pause. Vijay Siva presents the Pantuvarali version of Shyama Sastri's 'Karuna joodavamma' instead of the Varali version and he did it on that day too. But one could feel the slow pace and the peace that surrounded the hall during this rendition.

The day was Arudra Darsanam and Lord Siva danced in Vijay Siva's 'Ananda natana prakasam' in Kedaram. A rich presentation of 'Enati nomu phalamu' (Thyagaraja, Bhairavi) followed. The highlight of the day was the lovely Charukesi alapana, tanam and the pallavi 'Padamendru nambinen amma Uma' The kalpanaswaras in Charukesi as well as the ragamalika ragas Hamir Kalyani, Hindolam and Kuntalavarali brought out the beauty of the madhyamam in each of these ragas. Anchoring on the madhyamam of the ragas, Vijaya Siva displayed a spread of his creativity.

When R.K. Sriramkumar is on the violin, the concert has to get a fillip. A violinist who knows every syllable of the sahityams follows the singer like a shadow and gives an effect of oneness with the singer.

Who do you think was on the mridangam? It was Trichy Sankaran and so there were lots of moments of rhythmic magic unfolding with verve. The tani avarthanam between Sankaran and K.V. Gopalakrishnan resonated long after the concert. 'Arunachala Siva', 'Bolo Sairam' and 'Malaikulaviya (thiruppuhazh) were for the concluding session.

All that one wished for was a hall better treated for acoustics and less traffic on the road which intruded into the ears of those in the last few rows.

Ranjani-Gayatri concerts are big draw

The sisters Ranjani and Gayatri, who used to be independently playing the violin as Bombay Ranjani and Bombay Gayatri in their early days of their performance later took to duet playing of the instrument. A couple of years back, they decided to sing together and there is no going back after that.

The sisters' concerts have been a sell out right from the year they began singing together and over the years their fans have been growing. In their well-attended concert for Brahma Gana Sabha, senior dancer Vyjayantimala Bali was also present.

Ranjani - Gayatri durinh their concert for Brahma Gana Sabha

The Ragam-tanam-pallavi in Charukesi was a much talked about one in their concert at Narada Gana Sabha. Their concert at The Music Academy was  marked by swiftness and the Begada they sang was one the rasikas spoke about in the Social Media.

Out of a dozen concerts this season, they have one more to go  for Kalarasana on Dec. 30, 2015

Involving the young

Sri Parthasarathy Swamy Sabha inaugurated its annual December Music Festival in the second week of this month like any other sabha does in Chennai. It was an evening of awards and speeches. But they made young Akshara Samskriti, who has come down to Chennai from Philadelphia, USA, for the 'season' along with her musician mother Kiranavali Vidyasankar sing the invocation.

Photo Credit: Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha

Akshara was all business and went on to the stage to present a long Oothukadu Venkata Kavi's composition 'Ananda Narthana Ganapathim' with all jatis in place. The awardees of the evening, Priya Sisters, senior musician Aruna Sairam who was a special guest, the Jeeyar of Sriperumpudur mutt, veterans Radha Viswanathan and P.S. Narayanaswamy didn't bat an eye while Akshara was singing. Keeping talam in her hands, this young girl confidently sang and earned the appreciation from everyone on the stage and in the audience.

The sabha's afternoon slots for up and coming artistes have a lot of very young singers and instrumentalists. One could spot young students of music walk in with notebooks and pens for the lec-dems at this sabha every other day. The sabha also has a series of young artistes performing short concerts throughout the day from Jan 1 to 3, 2016.

Treat of the two Indian classical music systems

On Dec. 15, the city had many options for the music lovers. Most of them though of classical music, especially Carnatic. Seniors T.V. Sankaranarayanan and T.N. Seshagopalan were singing at Kartik Fine Arts and Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha. Popular artiste Aruna Sairam was performing for the Margazhi Maha Utsavam at the Youth Hostel, Adyar. The young crowd-puller musician Abhishek Raghuram was in full flow at Narada Gana Sabha. But, a hundred plus audience chose to be at the Carnatic-Hindustani jugalbandhi of violinists Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Sriram Parasuram at the cozy Arkay Convention Centre in Mylapore. And surely they had a wonderful treat that evening.

Photo by Smita Joshi

While Sriram Parasuram took the part of presenting the Hindustani style, GJR Krishnan, who stood for the Carnatic style, complimented the presentation by playing subtle phrases in Hindustani style. Both the violinists played the varnam (Garudadhwani) together as well as the tillana in Sindhubhairavi.

The beautiful Andolika and its closest counterpart Gorak Kalyan was out-of-the world presentation by both the artistes. 'Sevikka vendum ayya' by Krishnan received a huge applause before Sriram began his Gorak Kalyan which got no less appreciation. Following it up with Vachaspati, which is a recent addition to the Hindustani system, Krishnan played in in the Carnatic style and Sriram presented  an alap, jod, jhala. The Carnatic tanam that it similar to the jod was brilliant.

The dance of Saveri and Jogia could only be experienced and not described in words. Sindhubhairavi does have a large scope for bringing out the melody in both the systems and the violinists played the tillana wonderfully well and to a standing ovation. The super-melodious percussive support by K. Arunprakash on the mridangam and Rajendra Nakod on the Tabla, enjoying each other's phrases added lustre to the whole performance.

The unique concept and presentation only made the rasikas look forward to more of such evenings. 

Fans flock to Sanjay's concert in all venues

This year's Sangita Kalanidhi designate Snjay Subrahmanyan has a busy schedule during the season as in the past. His fans follow his schedule closely on Social Media and through the daily newspapers and they are present at all the venues. Celebrities are no exception. His fans predict and exchange on what could be the main number in the concert at a particular venue. They have dedicated groups on Whatsapp and other Social Media and enjoy each of his concerts.

These are some snapshots from Sanjay's concert for Brahma Gana Sabha at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium, which the eminent dancer Vyjayanthimala Bali attended as did many of Sanjay's fans.

Photos: Smita Joshi

Sanjay Subrahmanyan at The Music Academy's inauguration

With The Music Academy inaugurating its annual music conference and concerts yesterday (Dec. 16, 2015), the December season is on in full swing. The inaugural functions generally don't attract many. In particular, The Music Academy insists for an official invite to enter the hall at its inauguration. Many stay away or forced to stay away because of this rule as many rasikas do not have an invite.

Sanjay Subrahmanyan, the Sangita Kalnidhi designate is one, whose presidential speech was much awaited by his fans at the Academy. He did not disappoint them and spoke from well-prepared notes. He traced back the days of his learning music, the inspirations he derived from his gurus, other stalwarts of music and friends. He remembered the YACM, an organisation that supported the young musicians in the 1980s and also his accompanists.

Sanjay will be presiding over the lec-dem sessions from today, Dec. 16, 2015 that will be held at the mini hall in The Music Academy premises in the mornings from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Here is the video recording of Sanjay's speech shared by him on his YouTube channel.

'Guitar' Prasanna introduces his disciples to the 'season'

Classical Carnatic guitar artiste R Prasanna, who now has made the USA his home, is a regular in Chennai's December season. He comes with his schedules fully fixed, performs and goes back only to come for the next 'season.'

This year, Prasanna has brought five of his disciples to introduce during the music season in Chennai. In his first concert at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on Dec. 8, 2015, young Raghav played along and surprised the audience. At the second concert of the season at Arkay Convention hall on Dec, 12, Prasanna brought another young disciple Gokul on to the stage. The cozy hall witnessed cheerful music from the guru and the sishya.

Photos by Sripriya Ayyangar

And in the third at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club on Dec. 13, both Raghav and Gokul, fully recovered from jet-lag, accompanied their guru and it was a riot of musical notes that evening. The young artistes received big applause.

The next one is coming up for Naada Inbam at Ragasudha Hall on Dec. 19, 2015. Take along your children to listen to some Carnatic music on a Western instrument by young people from abroad.

A joint Press Release by sabhas

With the Music Academy's December season beginning today, music has begun to flow in full swing in the city. This unique series of concerts, a special to the city has been unstoppable even during the earlier war, floods and Tsunami.

A joint Press Release by many organisations issued recently show their concern as well their commitment to the arts.

When do young people attend kutcheris?

Rarely one gets to see young audience in Carnatic music concerts. A fair number of listeners in their 40s are not a rare scene though.

A few artistes have been huge crowd-pullers. Vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyam's concerts were overflowing last year. All the concerts hosted by Charsur Arts Foundation during the season are of up and coming musicians and all of them see houseful audiences. Prasanna Venkatraman, Amrita Murali, Nisha Rajagopalan, Bharat Sundar are among the artistes who attract the younger generation of listeners. Trichur Brothers are still in this group but have moved on to prime slots quickly. But all of them present traditional concerts with no frills attached.

Ramakrishnan Murthy, another rising star has been topping the list of concerts with young audiences. This year too his concerts are well attended. On Dec. 11, at Ragasudha Hall, people sat on the side benches, on the stage and some were standing.

His concert at Arkay Convention Hall for Parampara yesterday was another full-house one.

Do young people attend when the artiste is also young? Or, do they just go for good music? 

Season starts after the deluge in Chennai

Though there were initial dilemma among artistes and organisations to go with the 'season' or not, the 'season' has finally begun.

Many venues were affected by the floods. Chettinad Vidyashram school, where Jaya TV Margazhi Utsavam takes place resumed after the water receded. Concerts are rescheduled.

Mylapore was not much affected and so Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan continued their concert series adding a prayer session for those affected by the floods before their evening concert every day after the deluge.

Narada Gana Sabha cancelled their Pre-music season series till Dec. 7 and resumed for four days from Dec. 8 to 11. The sabha's regular season has begun yesterday.

Chennai Cultural Academy had indefinitely postponed its festival as the venue is still flooded.

With Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Nada Inbam, Narada Gana Sabha and Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha inaugurating their festivals, the season is on. But a lot of rescheduling, cancellations change in accompanists keep the organisers on toes.  

Senior artistes and organiser honoured at Narada Gana Sabha inauguration

Two senior Sangita Kalanidhi awardee musicians were decorated at Narada Gana Sabha's inauguration on Dec. 12, 2015. Vocalist T V Sankaranarayanan was awarded the title 'Nadabrahmam' and flutist Sikkil Neela was felicitated as the Senior Muscian. Nadawsaran vidwan Mambalam MKS Siva and musicologist B M Sundaram were also honoured.

The endowment awards for young musicians and the winners at various competitions received awards and prizes.

Photos by Smita Joshi

It was a heart-warming moment when N. Murali, president of another prestigious organisation The Music Academy presided over the inaugural function and M Krishnamurthy, honorary secretary of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha was presented with an award for Organiser of the Year.

Now, isn't it time when all these sabhas join hands, host the festival under a common umbrella and take the unique 'season' to an international level?

Narada Gana Sabha - Pre Music Festival 2015

A 11 day pre festival music concerts are held by Narada Gana Sabha from Dec. 1, 2015 to Dec. 11, 2015.
The concerts will be at the mini hall of Narada Gana Sabha.
The concerts are open to all.

Schedule:

Dec. 1, 2015
4.30 p.m. - G. Ramanathan (Saxophone), Madurai S. Balasubramaniam (Violin), Ambur Padmanabhan (Mridangam), Sunil Kumar (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Aruna Ranganathan (Vocal), V.V. Srinivasa Rao (Violin), K.R. GAnesh (Mridangam), Trichy K. Murali (Ghatam)

Dec. 2, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Chaitrra Sairam (Vocal), K.J. Dileep (Violin), Sumesh Narayanan (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. Shobana Vignesh (Vocal), Dr. Usha Rajagopalan (Violin), B. Ganapathiraman (Mridangam), Trichy K Murali (Ghatam)

Dec. 3, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Calcutta Sisters - Kala & Chitra (Vocal), Melakaveri Thiagarajan (Violin), Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. Radha Bhaskar (Vocal), Anayampatti Venkatasubramaniam (Violin), B. Guru Raghavendra (Mridangam), H. Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 4, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Jayalakshmi Sekar (Veena), Thirunageswaram Manikandan (Mridangam), K.B. Hariharan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - S. Srinivasan (Veena), B. Ganapathiraman (Mridangam), Madipakkam A. Murali (Ghatam)

Dec. 5, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Akshay Padmanabhan (Vocal), R. Raghul (Violin), Vijay Natesan (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m - Raji Gopalakrishnan (Vocal), V.V. Srinivasa Rao (Violin), Melakaveri Balaji (Mridangam), S. Hariharasubramaniam (Ghatam)

Dec. 6, 2015
4.30 p.m. - C. Sukanya (Vocal), Poorna Vaidyanathan (Violin), J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), Sai Subramanyam (Morsing)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. R. Ganesh (Vocal), Madurai S. Balasubramanian (Violin), Nellai Balaji (Mridangam)

Dec. 7, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Dr. Subha Ganesan (Vocal), Neyveli Radhakrishnan (Violin), Kumbakonam Ramakrishnan (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. Mala Swamy (Vocal), R. Raghul (Violin), Delhi Sairam (Mridangam)

Dec. 8, 2015
4.30 p.m. - C.R. Vaidyanathan (Vocal), R. Raghul (Violin), Arjun Ganesh (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Geetha Raja (Vocal), Dr. Usha Rajagopalan (Violin), Mannarkoil J BAlaji (Mridangam), Nerkunam S. Sankar (Kanjira)

Dec. 9, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Aparna Balaji (Vocal), Durai Swaminathan 9Violin), M.S. Venkatasubramaniam (Mridangam), P. Giridara Prasad (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. Prema Rangarajan (Vocal), Padma Shankar (Violin), Kallidaikurichi (Mridangam), Madipakkm A
Murali (Ghatam)

Dec. 10, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Shankar Mahadevan (Vocal), C.V. Krishna Subramaniam (Violin), M.S. Venkata subramaniam (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Savitha Sriram (Vocal), Karaikkal S. Venkatasubramaniam (Violin), m.s. Venkatasubramaniam (Mridangam)

Dec. 11, 2015
4.30 p.m. - sumathi Krishnan (Vocal), Thirumarugal Ganesh Kumar (Violin), B. Sivaraman (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Kiranavali Vidyasankar (Vocal), Melakaveri Thyagarajan (Violin), Erode S. Nagarajan (Mridangam)

The Mylapore Fine Arts Club Art Festival 2015

The 64th year art festival of The Mylapore Fine Arts Club will be held from Dec. 9, 2015 to Jan. 1, 2016 followed by dance festival running till Jan. 17, 2016. The concerts at 9.20 a.m., 12 noon and 1.30 p.m. are open to all and not ticketed.

Venue: The Mylapore Fine Arts Club, 45, Musiri Subramaniam Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004. Phone: 24997755

Dec. 9, 2015
4.00 p.m. -  Mangala Isai – Nadaswaram
5.00 p.m. - Inauguration and Conferment of Titles
'Sangeetha Kala Nipuna' on Trichy Dr. S. Sankaran
'Nrithya Kala Nipuna' on Jayanthi Subramaniam
Distribution of Prizes to Winners of Music Competition
7.00 p.m. - Nrithyopasana Trust & Shiva Kalalaya present Sri Thanthondri Perumal Vaibhavam - Dance production

Dec. 10, 2015
9.30 a.m. -  Aishwarya Srinivas (Vocal), M.P. Aditya (Violin), J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam)
12.00 Noon - Sai Sundar Padmanabhan (Vocal), Meera Sundar (Violin), Rajiv Nagarajan (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Arundhathi Krishnan (Vocal), Thirumarugal S. Ganeshkumar (Violin), - V.S. Raghavan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - S. Srinivasan (Veena), Sherthalai R. Ananthakrishnan (Mridangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -  Raji Gopalakrishnan (Vocal), Dr. R. Hemalatha (Violin), B. Sivaraman (Mridangam), G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)

Dec. 11, 2015
9.30 a.m. -  K. Sathyanarayanan (Keyboard), B. Ananthakrishnan (Violin), Madurai M. Venkatasubramanian (Mridangam), Valangaiman Hariharasubramanian (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - Ramnath Venkat Bhagavath (Vocal), Giridhari (Violin), Karthik Narayanan (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. -  Aparna Thiagarajan (Vocal), G. Karthik (Violin), Karthik Narayanan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. -  Dr. Prema Rangarajan (Vocal), Usha Rajagopalan (Violin), Mannarkoil J. Balaji (Mridangam), Madipakkam Murali (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - O.S. Arun (Vocal), Mullaivasal Chandramouli (Violin), Tiruvarur P, Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 12, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Prasanna Venkatraman (Vocal), Charumathi Raghuraman (Violin), R. Sankaranarayanan (Mridangam)
12.00 Noon -  Anahitha & Apoorva (Vocal), Chidambaram G. Badrinath (Violin), K.H. Vineeth (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. -  Mahadevan Sankaranarayanan (Vocal), R. Satishkumar (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Sikkil Mala Chandrasekaran (Flute), M.R. Gopinath (Violin), Chidambaram S. Balashankar (Mridangam), Trichy K. Murali (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - S. Saketharaman (Vocal), Akkarai S. Subhalakshmi (Violin), Neyveli R. Narayanan (Mridangam), B. Srisundarkumar (Kanjira)

Dec. 13, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Niranjana Srinivasan (Vocal), B.Ananthakrishnan (Violin), N.C.Bharadwaj (Mridangam)
12.00 Noon - Krithika Natarajan (Vocal), Mysore Sangeetha (Violin), Akshayram (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Chaitra Sairam (Vocal), Sudha R.S. Iyer (Violin), Guru Raghavendra (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - R. Prasanna (Guitar), Prapancham Ravindran (Mridangam), Giridhar Udupa (Ghatam), Papanasam S. Sethuraman (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Nithyasree Mahadevan (Vocal), M.A. Krishnaswamy (Violin), Neyveli Skandasubramaniam (Mridangam), Dr. S. Karthick (Ghatam)

Dec. 14, 2015
9.30 a.m. - G. Ravikiran (Vocal), Vittal Ramamurthy (Violin), Mannargudi A. Easwaran (Mridangam), K.V. Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - R. Arjun Sambasivan & R. Narayanan (Keyboard duet), Vittal Rangan (Violin), B.S. Prasanth (Mridangam), K.R. Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam)
1.30 p.m. - K. Subhiksha (Vocal), Sudha R.S. Iyer (Violin), Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Dr. S. Sundar (Vocal), Usha Rajagopalan (Violin), Manoj Siva (Mridangam), Ernakulam Ramakrishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Kunnakudi M. Balamuralikrishna (Vocal), M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin), Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (Mridangam), N. Guruprasad (Ghatam)

Dec.15, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Nirmala Rajasekar (Veena), V.V. Ravi (Violin), Thanjavur Kumar (Mridangam), Pudukottai N. Ramachandran (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - Kalpalathika Ravishankar (Vocal), Thirumarugal S. Ganeshkumar (Violin), Calcutta K. Arvind (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Iyer Sisters (Vocal), Raghavasimhan (Violin), Palghat A.M. Harinarayanan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - V. Sankaranarayanan (Vocal), Nagai Sriram (Violin), Melakaveri K. Balaji (Mridangam), G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Nagai R. Muralidharan (Violin Solo), Mannargudi A. Easwaran (Mridangam), Tirupanithura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 16, 2015
9.30 a.m. - B. Vijayagopal (Flute), M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin), K.V. Prasad (Mridangam)
12.00 Noon - Aarthi Ananthakrishnan (Vocal), Pappu Gyandev (Violin), V.S. Raghavan (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Vidya Raghavan (Vocal), K.P. Nandini (Violin), Tanjore Praveenkumar (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - S.P. Ramh (Vocal), V.V. Srinivasa Rao (Violin), Poongulam Subramaniam (Mridangam), A.S. Krishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - 'Panchali Sabatham' Dance Production based on Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiar Compositions – Music by Rajkumar Bharathi. Choreography and Direction by Jayanthi Subramaniam

Dec.17, 2015
9.30 a.m. - D.B. Ashwin (Vocal), Nishant Chandran (Violin), Sumesh Narayanan (Mridangam)
12.00 Noon - Keerthana Shankar (Vocal), Kamalakiran Vinjamori (Violin), Vishruth Sudhakar (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Maalavika Sundar (Vocal), Priyamvadha Sastri (Violin), Kumbakonam Swaminathan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Saralaya Sisters - Kavitha & Triveni (Vocal), Nalina Mohan (Violin), H.S. Sudhindra (Meridangam)
6.30 p.m. - O.S. Thiagarajan (Vocal), B.V. Raghavendra Rao (Violin), Trichy B. Harikumar (Mridangam), Pudukottai N. Ramachandran (Ghatam)

Dec. 18, 2015
9.30 a.m. -  Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath (Vocal), Dr. M. Narmada (Violin), Kallidaikuruchi Sivakumar (Mridangam), Papanasam S. Sethuraman (Kanjira)
12.00 Noon -  Ananya Ashok (Vocal), Sruthi Sarathy (Violin), Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - N.J. Nandini (Vocal), Thirucherai R. Karthik (Violin), Vinod Shyam Anoor (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. -  Sugandha Kalamegam (Vocal), Dr. R. Hemalatha (Violin), K. Arunprakash (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Hyderabad Brothers - D. Seshachari & D. Raghavachari (Vocal), S. Varadharajan (Violin), Trivandrum V. Balaji (Mridangam). H. Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 19, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Rithvik Raja (Vocal), Mysore V. Srikanth (Violin), Srimushnam V. Raja Rao (Mridangam),  K.V. Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - Shruthi Sankarkumar (Vocal), Sayee Rakshith (Violin), B.S. Prashanth (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - R. Aswath Narayanan (Vocal), Vittal Rangan (Violin), Akshay Ram (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - K. Gayathri (Vocal), Nishanth Chandran (Violin), B. Ganapathiraman (Mridangam), G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Malladi Brothers Sriram Prasad & Ravikumar (Vocal), S. Varadharajan (Violin), Trichy S. Sankaran (Mridangam), S.V. Ramani (Ghatam)

Dec. 20, 2015 
9.30 a.m. - Sriranjani Santhanagopalan (Vocal), Trivandrum N. Sampath (Violin), B. Ganapathiraman (Mridangam), S. Hariharasubramanian (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - V.R. Raghav Krishna (Vocal), Thirucherai R. Karthik (Violin), Kishore Ramesh (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Vani Ramamurthy (Vocal), Arun Ramamurthy (Violin), Rohit Prasad (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Papanasam Ashok Ramani (Vocal), Vittal Ramamurthy (Violin), Trichy B. Harikumar (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Priya Sisyters Haripriya & Shanmughapriya (Vocal), M.A. Krishnaswamy (Violin), Patri Sathishkumar (Mridangam), B.S. Purushotham (Kanjira)

Dec. 21, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Delhi V. Muthukumar (Vocal), R. Raghul (Violin), Sherthalai R. Ananthakrishnan (Mridangam), Nerkunam Shankar (Kanjira)
12.00 Noon -  Swetha Balasubramaniam (Vocal), Pappu Gyandev (Violin), Ambur Padmanabhan (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - K. Mahathi (Keyboard), Sanjay Sharma (Violin), Kiran R. Pai (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Geetha Raja (Vocal), Dr. M. Narmada (Violin), Mannarkoil J. Balaji (Mridangam), Nerkunam Shankar (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - S. Shashank (Flute), Akkarai S. Subhalakshmi (Violin), Patri Satishkumar (Mridangam)

Dec. 22, 2015
9.30 a.m. - V. Deepika (Vocal), S.V. Sudarshan (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mridangam), Nerkunam Shankar (Kanjira)
12.00 Noon -  Hariharan Ravi (Vocal), Srithi Sarathy (Violin), Abhinav Seetharaman (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - M. Raginisri (Vocal), Pakala Jayaprakash (Violin), A.V. Manikandan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. -  Chinmaya Sisters Uma & Radhika (Vocal), V.V. Ravi (Violin), B. Ganapathiraman (Mridangam), H. Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Sri Purandaradasar Charithram – Sangeetha Upanyasam by U.Ve. Dushyanth Sridhar – Vocal Support by Melbourne Brothers (R. Raghuveer & R. Narayan) – Talam Support Ms. Sumithra Dushyanth. Villivakkam Raghuraman (Violin), Rajiv Nagarajan (Mridangam)

Dec. 23, 2015
9.30 a.m. - N. Harish (Vocal), R. Raghul (Violin), Kumbakonam Swaminathan (Mridangam), Adambakkam Shankar (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - Abhinaya Shenbagaraj (Vocal), Thirumarugal S. Dineshkumar (Violin), Ramkumar (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Aditya Prakash (Vocal), M. Vijay (Violin), Nirmal Narayanan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. a.m. -  Amritha Murali (Vocal), B.U. Ganeshprasad (Violin), J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), Alathur T. Rajaganesh (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Sikkil C. Gurucharan (Vocal), H.K. Venkatram (Violin), Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), Giridhar Udupa (Ghatam)

Dec. 24, 2015
9.30 a.m. - Jayashree Vaidyanathan (Vocal), Kalyani Shankar (Violin), Manikudi Chandrasekaran (Mridangam), N. Narasimhan (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - Anirudh Bharadwaj (Flute), Shiva Ramamurthi (Violin), Vignesh Venkataraman (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. -  Sunil Gargyan (Vocal), Sathyanarayana Sharma (Violin), Palakad A.M. Harinarayanan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Trichur Brothers - Srikrishna Mohan & Ramkumar Mohan (Vocal), M. Rajeev (Violin), Trichur R. Mohan (Mridangam), Trichy K. Murali (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Bombay Jayashree (Vocal), H.N. Bhaskar (Violin), Patri Satishkumar (Mridangam), B. Sreesundarkumar (Kanjira)

Dec. 25, 2015
9.30 a.m. -  Akkarai Sisters - S. Subhalakshmi & S. Sornalatha (Vocal), M. Rajeev (Violin), Patri Sathishkumar (Mridangam), Dr. S. Karthick (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - Ashwin Srikanth (Vocal), Shiva Ramamurthi (Violin), Vignesh Venkataraman (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Maharajapuram S. Ganesh Viswanathan (Vocal), Nagerkoil Anand (Violin), Guru Raghavendra (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. -  Mambalam Sisters - Vijayalakshmi & Chitra (Vocal), Dr. R. Hemalatha (Violin), Poongulam Subramaniam  (Mridangam), K.S. Rangachari (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - U. Rajesh (Mandolin), Delhi P. Sunderarajan (Violin), Srimushnam V. Raja Rao (Mridangam), Giridhar Udupa (Ghatam), Srirangam Kannan (Morsing)

Dec. 26, 2015 
9.30 a.m. -  Sangeetha Swaminathan (Vocal), M.R. Gopinath (Violin), Poongulam Subramaniam (Mridangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
12.00 Noon -  Madhav Iyengar (Vocal), Kamala Kiran Winjamori (Violin), L. Subramaniam (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - J.B. Keerthana (Vocal) & J.B. Sruthi Sagar (Flute),  K.J. Dilip (Violin), Kumbakonam Swaminathan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. -  R. Suryaprakash (Vocal), Balu Raghuraman (Violin), Sumesh Narayanan (Mridangam), Alathur T. Rajaganesh (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. Pantula Rama (Vocal), M.S.N. Murthy (Violin), J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), Dr. S. Karthick (Ghatam)

Dec. 27, 2015 
9.30 a.m. - K. Bharat Sundar (Vocal), Mysore V. Srikanth (Violin), Neyveli R. Narayanan (Mridangam), G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - K.P. Nandini (Vocal), Sayee Rakshith (Violin), Guru Bharadwaj (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. -  Shreya Devnath (Violin Solo), Rohit Prasad (Mridangam), Trichy Krishna (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. - Carnatica Brothers - K.N. Sashikiran & P. Ganesh (Vocal), Nagai Sriram (Violin), Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), B. Shreesundarkumar (KAnjira)
6.30 p.m. - Ranjani & Gayatri (Vocal), H.N. Bhaskar (Vocal), Sai Giridhar (Mridangam), G. Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)

Dec.28, 2015 
9.30 a.m. -  Sankar Ramani (Vocal), K.J. Dilip (Violin), Kalakkad Srinivasan (Mridangam), S. Hariharasubramaniam (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon - V. Rukmani (Vocal), M. Srikanth (Violin), P.V. Srivatsan (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Easwaran Bhattathri (Vocal), R. Ambikaprasad (Violin), Madipakkam Suresh (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Nisha Rajagopal (Vocal), M. Rajeev (Violin), Sai Giridhar (Mridangam), N. Guruprasad (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -  T.V. Sankaranarayanan (Vocal), T.K.V. Ramanujacharyulu (Violin), K.V. Prasad (Mridangam), Vazhappally R. Krishnakumar (Ghatam)

Dec. 29, 2015
9.30 a.m. -  Deepa - Divya Sisters (Vocal), Kalyani Shankar (Violin), Melakaveri K. Balaji (Mridangam), Madipakkam Murali (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon -  Rathipriya (Vocal), Chidambaram G. Badrinath (Violin), Karthik Ganeshram (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - K. Dharini (Vocal), K.P. Nandini (Violin), Nirmal Narayanan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Madurai R. Sundar (Vocal), Madurai S. Balasubramaniam (Violin), Thanjavur Ramadas (Mridangam), Madipakkam A. Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Gayathri Venkataraghavan (Vocal), Mysore V. Srikanth (Violin), Neyveli Skandasubramaniam (Mridangam), Trichy K. Murali (Ghatam)

Dec. 30, 2015 
9.30 a.m. -  N. Bhairavi & N. Malavi (Vocal), Karaikal Venkatasubramaniam (Violin), Thiruvidaimarudur S. Sankaran (Mridangam)
12.00 Noon -  Akshay Sridhar (Vocal), G. Raghavendra Prasath (Violin), Thirucherai R. Kaushik (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. -  Subhiksha Rangarajan (Vocal), Parur M.S. Ananthakrishnan (Violin), Tanjore Praveenkumar (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Dr. R. Ganesh (Vocal), G. Bharathi (Violin), Umayalpuram Mali (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. -  Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh (Veena), Anuradha Sridhar (Violin), Sriram Bramhanandam (Mridangam), Trichy S. Krishnaswamy (Ghatam)

Dec. 31, 2015
9.30 a.m. -  Ramakrishnan Murthy (Vocal), R.K. Sriramkumar (Violin), K. Arunprakash (Mridangam), N. Guruprasad (Ghatam)
12.00 Noon -  Manasa Suresh (Vocal), G. Raghavendra Prasath (Violin), Thirucherai R. Kaushik (Mridangam)
1.30 p.m. - Shanthala Subramaniam (Flute), Akkarai S. Sornalatha (Violin), Guru Raghavendra (Mridangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. -  Vasundara Rajagopal (Vocal), Usha Rajagopalan (Violin), Nellai A. Balaji (Mridangam), Adambakkam Shankar (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan (Vocal), Dr. M. Chandrasekaran (Violin), Trichur C. Narendran (Mridangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)

Jan. 01, 2016
9.30 a.m. - Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan & Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (Violin Duet), Trichy S. Sankaran (Mridangam), V. Suresh (Ghatam),
2.00 p.m. - S. Kasturi Rangan (Vocal), R. Raghul (Violin), Madipakkam Suresh (Mridangam), Madipakkam Murali (Ghatam)
6.00 p.m. -  Dr. K.J. Yesudas (Vocal), Nagai R. Muralidharan (Violin), Tiruvarur P. Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam), Tirupanithura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam)

Jan. 02, 2016 
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. M Trisha & Kum.S Dhikshitha - Disciples of Smt. Sheela Unnikrishnan
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Krishnalaxmi - Disciple of Smt. Jayanthi Subramaniam
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Smt. Shrada Vinod - Disciple of Smt. Srekala Bharath .

Jan. 03, 2016 
4.00 p.m. - Group Bharathanatyam by Students of Sri Lasya Priya School - Guru: Smt. Sridevi Priya Sriram
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by students of Nadanalaya (Australia) - Guru: Smt. Mahalakshmi Aswin
7.15 p.m. - Kuchipudi Dance by Dr. Madhavi Nambudri

Jan. 04, 2016
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Ms. N. Lalitha - Disciple of Smt. Padmalakshmee Suresh
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Pallavi Sriram - Disciple of Smt. Chitra Visweswaran

Jan. 05, 2016
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. K.G. Abirami (Lucknow)
5.45 p.m. - Kuchipudi Dance by Smt. Vasanthi Ravi
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Ms. Kavitha - Disciple of Smt. Ramya Ramnarayan

Jan. 06, 2016
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Sri. Arun Mathai (USA) - Disciple of Ms. K.P. Yashoda (Kalashetra Alumnus)
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Sunitta Menghanaani - Disciple of Sri. Sheejith Krishna
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Smt. Siri Rama (Singapore)

Jan. 07, 2016
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Sri. V.N. Balakrishnan
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Anupama Parasuraman - Disciple of Smt. Jayanthi Subramaniam
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Smt. Anuradha Ramesh - Disciple of Smt. Roja Kannan

Jan. 08, 2016 
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by students of Suda Pradalaya dance School, Bangalore - Guru: Smt. Rama Prasad
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Ms. Manasa Sriram - Disciple of Smt. Mahalakshmi Aswin
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Dr. Lakshmi Ramaswamy - Disciple of Smt. Chitra Visweswaran

Jan. 09, 2016
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Abhinaya Thiagarajan - Disciple of Sri. Pandanallur Pandian
5.45 p.m. - Students of Abhyasa Academy, Coimbatore, presents Kundrakudi Kuravanji - Guru: Smt. Lavanya Shankar
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Amrutha Varshini Hariharan - Disciple of Ms. Kavitha Ramu

Jan. 10, 2016
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Pravarthira Balaji - Disciple of Smt. Malini Balaji
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Ms. Subhashini Rajagopal - Disciple of Smt. Shantha & Sri. V.P. Dhananjayan
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Students of Ramana Sunrityaalaya - Guru Smt. Ambica Kameshwar

Jan. 11, 2016 
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Soundarya - Disciple of Smt. Suma Mani
7.15 p.m. - Mohiniyattam by Smt. Rashmi Menon - Disciple of Padmashree Kalamandalam K. Shemavathy

Dec. 12, 2016
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Anura King (Singapore) - Disciple of Smt. Shobana Balachandra
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Pavithra Madhuram - Disciple of Smt. Mutharasi

Jan. 13, 2016
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Abhirami Srikanth - Disciple of Smt. Sathmiya Sai Prasanth
5.45 p.m. - Kuchipudi by Kum. Bhavana Reddy - Disciple of Sri. Raja Radha Reddy & Smt. Kaushalya Reddy
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. S. Subhashri (Periakulam) - Disciple of Smt. Divyasena

Jan. 14, 2016
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Shruthi Raghunathan - Disciple of Smt. Veena Ramakrishnan
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Sri Gayatri Sundarapadmanabhan - Disciple of Sri. Vijay Madhavan
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Smt. Jayanthi Srivatsan - Disciple of Smt. Roja Kannan

Jan. 15, 2016 
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Kavya Kasinatha (Bangalore) - Disciple of Sri. Mithun Sayam
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Students of Natya Nrith Academy Guru: Smt. Mrinalini Thyagarajan
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Ms. Sai Shruthi Krishnaswamy - Disciple of Smt. Mahalakshmi Aswin

Jan. 16, 2016
4.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Kum. Preity Mukundan (Trichy) - Disciple of Smt. Vijaya Mukundan
5.45 p.m. - Kuchipudi by Sri Amarnath Ghosh - Disciple of Smt. Srimayi Vempati
7.15 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Sri. Sairam Krishnaswamy - Disciple of Smt. Mahalakshmi Aswin

Jan. 17, 2016
5.45 p.m. - Bharathanatyam by Smt. Sowmya Rajaram - Disciple of Smt. Savithri Jagannatha Rao, Sri. Sheejith Krishna & Bragha Bessel.
7.15 p.m. - Students of Sree Devi Nrithyalaya present Dance Ballet 'Leela Tharanga Margam' - Guru: Smt. Sheela Unnikrishnan

Maximum Media - Margazhi Maha Utsavam 2015

Since last year, Maximum media has been hosting Margazhi Maha Utsavam independent of Jaya TV as it used to be in the past. This year, the telecast of the concerts is supported by Sun TV.

The live concerts that start from Dec. 1, 2015 are free for public and the telecast on Sun TV will begin from Dec. 14, 2015. Seats on first-come-first-serve basis.

Venue: Hamsadhwani, Youth Hostel, Indira Nagar, Adyar, Chennai 20

The schedule:

Dec. 1, 2015
4.25 p.m. - Vaduvur S.N.R. Krishnamoorthy & party - Mangala Isai
6.30 p.m. - Abhishek Raghuram (Vocal), Theme - Ambuja Krishna

Dec. 2, 2015
5.00 p.m. - S.Sankaranarayanan (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - S. Sowmya (Vocal) Theme - Periyasamy Thooran

Dec. 3, 2015
5.00 p.m. - Sriranjani Santhanagopalan (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - Neyveli Santhanagopalan (Vocal) Theme: Nivedanam - Atma nivedanam

Dec. 4, 2015
5.00 p.m. - Amritha Murali (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - P. Unnikrishnan (Vocal) Theme: Rama Darshanam

Dec. 5, 2015
4.25 p.m. - S. Saketharaman (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - Sanjay Subrahmanyan Theme: Ramaswamy Sivan

Dec. 6, 2015
4.25 p.m. - Ramakrishnan Murthy (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - Udayalur Kalyanaraman (Namasankeerthanam) Theme - Valli Thirumanam

Dec. 7, 2015
5.00 p.m. - V.K. Manimaran (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - Nithyasree Mahadevan (Vocal) Theme: Krishna leela

Dec. 8, 2015
5.00 p.m. - Nisha Rajagopal (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - Malladi Brothers (Vocal) Theme : Anantha koti Namaskaram

Dec. 9, 2015
5.00 p.m. - K. Gayathri (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - N. Vijay Siva (Vocal) Theme : Eedal Isai pada vazhdal

Dec. 10, 2015
5.00 p.m. - Carnatica Brothers (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - Ganesh & Kumaresh (Violin duet) Theme: Edipaarppu

Dec. 11, 2015
5.00 p.m. - Nirmala Rajasekar (Veena)
6.30 p.m. - Sikkil Gurucharan (Vocal) Theme: Bharathiyam

Dec. 12, 2015
4.25 p.m. - Sandeep Narayan (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - Priya Sisters (Vocal) Theme: Senthamizh Thenmozhi

Dec. 13, 2015
3.00 p.m. - Vivridh Prasanna (Vocal) - Carnatic Music Idol USA 2014 winner
4.15 p.m. - Thamizh Thyagayyarin Thirai Isaikolam presented by Papanasam Ashok Ramani & Subhasree Thanikachalam. Singers - Haricharan, Saindhavi, Santosh
6.30 p.m. - Visaka Hari (Harikatha) Theme : Mathru devo bhava

Dec. 14, 2015
5.00 p.m. - J.A. Jayanth (Flute)
6.30 p.m. - Gayathri Venkataraghavan (Vocal) Theme: Kurai ondumillai

Dec. 15, 2015
4.25 p.m. - Bharat Sundar (Vocal)
6.30 p.m. - Aruna Sairam (Vocal)

Sreevalsan Menon in the revised schedule of the Academy

In the original schedule released by The Music Academy earlier in September, Sudha Ragunathan's concert was scheduled for Dec. 30, 2015 at 4 p.m. Sudha Ragunathan was requesting the sabhas to cancel her concerts as she was advised rest by her doctors.

In the revised schedule of The Music Academy, Sreevalsan J Menon, a senior disciple of the veteran singer Neyyatinkara Vasudevan replaces Sudha Ragunathan's concert.

Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha Isai Vizha 2015

The 115th year music festival of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha will be held from Dec. 13, 2015 to Jan. 1, 2016 followed by a Global Music Festival till Jan. 4, 2016.

Venue: Vidya Bharathi, 55, Bheemasena Garden Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4. Phone : 2499 7269 / 2499 1248.

For season tickets, contact the sabha at 100, T.P. Koil Street, Chennai-5. Phone: 044-28441837, 94447 01446

Programme Schedule

Dec. 13, 2015
3.30 p.m. - Mangala Isai
5.00 p.m. - Carnatic Music Choir presented by Students of Dr. Sudha Raja. Conceptualised by K.N. Shashikiran.
6.00 p.m. - Inauguration & Conferring the Awards by His Holiness 108 Sri Subudhendra Thirtha Swamiji of Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, Mantralayam.
'Sangeetha Kalasarathy' - Priya Sisters - Shanmukhapriya and Haripriya.
‘Acharya Kalasarathy' - P.S. Narayanaswamy
‘Dr. M.S. Subbulakshmi Centenary Award’  - Dr. Radha Viswanathan
7.00 p.m. - T.V. Samkaranarayanan (Vocal), S. Varadarajan (Violin), Srimushnam V.Raja Rao (Mridangam), Bargav Halambi ( Kanjira )

Dec. 14, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo: Sacred Musical Forms : Understanding the concept of Chandam in Thiruppugazh by Dr. M.A. Bhageerathi
10.00 a.m. - Thyagaraja kritis in Namasankeerthanam format by Dr. R. Ganesh & Party
12.30 p.m. - Keerthana Shankar (Vocal), Viswesh Swaminathan (Violin), Thirucherai Kaushik (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Shreya Devnath (Violin Solo), J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam),  B.S. Purushotham (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. - R. Vedavalli (Vocal), Charulatha Ramanujam (Violin), K. Arun Prakash (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - V.V. Subramaniam & V.V.S. Murari (Violin duo), Trivandrum Balaji (Mridangam)

Dec. 15, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo: Vaggeyakara Vaibhavam : Sri Papanasam Sivan - A Prolific Composer by Dr. Radha Bhaskar
10.00 a.m. - Prasanna Venkatraman (Vocal), H.N. Bhaskar (Violin), Patri Satish Kumar (Mridangam), Alathur Rajaganesh (Kanjira )
12.30 p.m. - Samyukta Ranganathan (Vocal), Parur Harini Srivatsa (Violin),  K. Parthasarathy (Mridangam )
2.00 p.m. - Vishnudev Namboothiri (Vocal), L. Ramakrishnan (Violin), B. Ganapathy Raman (Mridangam), Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. - Trichur V. Ramachandran (Vocal), Delhi Sunderrajan (Violin), Srimushnam V. Rajarao (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Madurai T.N. Seshagopalan (Vocal),  M. Chandrasekaran (Violin), Trichur Narendran (Mridangam), V. Suresh (Ghatam)

Dec. 16, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo: Insight of a Composition through a Composers mind by Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan
10.00 a.m. - K. Gayathri (Vocal), Anuradha Sridhar (Violin), Kallidakurichi Sivakumar (Mridangam), Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam )
12.30 p.m. - Sharanya Sriram (Vocal), Arjun Dinakar (Violin), Mysore Vadiraj (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Mahadevan Sankaranarayanan (Vocal), M.R. Gopinath (Violin), Shretalai R. Ananthakrishnan (Mridangam), Alathur Rajaganesh (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. - Maharajapuram Ramachadran (Vocal), M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin), Mannargudi Easwaran (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. Kadri Gopalnath (Saxophone), A. Kanyakumari (Violin), Triplicane K. Sekar (Thavil), Rajendra Nakod (Tabla), B. Rajasekar (Morsing)

Dec. 17, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo.:  Manodharma Sangeetham : Structure and Development of Tanam by Dr. R.S. Jayalakshmi
10.00 a.m. - Chinmaya Sisters Uma & Radhika (Vocal), Balu Raghuram (Violin), Udipi Balakrishnan (Mridangam), Trivandram Rajagopal (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - Meghana Moorthy (Vocal), Sruti Sarathy (Violin), Arjun Raghavan (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Smitha Madhav (Vocal), Dorai Balasubramaniam (Violin), R. Ramkumar (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - ‘Om Namo Narayanaya' - Thematic Concert by Mambalam Sisters (Vocal), Dr. R. Hemalatha (Violin), B. Sivaraman (Mridangam), K.S. Rangachary (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. -  Dr. Pantula Rama (Vocal), M.S.N. Murthy (Violin), V.V. Ramanamurthy (Mridangam), Anirudh Atreya (Kanjira)

Dec. 18, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo:  'Gayaki Style of Veena’ by Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan. (Programme Dedicated to Veenai Sri. R. Pichumani Iyer)
10.00 a.m. - ‘Musical Tributes to Veenai Legend R. Pichumani Iyer’ by P. Vasantha Kumar (Veena) followed by Iyer Brothers Ramnath Iyer & Gopinath Iyer (Veena). Accompaniments : Sherthalai Ananthakrishnan (Mridangam), Pudukottai N. Ramachandran (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. - Kruthi Bhat (Vocal), Kamalakiran Vinjamuri (Violin). N.C. Bhardwaj (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Sidharth Sriram (Vocal), S.P. Ananthapadmanabha (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Sublime Journey.  Veena-Sitar Jugalbandhi - Nirmala Rajasekar (Veena), Gaurav Mazumdar (Sitar), Tanjore Murugaboopathi (Mridangam),  Chandrajit (Tabla)
6.30 p.m. - Malladi Brothers Sriramprasad and Ravikumar (Vocal), M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin), Tumkur Ravishankar (Mridangam), Alathur Rajaganesh (Kanjira)

Dec. 19, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo. : Raganubhava - Grandeur of Raga Todi by Dr. Sriram Parasuram
10.00 a.m. - R. Suriya Prakash (Vocal), M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin), Tiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam), B.S. Purushotham (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - Anahita & Apoorva Ravindran (Vocal), Priyamvada Sastri (Violin), Rohit Prasad (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Thiruvarur S. Girish (Vocal), Pudukottai Ambika Prasadh (Violin), B. Sivaraman (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Shertalai Dr. K.N. Renganatha Sharma (Vocal), B.U. Ganesh Prasad (Violin), J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), Trichy Murali (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. -  Abishek Raghuram (Vocal), Mysore Srikanth (Violin), Anantha R. Krishnan (Mridangam)

Dec. 20, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo.: Raga Lakshna – Understanding of Anuswaram as a basis for life line of Raga Swarupa by Suguna Varadachari
10.00 a.m. - Sandeep Narayanan (Vocal), H.N. Bhaskar (Violin), Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam), K.V. Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - Ranjani Sivakumar (Vocal), Mysore Sangeetha (Violin), Madurai B. Sundar (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Sumithra Vasudev (Vocal), S.R. Rajashree (Violin), B. Sivaraman (Mridangam), Trivandrum Rajagopal (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. - Trichur Brothers Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan (Vocal), M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin), Trichur R. Mohan (Mridangam), D.V. Venkatasubramaniam (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - N. Vijay Siva (Vocal), Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi (Violin), J. Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), S. Krishna (Ghatam)

Dec. 21, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo.:  Vaggeyakara Vaibhavam : Mangalampally Dr. Balamuralikrishna Compositions by Prince Rama Varma
10.00 a.m. - Nisha P Rajagopal (Vocal), Charumathi Raghuraman (Violin), Manoj Siva (Mridangam), Anirudh Atreya (Kanjira )
6.30 p.m. - Dr. K.J. Yesudas (Vocal), Mahadeva Sarma (Violin), K.V. Prasad (Mridangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 22, 2015
8.30 a.m. Lect. Demo. : Evalution of Flute Techniques unique to Carnatic Music by S. Shashank
10.00 a.m. - Ramakrishnan Murthy (Vocal), R.K. Shriramkumar (Violin), Melakaveri K. Balaji (Mridangam), Dr. S Karthick (Ghatam )
12.30 p.m. - Vignesh Ishwar (Vocal), Shivakumar Anantharaman (Violin), Rajesh Srinivasan (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Savitha Sriram (Vocal), Sayee Rakshith (Violin), Sridhar Chari (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Prince Rama Varma (Vocal), S.R. Vinu (Violin), Harikumar ( (Mridangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Gayathri Venkataraghavan (Vocal), Charumathi Raghuraman (Violin), K.V. Prasad (Mridangam), N Guruprasad (Ghatam)

Dec. 23, 2015
8.30 a.m. Lect. Demo. Voice Culture Management and Cure – Panel discussion. Chairperson Aruna Sayeeram. Panel : Prof. T. Unnikrishnan, Dr. Prakash Boominathan and Ms. Mayuri Vasan
10.00 a.m. - Amritha Venkatesh (Vocal), M. Rajiv (Violin), Vijay Natesan (Mridangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira )
12.30 p.m. - G. Abilash (Vocal), Keerthana Shankar (Violin), Trivandrum N. Hariharan (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Jayashree Vaidyanathan (Vocal), Karaikal Venkatasubramanian (Violin), Manikudi Chandrasekaran (Mridangam), N. Narasimhan (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. - Dr. Sriram Parasuram (Vocal )
6.30 p.m. - N. Ravikiran (Chitravina), Haridwaramangalam A.K. Palanivel (Thavil), Kamalakiran Vinjamuri (Violin), Anantha R. Krishnan (Mridangam)

Dec. 24, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo. : Layanubhava : Kanjira and its significance in Concerts - Laya Vinyasam B.S. Purusothaman, Sree Sundar Kumar, K.V. Gopalakrishnan, Anirudh Athreya
10.00 a.m. - V. Sankaranarayanan (Vocal), Nagai Sriram (Violin), Thanjavur Murugaboopathy (Mridangam), Sriram Natarajan (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - K.P. Nandini (Vocal), Delhi R. Sridhar (Violin), Ammangudi S. Ramanarayanan (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Kirnavali Vidyasankar (Vocal), K.J. Dileep (Violin), Sai Giridhar (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Sangeetha Sivakumar (Vocal), R.K. Shriramkumar (Violin), Manoj Siva ( Mridangam), K.V. Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira )
6.30 p.m. - S. Saketharaman (Vocal), TKV Ramanujacharyalu (Violin), Guru Kaaraikkudi R. Mani (Mridangam), V. Suresh (Ghatam)

Dec. 25, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo.: Rasanubhava - Emotion of Compositions with reference to Sangeetham and Sahityam by Dr. Pantula Rama & M.S.N. Murthy.
10.00 a.m. - ‘Sri Panduranga Leela’ by Visakha Hari with Charulatha Ramanujam (Violin), B. Ganapathy Raman (Mridangam) – Chandrajith (Tabla)
12.30 p.m. - Manasa Suresh (Vocal), Sriram Sridhar (Violin), Ram Sriram (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - K. Bharat Sundar (Vocal), Parur Ananthakrishnan (Violin), Sumesh Narayanan (Mridangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. - Hyderabad Brothers D. Raghavachari & D. Seshachari (Vocal), V.V. S Murari (Violin), Trivandrum V Balaji (Mridangam), K.V. Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Sikkil Gurucharan (Vocal), Nagai Sriram (Violin), Umayalpuram Dr. K. Sivaraman (Mridangam), B. Sree Sundarkumar (Kanjira)

Dec. 26, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo. : Layanubhava : Innovative approach to Swarakalpanas and Pallavi Structure by Abhishek Raghuram and Kunnakudi Balamurali Krishna. Concept : K.N. Shashikiran.
10.00 a.m. - ‘Sahasranamathil Archavataram’ Upanyasam by Dushyanth Sridhar
12.30 p.m. - Ashwat Narayayanan (Vocal), Vittal Rangan (Violin), Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Rithvik Raja (Vocal). M. Rajeev (Violin), Sumesh Narayanan (Mridangam), Chandrasekara Sharma (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. -  Carnatica Brothers - K.N. Shashikiran & P. Ganesh (Vocal), Nagai Muralidharan (Violin), Thanjavur Murugaboopathy (Mridangam), Sree Sundarkumar (Kanjira )
6.30 p.m. - Priya Sisters - Shanmukhapriya and Haripriya (Vocal), Mysore Srikanth (Violin), Neyveli Skanda Subramaniam (Mridangam), Sri Sundarkumar (Kanjira)

Dec. 27, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo. : Arohanam , Avarohanam - role in understanding Raga – A Panel discussion – Dr. R.S. Jayalakshmi, Chitravina N. Ravikiran, Delhi Sundarrajan, Co-ordinator : Dr. Radha Bhaskar
10.00 a.m. - ‘Nava Vidha Ramayanam’ Sublime Observation Sri. Srinidhi Swami, Musical Presentation by Vasundara Rajagopal (Vocal) with Karaikal Venkatasubramaniam (Violin) and Nellai Balaji (Mridangam)
12.30 p.m. - Hariharan Ravi (Vocal), B. Ananthakrishnan (Violin), Sai Gridhar (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Vasudha Ravi (Vocal), Vittal Rangan (Violin), Sai Giridhar (Mridangam), H. Prasanna (Ghatam )
4.00 p.m. - Geetha Krishnamurthy (Veena), Tirupathy M. Sudakar (Mridangam), H. Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - S. Shashank (Flute), Nagai Sriram (Violin), Patri Satish Kumar (Mridangam)

Dec, 28, 2015 
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo.: Sangeethanubhava : Insight into the contours of Raga as envisioned by the Trinity - by R.K. Shriramkumar
10.00 a.m. - Amrutha Murali (Vocal), Dr. R. Hemalatha (Violin), Manoj Siva (Mridangam), N. Guruprasadh (Ghatam).
12.30 p.m. - Malavika Sundar (Vocal), Sayee Rakshit (Violin), Akshay Ananthabadmanathan (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Sriranjani Santhanagopalan (Vocal), Trivandrum Sampath (Violin), B. Ganapathyraman (Mridangam), Harihara Subramanian (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. - A. Kanyakumari & Embar Kannan (Violin Duet), Thiruvallikeni Sekar (Thavil), B.S. Purusotham (Kanjira )
6.30 p.m. - P. Unnikrishnan (Vocal), Nagai Muralidharan (Violin), Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam )

Dec. 29, 2015 
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo. :Vageeyakara Vaibhavam : Badrachala Ramadasa’s Compositions and Narayana Thirtha Tharangams by Malladi Brothers & Disciples.
10.00 a.m. - V.K. Manimaran (Vocal), S.R. Mahadeva Sharma (Violin), B. Ganapapthy Raman (Mridangam)
12.30 p.m. - Kalyanapuram Aravind (Vocal), B. Anantha Krishnan (Violin), Palakkad Hari Narayanan (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Aishwarya Vidya Raghunath (Vocal), Aditi Krishnaprakash (Violin), Tanjore Praveen Kumar (Mridangam), Udipi Srikanth (Kanjira )
4.00 p.m. - Prof. T.N. Krishnan, Viji Krishnan & Sriram Krishnan (Violin Trio), Bombay Balaji (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. S. Sowmya (Vocal), Charumathi Raghuram (Violin), Neyveli Narayanan (Mridangam), K.V. Gopalakrishnan (Kanjira)

Dec. 30, 2015 
8.30 a.m. -  Lect. Demo. :Ragaanubhava : Raga families and relationship (Allied ragas) by Chitravina N. Ravikiran
10.00 a.m. - Nama Sankeertanam by Udayalur Kalyanarama bagavathar & Party
12.30 p.m. - Thanmayee Krishnamurthy (Vocal), Sayee Rakshith (Violin), Akshay Venkatesan (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - V. Deepika (Vocal), S.P. Anantha Padmanabha (Violin), N.C. Bhardhwaj (Mridangam), Nerkunam Shankar (Kanjira)
4.00 p.m. - Papanasam Ashok Ramani (Vocal), Nagai Muralidharan (Violin), K.V. Prasad (Mridangam), Jaya Prem (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - Sanjay Subrahmanyan (Vocal), S. Varadarajan (Violin), Neyveli B. Venkatesh (Mridangam), Perukavu P.L. Sudheer (Ghatam)

Dec. 31, 2015
8.30 a.m. - Lect. Demo.: Sageethanubhava : Strength of Padantharam as a vechile to raga development by Dr. S. Sowmya
10.00 a.m. - Sangeetha Swaminathan (Vocal), V. Sanjeev (Violin), Poongulam Subramaniam (Mridangam), Anirudh Athreya (Kanjira )
12.30 p.m. - Vidya Raghavan (Vocal), Ravi Srinivasan (Violin), Sathya Ramesh (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Akshay Padmanabhan (Vocal), S.P. Ananthapadnabha (Violin), Kunnakudi Balamurali Krishna (Mridangam )
4.00 p.m. - Neyveli R. Santhanagopalan (Vocal), M.A. Sundareswaran (Violin), Thiruvarur Bhakthavatchalam ( Mridangam), Tirupunitura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam)
6.30 p.m. - 'Bajan Sandhya’ yy O.S. Arun (Vocal), Karaikal Venkatasubramaniam (Violin), Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), Krishna (Harmonium), Hari (Tabla), Karthick (Dholki), Kalaiselvam (Talam)

Jan. 1, 2016
10.00 a.m. - Dr. M. Lalitha & M. Nandini (Violin Duet), Neyveli K.V. Ramkumar (Mridangam), Vadaparimangalam Sri Venkatramani (Kanjira, Konakol), G. Ravichandran (Ghatam)
12.30 p.m. - Sai Vignesh (Vocal), Abishek Balakrishnan (Violin), Sivagangai K. Vishvak (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - Shantala Subramanyam (Flute), B.U. Ganesh Prasad (Violin), Shriram Brahmanandam (Mridangam )
4.00 p.m. - S. Mahathi (Vocal), H.N. Bhaskar (Violin), Patri Satish Kumar (Mridangam), B. Sree Sundarkumar (Kanjira)
6.30 p.m. - Dr. Nithyashree Mahadevan (Vocal), B.V. Raghavendra Rao (Violin), I. Sivakumar (Mridangam), N. Rajaraman (Ghatam)

Global Music Fest at Vidya Bharathi, 55, Bheemasena Garden Road, Mylapore, Chennai - 4.
This fest is in commemoration of Sri. Papanasam Sivan's 125 Jayanthi Festival and Dr. M.S. Subbulakshmi Centenary Festival

Jan. 2, 2016
9.00 a.m. - K. Sathyanarayana (Carnatic Keyboard), Karaikal Venkatasubramanian (Violin), London M. Balachandar (Mridangam), S. Sunil Kumar (Kanjira)
10.30 a.m. - Alamelu Mani (Vocal), Balu Raghuram (Violin), Mannarkoil Balaji (Mridangam)
12.30 p.m. - Ishwarya Srinivas (Vocal), Kamalkiran Vinjamuri (Violin), Mannarkoil Balaji (Mridangam)
2.00 p.m. - K. Dharini (Vocal), Vijay (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mridangam)
3.30 p.m. - Ashvin Bhogendra (Vocal), Nishant Chandran (Violin), Akshay Ananthapadmanabhan (Mridangam)
5.00 p.m. - Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna (Vocal), Vittal Ramamurthy (Violin), Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam), Vaikom Gopalakrishnan (Ghatam)
7.00 p.m. - Nagai Muralidharan & Nagai Sriram (Violin duet), Trichy Sankaran (Mridangam), Tirupunitura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam)

Jan. 3, 2016
9.00 a.m. - Nandita Ravi (Vocal), R. Rahul (Violin), B. Ganapathy Raman (Mridangam)
11.00 a.m. - Sankari Krishnan (Vocal), Ranjani Ramakrishnan (Violin),  B. Sivaraman (Mridangam), S. Venkatramanan (Kanjira)
12.30 p.m. - S. Aishwarya (Vocal), Chidambaram Badrinath (Violin), R. Sivasubramanian (Mridangam), H. Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam)
2.00 p.m. - Calcutta Srividya (Vocal), Nagerkoil Anand (Violin), R. Ramkumar (Mridangam)
3.30 p.m. - Subhashree Ramachandran (Vocal), S.P. Ananthapadmanabha (Violin), Kallidaikurichi Sivakumar (Mridangam)
5.00 p.m. - Suguna Varadachari (Vocal), Dr. R. Hemalatha (Violin), Nellai Balaji (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m - U. Rajesh (Mandolin) & Anil Srinivasan (Piano), Madirimangalam Swaminathan (Mridangam)

Jan. 4, 2016
9.00 a.m. - Lect. Demo.: Concept of Bakthi in Thygaraja Kritis by Dr. Premeela Gurumurthy
10.30 a.m. - Rajhesh Vaidhya (Veena), Karukurichi N. Mohan Ram (Mridangam), Lalgudi Sriganesh (Mridangam), Sai Hari (Ghatam), Tenkasi H. Paramasivam (Kanjira), Karukuruchi N. Subramaniam (Spl. Effects).
12.30 p.m. - Mandolin Sisters Sreeusha & Sireesha (Mandolin), Thirucherai Kaushik (Mridangam), S. Venkatramanan (Kanjira)
2.00 p.m. - Harikatha by B. Suchitra. 'Ramakrishna Pattabhishekam'. H.V. Raghuram (Violin), M.S. Venkatsubramaniam (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Aruna Ranganathan (Vocal), V.V. Ravi (Violin), B. Sivaraman (Mridangam)
5.30 p.m. - Awards Presentation and Valedictory Function. Dwaram Venkataswami Naidu  Award to M.A. Sundareswaran (Instituted by Mohan Parasaran), Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar Award for Visesha Vadyam to Anayampatti S. Ganesan (Jalatarangam) (Instituted by Chennai Fine Arts), Dr. M.L.V. Award to K. Bharat Sundar (Instituted by Sudha Raghunathan), G. Ramanathan Award to S. Mahathi (Instituted by Sathanur V. Parthasarathy)
6.30 p.m - Gayathri Girish (Vocal), Mysore Srikanth (Violin), Neyveli Skandasubramaniam (Mridangam)

Sri Kapali Fine Arts Festival 2015

The 46th Art Festival of Sri Kapali Fine Arts will take place from Dec. 18 to 30, 2015.

Venue: Srinivasa Sastri Hall, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004

Contact the sabha at 28 (Old 46 A), Bheemasena Garden street, Mylapore, Chennai - 4. Phone: 98400 24639

The Schedule:

Dec. 18, 2015
3.00 p.m. - Veena Venkataramani (Veena), Vignesh Srinivasan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - B. Gokul (Flute), M.S.G. Suresh (Violin), K.V. Ramesh (Mridangam)
5.00 p.m. - J.B. Keerthana (Vocal), K.P. Nandini (Violin), Sumesh Narayanan (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Prarthana Sai Narasimhan (Vocal), S.P. Ananthapadmanabha (Violin), Ragunath Rajaram (Mridangam)

Dec. 19, 2015
3.00 p.m. - Madurai N. Sivaganesh (Vocal), Shrikanth (Violin), P.V. Srivatsa (Mridangam)
5.00 p.m. - Bhavadharini Anantharaman (Vocal), Neela Jayakumar (Violin), V.R. Jayakumar (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Sriram Gangadharan (Vocal), Satishkumar (Violin), Bangalore R Praveen (Mridangam), Adambakkam Sankar (Ghatam)

Dec. 20, 2015
3.00 p.m. - K. Ameya (Vocal), Pappu Gnanadev (Violin), P.V. Srivatsa (Mridangam)
5.00 p.m. - Vidya Subramaniam (Vocal), H.V. Raguram (Violin), L. Subramaniam (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Ragam Sisters - Sivaranjani & Nalinakanti (Vocal)

Dec. 21, 2015
4.30 p.m. - R. Kalpalathika (Vocal), Kovai Chandran (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. -  Jayasree Vaidyanathan (Vocal), Harini (Violin), Manikudi Chandrasekar (Mridangam)

Dec. 22, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Kanakadurga Venkatesh (Vocal), Jayanthi Kesav (Violin), Kumbakonam Ramakrishnan (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Lalitha and Nandini (Violin Duet), Neyveli R Ramkumar (Mridangam), Ravichandran (Ghatam)

Dec. 23, 2015
3.00 p.m. - Erode Anantharaman (Vocal), Thiruvarur Balam (Violin), Korattur Karthik Narayanan (Mridangam)
5.00 p.m. - Anahita and Apoorva Ravindran (Vocal), Kamalakiran (Violin), Akshayram (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. -  Dr. Subha Ganesan (Vocal), S.P. Anantha Padmanabha (Violin), Nellai Balaji (Mridangam)

Dec. 24, 2015
3.00 p.m. - Swathi Ravichandran (Vocal), Sayee Rakshit (Violin), Aravind Venkataraman (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Rajee Gopalakrishnan (Vocal), M.R. Gopinath (Violin), Melakaveri Balaji (Mridangam), Harihara Subramaniam (Ghatam)

Dec. 25, 2015
3.00 p.m. - Srivanchiam Murali Bhagavathar, Sri Guruji Krupa Mandali, West mambalam - Kids Bhajan
5.00 p.m. - Venkata Nagarajan (Vocal), M.S.G. Suresh (Violin), Akshay Venkatesh (Mridangam)

Dec. 26, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Shruthi Shankar Kumar (Vocal), Vignesh Thyagarajan (Violin), Rohit Prasad (Mridangam)
6.30 p.m. - Geetha Raja (Vocal), Shraddha Ravindran (Violin), Madipakkam Suresh (Mridangam)

Dec. 27, 2015
3.00 p.m. - Aswin Srikanth (Vocal), Shruthi Sarathi (Violin), Arjun Raghavan (Mridangam)
5.00 p.m. - Malavika Sriram (Vocal), Ravi Srinivasan (Violin), Akshay Venkatesan (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Bombay Sisters - Saroja & Lalitha (Vocal), Vijaya Ganesh (Violin), Dr, K. Ashok (Mridangam)

Dec. 28, 2015
3.00 p.m. - Namasankeerthanam by Kalyani Margabandhu Gnandha Mandhar Mandali, Mandaveli
5.00 p.m. -  Vikram Raghavan (Vocal), Aditi Krishnaprakash (Violin), Akshay Anantha Padmanabha (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Deekshitha Venkataraman (Vocal), Supraja Venkatraman (Violin), R. Ramkumar (Mridangam)

Dec. 29, 2015
5.00 p.m. - Bharathi Ramasubban (Vocal), s.p. Anantha Padmanabha (Violin), B. Sivaraman (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - K. Baskaran (Flute), Ramakrishnan (Violin), Jayadev Baskaran (Mridangam)

Dec. 30, 2015
5.00 p.m. - Malavika Sundar (Vocal), Thirumarugal Ganesh Kumar (Violin), N.C. Bharadwaj (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Hemmige S Prashanth (Vocal), B. Anantha Krishnan (Violin), B.R. Srinivas (Mridangam)

Chennai Cultural Academy Trust Music and Fine Arts Festival 2015

Formerly Nungambakkam Cultural Academy, and now Chennai Cultural Academy Trust is known for celebrating a longer music and fine arts festival every year. This year the festival starts from Dec.12, 2015 and is on till Jan. 5, 2016

Venue : Rama Rao Kala Mantap A/C Auditorium, 111, Habbibullah Road, T.Nagar, Chennai 600 017.
Contact the sabha at phone nos. 044 24834823, 7200074538

The Schedule:

Dec. 12, 2015
4.30 p.m. - Mangala Isai - Alangudy AV Pakkiri Samy (Nadaswaram), A Manikandan (Special Thavil)
5.30 p.m. - Inaugration. 'Kala Siromani' Awards:
Carnatic Music - Smt Ranjani & Gayathri - Sangeetha Kalasiromani Award
Bharatanatyam - Dr Swarnamalaya Ganesh - Nrithya Kalasiromani Award
Tamil Theatre - Smt Anandhi - Nataka Kalasiromani Award
7.00 p.m. - Bharathanatyam - Dhanya Varshini Murali (Disiciples of Sikkil Vasantha Kumari)

Dec. 13, 2015
9.00 a.m. - Nama Sankeerthanam - Udayalur Kalayanaraman & Party
11.15 a.m. - Mali stage presents 'நிதர்சனம்' Drama by K S N Sunder. Director: Kudandhai Mali
7.00 p.m. - Dr.K J Jesudas (Vocal), Mahadeva Sarma (Violin), Thiruvarur Bhakthavatsalam (Mridangam) Tripunithura Radhakrishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 14, 2015
9.00 a.m. - Hindustani Music by Mala Ramadurai & Party
11.15 a.m. - Drama 'Pattabhishekam' by V Premsagar
1.30 p.m. - Adithe Shivaram (Vocal)
2.45 p.m. - Srividya Sridharakumar (Vocal), S P Ananthapadmanabha (Violin), Akshey Ram (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - Mambalam Sisters Chitra & Vijayalakshmi (Vocal), Dr R Hemalatha (Violin), Kallidaikurachi R Sivakumar (Mridangam), K S Rangachari (Kanjira)
7.00 p.m. - Neyveli Santhanagopalan (Vocal), Mullaivasal Chandramouli (Violin), Srimushnam RajaRao (Mridangam), S V Ramani (Ghatam)

Dec. 15, 2015
1.30 p.m. - Krithika (Vocal), Thirucheri Karthik (Violin), Deepika Srinivasan (Mridangam)
2.45 p.m. - N Visweshwar (Flute), Sahana Vasudevan (Violin), Thiruvaiyaru A Srivathsan (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - Ramakrishnan Moorthy (Vocal), Vittal Ramamurthy (Violin), Thanjavur Murgabhoopathi (Mridangam), BS Purushotham (Kanjira)
7.00 p.m. - O.S. Thiagarajan (Vocal), Delhi Sunderrajan (Violin), J Vaidyanathan (Mridangam), H Sivarama Krishnan (Ghatam)

Dec. 16, 2015
2.45 p.m. - Varun Ganesan (Vocal), Siva Ramamurthi (Violin), Vadavalli R Sriram (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Uma Money (Vocal), Kiran Athreya (Violin), Manakkal Sriram (Mridangam)
5.15 p.m. - Ramanathan (Saxophone), V Suresh Babu (Violin), Mylai Gajendran (Tavil), V Subba Rao (Ghatam)
7.00 p.m. - Nithyasri Mahadevan (Vocal), Mullaivasal Chandramouli (Violin), Cherthalai Ananthakrishnan (Mridangam), Balaji Sairam (Morsing)

Dec. 17, 2015
1.30 p.m. - M Ragini Sri (Vocal), Thirucherai Karthik (Violin), M Ashwinkumar (Mridangam)
2.45 p.m. - M Roopa Shastry (Vocal), Delhi Sridhar (Violin), P V Srivathsa (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - UP Raju & Nagamani (Mandolin), S A Raghava Simhan (Violin), R Sainivedhan (Kanjira)
7.00 p.m. - Dr Swarnamalaya Ganesh (Sadir Katcheri)

Dec. 18, 2015
1.30 p.m. - M Charanya (Vocal), Abhiskek Balakrishnan (Violin), A K Saravanan (Mridangam)
2.45 p.m. - Manasa Suresh (Vocal), Kiran Athreya (Violin), Thirukannapuram Vijay Bharadwaj (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - R. Surya Prakash (Vocal), Durai Balasubramaniyam (Violin), Vijay Ganesh (Mridangam), R M Deenadayalu (Morsing)
7.00 p.m. - Srekala Bharath - Bharathanatyam

Dec. 19, 2015
9.00 a.m. - Maharajapuram Ganesh Viswanathan (Vocal), H.V. Raghuram (Violin), Thanjavur Praveen Kumar (Mridangam), Nerkunam Sankar (Kanjira)
11.15 a.m. - Sowmya Theaters presents 'Nool Veli' by T V Radhakrishnan
1.30 p.m. - Ganabhakthi Vanaja Sundararajan & Party
2.45 p.m. - Bhooma Kasthuri (Violin), Mysore Vadhiraj (Violin)
4.30 p.m. - B Kannan (Veena)
7.00 p.m. - Tiruchur Brothers (Vocal), Kandadevi S Vijayaraghavan (Violin), Trichur R Mohan (Mridangam), S Venkataraman (Ghatam)

Dec. 20, 2015
9.00 a.m. - Shanthi Rao (Veena), Manikudi Chandrasekar (Mridangam), K.V.R.S Mani (Ghatam)
11.15 a.m. - Augusto Creation 'Jaitha Kuthirai' Drama
1.30 p.m. - Arjun Sambasivan & R. Narayanan (Keyboard), M Srikanth (Violin), Srikarsivakumar (Mridangam), K Ranganathan (Ghatam)
2.45 p.m. - Lavanya Sundararaman (Vocal), Delhi Sridhar (Violin), Manikudi Chandrasekar (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - Rajani Hariharan (Vocal), Usha Rajagopalan (Violin), Thanjavur Subramaniyam (Mridangam), Ravichandran (Ghatam)
7.00 p.m. - Bhajan & Gazal O S Arun & Party

Dec. 21, 2015
1.30 p.m. - K. Dharini (Vocal)
2.45 p.m. - R Rajalakshmi (Vocal), Smitha Krishnan (Violin), P V Srivathasa (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - Kavya Abraham - Bharathanatyam
5.45 p.m. - Ranga Mandira presents Nupur Sisters Kumaris Anjali Ramesh & Ankita Ramesh, Disciple for Dr Swaranamalaya Ganesh in Sadir Katcheri
7.00 p.m. - T V Shankaranarayanan (Vocal), Pakala Ramadas (Violin), Trichur Narendaran (Mridangam)

Dec. 22, 2015
1.30 p.m. - Arun Kousik (Vocal)
2.45 p.m. - Devotional Music by Vasantha Rammohan & Party
4.30 p.m. - V Deepika (Vocal), S P Ananthapadmanabha (Vocal), Srivanchiam Sriram (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Ranjani & Gayathri (Vocal), H M Smitha (Violin), K Arun Prakesh (Mridangam)

Dec. 23, 2015
1.30 p.m. - Devotional Music by Amritha Vauhini  group led by Prema Prabhakaran
2.45 p.m. - Dr Nirajana Srinivas (Vocal)
4.30 p.m. - Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna (Vocal), V Sanjeev (Violin), Shertalai Anantha Krishnan (Mridangam), Nerkunam Shankar (Kanjira)
7.00 p.m. - Mohini Attam by Gopika Varma

Dec. 24, 2015
1.30 p.m. - Adithya Narayanan (Vocal), Charumathi Raghuram (Violin), Nikshit (Mridangam)
2.45 p.m. - Sai Vignesh (Vocal), Delhi Sridhar (Violin), Karuppambulam A Venkatesh (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - Niyati Sriram (Vocal)
5.45 p.m. - Gokul Krishnan (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Bhargavi Gopalan - Bharathanatyam

Dec. 25, 2015
9.00 a.m. - Anayampatti S Ganeshan (Jalatharangam),  Anayampatti G Venkatasubramaniyam (Violin), Thanjavur Subramaniyam (Mridangam), Madippakam Murali (Ghatam)
11.15 a.m. - Gurukulam Original Boys Co.95 presents ' Yaro Ivar Yaro' - Drama by M B Moorthy
2.30 p.m. - Sangamithra Balaji & Kaviya Saravanan - Bharathanatyam
3.30 p.m. - Jayanthi Rangarajan (Vocal)
4.45 p.m. - Carnatica Brothers K.N. Shashikiran and P. Ganesh (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Dr Padma Subrahmanyam (Bharathanrityam)

Dec. 26, 2015 
10.00 a.m. - Thanjavur Melattur Bagavatha mela (Krishna Janana Leelai)
11.15 a.m. - Saithya Sai Creation Mappalli Ganesh in 'Ellam Maya' Drama by Ezhichur Aravindan
2.45 p.m. - Harini Rajasekar (Violin Solo), D Sivaraman (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - Sandeep Narayan (Vocal), Delhi Sunderajan (Violin), Thanjavur Subramanyam (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Rajesh Vaidhya (Veena)

Dec. 27, 2015
9.00 a.m. - Gayathri Sathya (Vocal)
11.15 a.m. - Good Will Stage Kovai Paddu's 'Thai Ullam' drama by Sri Rangam Rangamani
1.30 p.m. - Kaushik Hariharan (Vocal), Surup Thathachar (Violin), Akshay Venkatesan (Mridangam)
2.45 p.m. - Karthik Raju (Vocal), Tirucherai Karthik (Violin)
4.30 p.m. - Gayathri Girish (Vocal), B V Raghavendra Rao (Violin), Shertalai Ananthakrishnan (Mridangam)
7.00 p.m. - Tamilarasan Theatre Sri Balasundram Presents Sri Krishna Dharsanam Drama by Arivanantham

Dec. 28, 2015
1.30 p.m. - K Mahathi (Keyboard)
2.45 p.m. - Namasankeerthanam by Kumbakonam Anantha Narayanan & Party
4.00 p.m. - Salem Gayathri Venkatesan (Vocal),  Melakkaveri Theyagarajan - Nellai Balaji - Nanganallur Swaminathan
5.45 p.m. - Ranga Mandira presents Kumari Pritika Ruth, Disciple for Dr Swaranamalaya Ganesh in Sadir Katcheri
7.00 p.m. - Students of Saroja Vaidhayanathan from Delhi - Bharathanatyam

Dec. 29, 2015
2.45 p.m. - Sharanya Krishnan (Vocal), Ravi Srinivas (Violin), B Sivaraman (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - Akkarai Sisters (Vocal), Ranjani Ramakrishnan (Violin), R Shankarnarayanan (Mridangam), Dr.S. Karthick (Ghatam)
7.00 p.m. - Divya Kasturi - Bharathanatyam

Dec. 30, 2015
1.30 p.m. - U Jaya Vigneshwar (Mandolin), R Saisaragan (Mridangam)
2.45 p.m. - Deepa & Divya Sisters (Vocal), Kamalakiran Vinjamuri (Violin),  Aswin Sridharan (Mridangam), H Sivaramakrishnan (Ghatam)
4.00 p.m. - Iswarya Srinivas (Vocal), Villiwakkam Raghuram (Violin), Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan (Mridangam)
5.15 p.m. - Sreesha & Sreeusha (Mandolin), Delhi Sairam (Mridangam), N Ravichandran (Ghatam)
7.15 p.m. - Seetha Narayanan (Vocal), Usha Rajagoplan (Violin), Thanjavur Subramaniyam (Mridangam), G Ravichandaran (Ghatam)

Dec. 31, 2015
2.45 p.m. - Rithu Rajanderan (Vocal), Tharun Ravikumar (Violin), Thirucherai Koushik
4.30 p.m. - R K Kriti ( disciples of Jayanthi Ramchandra) - Bharathanatyam
5.45 p.m. - Jayasri Jayarama Krishnan (Vocal), Kovai Chandran (Violin), Guru Raghavendra (Mridangam), Narasimhan (Ghatam)
7.15 p.m. - Madurai Muralidharan - Bharathanatyam

Jan. 1, 2016
8.00 a.m. - Girija Ramaswamy - Harikatha(Krishna leelai )
9.30 a.m. - Namasankeerthanam by H Ramakrishnan & Party
11.15 a.m. - Mayurapriya Bharathi Vilasam by Muthukumar
1.30 p.m. - To be announced
2.45 p.m. - Thiruvaiyaru Borthers (Vocal), G Raghavendra Prasad (Violin), Arjun Raghavan (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - R S Oviya (Disciple of Srekala Bharath) - Bharathanatyam
5.45 p.m. - Sivagami (Disciple of Srekala Bharath) - Bharathanatyam
7.00 p.m. - Crazy Mohan's Drama

Jan. 2, 2016
9.00 a.m. - Easwaran Bhattadri (Vocal), Melakavari Thiagarajan (Violin), Umesh Narayanan (Mridangam), M V Kothandaraman (Ghatam)
11.15 a.m. - Amirtham Gopal in 'Ponnuku Thanga Manasu' - Drama
1.30 p.m. - Bajans by Ms.Raagamalini and disciples from The Lil' Buddies
2.45 p.m. - K Subiksha (Vocal), K P Nandhini (Violin), Guru Raghavendra (Mridangam)
4.30 p.m. - Bombay Saradha (Vocal)
5.45 p.m. - Ramya Venkateswaran - Bharathanatyam
7.00 p.m. - Stage Creations Kathadi Ramamoorthy in 'Whatsapp Vasu' by S.L. Nanu

Jan. 3, 2016
9.00 a.m. - Sri Sathguru Thayagaraja Arathanai
3.00 p.m. - Aneesh Raghavan (Odissi)
4.15 p.m. - Kumari Riha Giri (Disiciples of Vijay Madhavan) - Bharathanatyam
5.15 p.m. - Dr. Kannan Pugalzhendi Demonstration
6.20 p.m. - Award function
7.00 p.m. - Madhu Enterproses presents Y G MAhendra's Soppana VAzhvil - Drama

Jan. 4, 2016
1.30 p.m. - G Aishwarya (Vocal), Tharun Ravikumar (Violin), Venkatesh (Mridangam)
2.45 p.m. - Sahana Vasudevan (Vocal), Charulatha Ramanujam (Violin), Akshayram (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - R Jaywanti (disciples Jayanthi Ramachadra) - Bharathanatyam
5.15 p.m. - Champa Kalkura (Vocal)
7.00 p.m. - Drama - Thyagaraja Charithram by T V Varadharajan

Jan. 5, 2016
2.45 p.m. - Arvindh Sridhar (Vocal), Chidambaram N Karthik (Violin), Keerthivasan (Mridangam)
4.00 p.m. - Shobana Ramesh - Bharathanatyam
5.00 p.m. - Saradha Elangovan - BHarathanatyam
6.00 p.m. - Dharsha Durai (disciple of Jayanthi Ramachandra) - Bharathanatyam
7.15 p.m. - Ramaa Venkataraman (Dance Director Shti Sri Dance Academy) - Bharathanatyam

An evening of Abhishek Raghuram, Devagandhari and Devamanohari

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's long inaugural function was followed by a relatively short concert by Abhishek Raghuram. Accompanying him were B.U. Ganesh Prasad on the violin and Sumesh Narayanan on the mridangam. Abhishek took sometime to fix his own mic and adjusting 'sharp' and 'gain' of the sound system.A senior couple in the balcony related this process to the AIR balancing before the National programme. They might have been among the invited audience at the All India Radio!

Who said Thevarams come after the main piece in concerts? They could begin the concert too. Abhishek began with 'Vaananai madhi soodiya mainthanai' in Keeravani, which set a steady tempo for the concert. The couple again remembered this theveram they heard in the 'Isai Payirchi' programme on the radio years ago. "Was the teacher T M Thyagarajan or S Kalyanaraman?" they wondered. Abhishek has been singing this theveram for a few years now in concerts.

After a free-flowing short outline of Devagandhari raga, Abhishek took up 'Vinarada na manavi,' one of the Sriranga Pancharatna kritis of Thyagaraja. After the swift presentation, a grand alapana of Pantuvarali followed. Sprinkled with unique phrases, the raga elaboration was a treat to a serious rasika. 'Saramegani,' another Thyagaraja's composition followed. As in practice, Abhishek took the last charanam among the three charanams the kriti has, with niraval at 'Sama gana loludau.' The violin session by Ganesh Prasad was equally commendable.

Much to the surprise of many in the audience, Abhishek began another elaborate raga alapana in Devamanohari followed by a tanam and a pallavi. Yes, it was a lovely time with the lyrics 'idi manchi samayamu Devamanohari' as pallavi in Khanda Chapu in tisra nadai. He brought in Kamala Manohari raga too. Sumesh Narayanan kept up well with the nadai and kanakku that Abhishek is very good at.

The concert concluded with Swathi Thirunal's 'Bhaja bhaja manasa' in Sindhu Bhairavi.  A great beginning to a grand 'season.'

 - Revathi R

The season begins with Bhavan

The 'December season' in Chennai starts much in advance. Though the Navaratri concerts in October are held across the city, it is the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's cultural Festival in November that starts off the 'season' with popular musicians scheduled at the prime slots in the evenings. The concerts attract huge crowd as they are not ticketed and the venue is just at the heart of all happenings - Mylapore.

This year, the festival began on Nov. 20. The monsoon rains were on through the week. It drizzled outside the auditorium, but it didn't stop the music lovers. As you enter the premises, a handwritten scribble board with information on that day's event welcomes you.

The inaugurations are always boring for a music rasika as they have many people talking. Bhavan's was no exception. But, the organisers do have a reason to talk, to tell the public about all their activities, the support they get and changes they have done to the hall and facilities. Industrialist L. Sabaretnam, who is also chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan  spoke on Bhavan's achievements the past year and all the activities the organisation hosts.

The chief guest of the evening N. Murali of The Hindu and the president of The Music Academy was all in praise of Bhavan for its contribution to heritage and culture.

The invited speaker Jayanthasri Balakrishnan, professor of English in PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore. She insisted on bringing children to music concerts.

Awardees for the Lifetime Achievement, violinist A Kanyakumari and vocalist Neyveli Santhanagopalan were felicitated and Kanyakumari presented the acceptance speech on behalf of both the awardees. She placed her demand for including instrumental concerts in schedules of the sabhas. "The sabhas say that they do not get audience for instrumental concerts. But, only if they offer, the audience would turn up," she said.

When the stage was cleared for the inaugural concert by Abhishek Raghuram, the ground floor and the balcony were almost full. And when Keeravani began flowing in the theveram 'Vaananai madhi soodiya maindanai,' the corridor where two CCTV screens were installed, was getting filled up.