Cleveland Aradhana 2009

It all began 6 months before the program in the month of November.....
I had been chosen by Ramani Sir to sing in the Sustaining Sampradaya for the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana. The topic was Shyama Sastri kritis. The classes had already begun by mid November. The first two songs were taught by Jayalakshmi Santhanam maami. They were Shankari Shankuru in Saveri and parakela nanu in Kedaragaula. The third song was Tharunam eedamma in Gowlipantu taught by Rama Ravi. The fourth song was Saroja dala netri in Shankarabarnam taught by B.N. Krishnamurti sir. We did Alapana and Kalpana swaras for this song. We learnt two swarajatis from R.K. Srikantan Sir. They were the Thodi and Bhairavi swarajatis. The Bhairavi swarajati was that main piece in the concert. This seventh song was Brovavamma in Manji taught by B. N. Krishnamurthi sir again. We learnt the Yadukulakambodi swarajati from Suguna Purushotaman Maami. It was the first song in the concert. We also learnt Kanaka Shaila in Punnagavarali from B.N. Krishnamurti sir. We were privileged to learn Balakanakamaya in Atana from great Dr. Pinakapani sir. We learnt Devi brova samayamide in Chintamani and Marivere in Anandabhairavi from Neiveyli Santhanagopalan sir. Next was Himadri suthe in Kalyani taught by Sowmya Maami. The thirteenth song was Karuna joodu in Shri also taught by Sowmya Maami.
The concert was on April 13th 2009. The weeks following the concert were booked with practices for the concert. I arrived in Cleveland on April 9th, four days before the concert. Leading up to the concert, we had boot camp like practices for four days – more than 16 hours every day. This was the first time, all of us were together and practice in unison. This required a lot of coordination and setting up protocol as to who does what, when and how. But it was a lot of fun!
Monday night, following a concert of Smt Parsalla Ponnamma, the great singer, was our concert. The auditorium was almost full and was a great feeling to know that people paid to listen to us! After a brisk start with Yadhukula Kambodi, the concert went well. Unfortunately, we had to cut a few songs – Lalitha, Punnagavarali, Atana etc. But overall, the concert was a success. All the musicians present liked a great concert.
It was an unforgettable experience to have stalwarts like my gurus Shahikiran and Ganesh, Murali uncle and Jaya mami, both Suguna maamis, Ramani sir, Thyagarajan sir, Santhanagoplan sir, Sowmya aunty, and several others in the audience and to get a standing ovation from the audience, was certainly a feeling to cherish till the end of lifetime.
On behalf of every one, I sincerely thank V V Sundaram sir for making our dreams come true!