Tuesday, October 28, 2008

My Debut Concert in the December Music Season

Madras (Chennai) has always been well known for the December Music Festival which is a very grand affair every year and which has been attracting huge crowds from all over the world.





This concert was for Karthik Fine Arts on the 22nd of December,1990.

It is a very memorable one for two reasons :

1. It was my debut concert during the December Music Season in Madras (it was not called Chennai then!).
2. Since it was one among the afternoon slot concerts, I had to finish my Semester Exam at college and directly head to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan where the concert was to take place. It was my first year in college. After a morning full of Fourier Series and Laplace Transformations (Mathematics was my major subject :-)), I had to get into the "Todi" mood !! In all, a totally new experience for me !!

Here is what I sang at this concert:

1.Sidhdhi Vinayakam - Mohanakalyani- Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar
2.Ninnu Cheppa - Mandari- Patnam Subramani Iyer
3.Tavaka Naamani - Kedaragowla - Maharaja Swati Tirunal
4.Vinaradhana - Devagandari - Tyagaraja
5.Kartikeya Gangeya - Todi - Papanasam Sivan
6.Surdas Bhajan
7.Jayadevar's Ashtapadi




This photo was taken on the 1st of December,2003 (thirteen years after my debut) when I received the "Isai Peroli" award from the same Sabha, Karthik Fine Arts.

This has been one among the many major Sabhas in the city which has supported and encouraged me over the years..

5 comments:

Sathej said...

Nice recollections. Always nostalgic to look back upon such things :)Fourier Series et al followed by Thodi - nice combination indeed - a good balancing act:)
Sathej

Anonymous said...

Hey,

I am almost lost.....and jealous of people who live now in Chennai.....lucky ones to participate in December season....

We, the people, out of Chennai are not that lucky to listen....Thanks to internet, mail and blog, we can read......

Keep updating your calendar for this year and stories....

regards
Kam' Sharma

R. Iyer said...

Dear Mrs. Girish,

I finally had the chance to come across your blog today and read it in leisure.

It has truly been great reading through it.

I really enjoyed reading your latest post.

It is so nice to go down memory lane and recollect the many cherished moments in life.

I really liked the list for your debut concert for the Season.

I shall definitely take note to keep reading whenever new posts are added on.

Thank You.

Anonymous said...

Great to read the old days. I have seen research by people who say people who are good at Maths are good at music and vice versa due to intricate mathematical patterns in music. Do you think both complemented each other. I am curious where you studied? I have seen in a previous post you lived in IIT madras colony. Did you grow up in the campus attended KV school there? After the december season, when you have free time, maybe you can do a post regarding your early music education, how you got interested in carnatic music,how much you devoted time to it etc. These will be useful for younger generation who take you as a role model.

Thanks
pushkla

Gayathri Girish said...

Hi Pushkala,

My father was working in the Computer Science Dept.,IIT Madras. I did all my 12 years of schooling at KVIIT and we lived inside the beautiful campus for about eight years.
Yeah, after the season, I shall definitely write in detail,about my early music education, experiences over the years and so on.

Gayathri