I am probably the biggest cynic you will ever find, of graduation ceremonies, or celebrations. Never having attended any of my own ceremonial graduation events at the universities, it would normally have been an easy decision for me to punt on the invitation to Sai and and his brother Virinchi's graduation celebrations too, especially considering the cross country trip involved. This, however, was an exception, because Sai was going to give a somewhat longish Carnatic music concert at the event. I had to be there, having been a fan of Sai's singing ever since I have known him to sing.

Yet, I was somewhat apprehensive. Having attended so many performances by amateur artists (also being parent of two aspiring singers), I have seen things go wrong so many times with young performers. Sometimes, it is just plain nervousness arising out of a self-imposed pressure to excel, and at other times, it's just underestimation of the amount of preparation it takes to sustain focus for that long and deliver a uniformly percentage performance.

Sai assuaged my fears right out of the gate with a masterful rendition of the Thodi Varnam. This was not some perfunctory starting piece with a view to just warming up the vocal chords - Sai went the full length, showing dexterity in his shruthi and layam sense, developing and refining the muktavi swarams in two speeds. I knew that I could relax and just enjoy the rest of the concert, and I was excited. He followed the varnam with an invocational Gajananayutham , a popular Dikshitar piece in ChakravAkam. This was somewhat of a variation from other versions of the song I am familiar with, but the sangatis were all within the purview of the ragam, and combined with the briskness of the tempo, it sounded great. The swarakalpana following the song nicely kept up the tempo too, and provided a firm and authoritative finish to the song.

Sai undertook to present his main piece right away. Although this is somewhat unconventional, I think it was strategically a sound decision, from a risk mitigation point of view. He presented a remarkable Kharaharapriya ragAlapana that was well structured, and that covered all the salient prayogams of the ragam, all in their appointed places. The violinist Adith followed it up with a fitting and complementary ragAlapana of his own, leaving the audience completely satiated. Sai took up Thyagaraja's Rama nee samanamevaru for his kriti. He was patient and deliberate in developing all the sangatis of this classic composition, and set himself up nicely for an inline neraval on palukupalukulaku thene. The neraval was copy book quality, with many interesting sangatis and had the entire auditorium totally engrossed. The swarakalpana that followed had a fluent gait about it with exciting interludes with the violin, and Kasinath's rupaka talam tani avartanam gave the whole song a fitting finale. The team had pulled off a truly memorable Kharaharapriya experience.

Sai must have been emboldened by his previous song, because the Sobhillu Saptaswara that followed was totally brilliant. The song is all about delivering swift akArams in a rather brisk kalaPramANam (tempo). It's also one of those Thyagaraja classics whose bhavam is done justice to by how well it is sung (being about the seven notes of music themselves), and Sai's performance had few blemishes. I have heard him sing this before, but the big stage and the adrenalin packed an extra punch to the song that was totally delectable.

At this point I was beginning to wonder if we were going to hear any other composer besides Thyagaraja, and as if to allay those fears, Sai undertook to present Bhajana Seya rAda, a Mysore Vasudevacharya composition in DharmAvati. Now, DharmAvati is a rather elusive ragam to portray through an Alapana, because the ragam lacks characteristic phrases that pin it down well. Sai nevertheless presented a sound alapana, which was followed with a rather remarkable violin version of the ragam. I had been admiring of Adith ever since the concert began, but now this was stuff of serious skillfulness. The song itself was presented in the most soulful of ways, and I found myself tearing up at the climactic experience of Rama Bhakti.

Not to leave out other great composers, Sai had short pieces by Purandara dasa and AnnamAcharya following the DharmAvati, and both bhava laden compositions were nicely presented. Sai then sang Kurai ondrum illai, a ragamalika composition by the venerable Rajaji. The song was particularly reminiscent of Sai's early childhood days when he would fight with his older brother to stave him off from joining him whenever he sang that song. Obviously a personal favorite, Sai brought joy and a lot of fond memories with that song.

When all is said and done, Sai is somewhat of a showman, and has always reveled in putting up a show. He got his opportunity to show his mettle as a singer, and didn't waste it, when he sang his Khamas Tillana. The Lalgudi Jayaraman composition itself is rife with a lot of showy elements, with swarAksharams all over the place, and lent itself nicely to Sai's penchant for performance.  Together, they truly exhilarated the audience.

Sai and his accompanists rounded out the concert with a rather workmanlike Vinayakunivalenu in Madhyamavati. Composing in praise of AmmavAru has always brought out the lyrical best in all the trinity and that piece by saint Thyagaraja is no exception. It was a sweet ending to a beautiful evening spent in music.

I was so glad I made the time to be part of Sai's graduation concert. My hearty congratulations to Sai the kaLAkArudu (the artist), and to his parents, the kaLAkArakulu (the facilitators). In preparing Sai for this concert and nurturing Sai's musical education over the years, the role of the teacher deserves a very special mention. Sai's guru is Smt. Valli Amaravadi, a great grand daughter of the famous veena vidwan Sri. Emani Shankara Sastry, and comes from a family of musicians. She is a disciple of Sri. Akella Prabhakara Murthy, who was a disciple of Sri Kittamani Bhagavathar. Smt. Valli is very proud of her student, and in her speech after the concert, expressed hope that Sai would continue his musical journey.

To say that Sai has promise is an obvious understatement. The only thing keeping Sai from making greater strides in the wonderful art of Carnatic music is him believing in it, and in himself. I am firmly of the belief that music inspired by Bhakti (devotion) is a self perpetuating path to bliss and harmony in life, and I'm glad that Sai's parents have made that investment in bringing their children up. Along with his teacher Smt. Valli, everyone of us who attended that concert that evening will be rooting for Sai's continued success.

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