The concert at Ananya, Malleswaram (Bangalore) was a thematic one based on Rare Kritis of Muthuswami Dikshitar in Popular Ragas. I had sung a similar concert for Worldspace (Shruti) and it was pretty well received by listeners. I was fortunate that Sri Arjun Kumar, a very senior mridangam vidwan, accompanied me. Charulatha Ramanujam,  a good friend and a great violinist, accompanied me on the violin.

I elaborated three ragas - Anandabhairavi, Sahana and Shankarabharana. I love such rakthi ragas which, in my opinion, form the core of Carnatic music. Such ragas must be handled very carefully - the swaras become just a building block while it is the timetested sancharas which form the flesh and blood of such ragas. The song list is given below:

1. narasimha agachcha - mohana - misra chapu (S)
2. varalakshmim bhajare - sourashtra - adi
3. dandayudhapanim - anandabhairavi - rupaka (R,S)
4. himagiri kumari - ravikriya - adi
5. eeshaanaadhi - sahana - rupaka (R,S at "muraari")
6. thyagaraja palayashumam - gowla - adi
7. sadasivam upasmahey - shankarabharana - adi - (R,N,S for "purana purusham puranthakam, shankarabharana bhasamana deham)
8. nandagopala - yamunakalyani - adi
9. mangala shloka in madhyamavathi ("mangalam kosalendraya")