a wedding in the family of one Jnanaprakasa Mudaliar in Pondicherry. Until then the brothers had given full-fledged concerts mostly in and around Chembai. True, they had been to several places with Natesa Sastrigal and sung at his discourses, but these mini-concerts were more in the nature of interludes, of subsidiary performances. The performance in Pondicherry made Chembai known over a wider area leading later to more concert opportunities. Ernakulam concert (1915) Chembai secured a similar opportunity of significance again in 1915. A leading citizen of Ernakulam, named T.A.Duraiswami lyer was conducting an annual Tyagaraja festival which attracted important performers of the day and a throng of listeners. It was considered a privilege to sing at the festival. Chembai went to Ernakulam and requested Duraiswami lyer a chance for him also to sing. Duraiswami lyer agreed. As customary at such festivals, Chembai sang for the limited time allotted to him and was about to get up, when there was a chorus of requests for one more number and he had to oblige! Here he had forged a friendship with T.G.Krishna Iyer (nephew of Duraiswami Iyer) whose compositions he was to set to classical music, and popularise later. Thiruvavaduthurai concert (1915) Chembai had heard about 'Sreelasree' Ambalavana Desikar (pontiff of the Tiruvavaduturai matha) and his discriminating knowledge of music. He wanted to have a chance to sing before him and proceeded to Tiruvavaduturai with his brother. At Desikar's suggestion, Chembai rendered in viruttam form the verse 'Kanduka madakkariyai vasamai nadattalam'. Desikar went on prompting Chembai about the ragas he should sing and the youngster responded enthusiastically. Impressed by the performance, Desikar ordered that a katcheri (concert) by Chembai be held the next day. A highlight of the concert was that the mridanga accompaniment was provided by the famous Azhagianambi Pillai. Palakkad ramanavami concert (1916) Another significant event in Chembai's early career was his concert at the Ramanavami festival in Palakkad in 1916. Among those who attended the concert was Pudukkotai Dakshinamurthy Pillai. After the festival, Pillai returned to Trichy to meet the violin maestro Govindaswamy Pillai and told him of the calibre of Chembai's music. They made arrangements for a kutcheri by Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar in Trichy. Govindaswamy Pillai himself provided the violin accompaniment while Dakshinamurthy Pillai played the mridanga. The concert met Govindaswamy Pillai's expectations and Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar had the opportunity to sing at various other places, with the two Pillais