On a trip to heaven...

Today there was a concert here in IIT organised in association with SPIC MACAY. It was a Mohan Veena recital by Pt.Vishwa Mohan Bhatt along with Tabla by Pt.Shubhroto Bhattacharjee.
It was a homage to the late Ustad Bismillah Khan.
Well, what can I say...it was one hour,fifteen mintutes of pure bliss and left us craving for more.
It was an elaborate piece in raag Hem Bihag which I learnt is an audava-sampoorna raag defined by

S G3 M1 P N3 S
S N D2 P M G R2 S.

So basically a derivative of Shankarabharanam according to the Carnatic school.
He started with a "Jod Jhala", followed by a "taan" and then a 15 min piece with taal (Tabla) which was first Vilambit (slow) and then gath (fast), the overall structure being pretty much akin to the Ragam-Tanam-Pallavi (respectively) in Carnatic music.
After one hour of enthralling music on the Mohan Veena, surprise of surprises, Panditji sang for us!! It was in the Sufi style with the words O Saiyyan re-Mere dhadkan mein tu,meri saason mein tu... and was a continuation in the same raag.
It was an unforgettable evening.
Truely, the concert took us on a trip to heaven!

Kannalane and O Sajna

An outstanding Rahman composition in the silken voice of Chitra-here is my version of KANNALANE:

Song:Kannalane
Movie:Bombay
Music:A.R.Rahman
Singer:Chitra
Lyrics:Vairamutthu

O SAJNA:

Being a regular at Pradipji's blog since the time I came to know him,I don't know how I missed this one! It was only after recording this song, when I googled it up, did I find it on his blog! And this came to me as as much an intimidation as a pleasant surprise :) - made me think twice if I should post my version of it after his...!
Nevertheless I'm posting it just because I spent hours on it...

Song:O Sajna
Movie:Parakh
Music:Salil Chaudury
Singer:Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics:Shailendra

Again, due to the constraints of singing in a hostel room, ever in the apprehension of being asked to shut up by people outside :P I've not really been able to let my voice out freely...and do realise that both songs could have been done much better...
Kindly excuse...and please leave your comments :P

Rasik Balma

Often considered one of Lataji's greatest sad songs, Rasik Balma is a lovely melody of the yesteryears.
I've never really seen Mohanam and the likes (this one being in Shuddh Kalyan, I learnt) as having a 'sad' feel...but with this song,the poignant lyrics and Lataji's soulful singing have brought out the agony so beautifully!
Here is my attempt of it:
Your feedback is valuable.

Music:Shankar-Jaikishen
Singer:Lata Mangeshkar
Lyrics:Hasrat Jaipuri
Movie:Chori Chori.

Beauutiful Bahudari!!

Update: you can find my other varnam composition in Lalitha ragam here.

My affair with Bahudari started when I was in class six...to me its one of those 'goosebumpsy' ragas!-if u know what I mean... :) I remember the day vividly-the day I was taught Brova Barama...how immensely grateful I was, to my teacher, for introducing such a wonderful raga to me!I just kept singing it over and over again to myself as I walked back home-it was elevating!
Over the years,Bahudari only lured me more and more, thanks to geniuses like U.Srinivas,Ganesh & Kumaresh,Rahman and many others; and about three and a half years back, I kinda felt compelled from within to try writing something in it. Since I find it a lot of fun to play around with swaras, I thought a varnam would be the best thing to try.
So I composed something and showed it to my mom and asked her for lyrics. Being a singer herself,she was really pleased and immediately started working on it.It was a thoroughly enjoyable excercise trying to fit her lyrics with my swaras.A perfectionist that she is, she really wouldn't be satisfied easily! Finally,after about 3-4 days we thought it had shaped up fine.

So here it is:
Comments of course, are most welcome.





VARNAM
Ragam:Bahudari (SGMPDNS ; SNPMGS ,janyam of Harikambodhi(28) )
Talam:Adi
Swaras (tune) :Self.
Lyrics: Vijayalakshmi Bhakthavatsalam.

Swaram:

( Notation used: lower case-mandra sthaayi, upper case-madhyama sthaayi, upper case bold-thaara sthaayi )

Pallavi:
Sa,S ,,NP DNPM GPMG | MaPM GSdn | dnSG MPDN ||
DNSN ,PMG PDNP ,GMG | SGnS ,GSG | MPaD NPDN ||

Anupallavi:
NiPD NSNP MaPD NPMG |GaSG nsaG |GPMG Ga,, ||
nSGG ,MGM PPaD NSNS | GaSG MPMG | GMNS NPDN||

Chittaiswaram:
SaSa NPDN SNPM NNPM | PDNP DNSN | NSGN Sa,, ||
SNPM GSnS dnSp pdnS |GGSM MGPP | MNNP DNSG ||

Charanam:
PaDN PaGM PDNS ,NPM | GaPM GaSG | MPMG ,SGM ||

Mukthayiswarams:
1.Pa,M ,,Ga ,,,, niSa | Ga,S ,,Ma | ,Ga, PaMa||
2.Ga,, ,,SG MPMG MGGn | Sa,n Ga,S | Ma,G PaDN||
3.GMPD NSSN SGNS SNNP | DNSM PDNG | MPDN Sa,,||
NNPD NPPM PMNP SNNP | DNSG SGNS |NSGM PMGS ||
4.SaGS GaGM PMGM PDNS | Ga,, ,,,, | ,,,, ,,,, ||(a)
SaGS GaGM PMGM PDNS | Ga,S Ni,S | NPaS NPMG ||(b)
SaGS GaGM PMGM PDNS | Ga,N Sa,P | DaNS NPMG || (c)
SaGS GaGM PMGM PDNS | Ga,N Sa,P |DaNS Ga,,||
SGMG MPMG GSNN Sa,, | DNSN SGSN | PDNS Ni,, ||
SNNP MGMP DNSN Pa,, | GMPD NSNP | NPMG Ma,, ||
SNPM GSNP MGSP MGSn | SGMP ,DNS | Ma,G ,,S, Ma,G ,,S,||

Words:

Pallavi:
kaNNA un thaay iruvar moovulagin thaay nee anRO
maNNai uNdu aNdam muzhuthum annaikku vAyil kAttinAy

Anupallavi:
pANdavrkku nee thuNai irunthAy pArthanukku geethai uRaitthAy
un perumayai pAda Or piraviyum pOthumO

Charanam:
paraman unnudan en jeevan iNayAthO

Of course, it doesn’t take much to ‘compose’ something like this, since its simply about permuting and combining swaras (aesthetically of course)from a pre-defined set. So one is confined by the bounds of the raga. Needless to say its much more challenging to compose something ‘non-hard core-carnatic’ (aka ‘light’, I don’t understand why though!) – isn’t it more exciting to play a game with lesser rules?!
Sigh,only, I wish I was talented enough for that- like some of my ‘senior’ audiobloggers here :D
(Nevertheless, amma and me worked on another such project about a year after this -will be posting it in one of my forthcoming posts)

Another dimension to Bahudari:

Here’s another song in the same raga, albeit in stark contrast -
Thee thee from Thiruda Thiruda…
However many times I listen to this song, ever since it released way back in 1993, it leaves me awestruck everytime!
A song which emphatically testifies the genius of my GOD, Rahman! (The flute piece in the 2nd interlude-woww!!)
Needless to say, its not in pure Bahudari , but I love the way Rahman has gone berserk! :D

So here's my version of it:

Not sure I’ve really captured the spark in Carolene’s voice though…
(BTW, does anyone know if this singer has sung any other song?? Beautiful voice and great modulation-very sad that she disappeared from the scene after just one song…)
BTW this is my first attempt at mixing and it was not until I did this song that I realized how big a task it is (in spite of using just primitive methods)! – realized that just singing alone is such a small part of the entire process of presenting a song!!

Finally,a blog for myself...

All along, I've been the kind that has this strange liking for obscurity and anonymity...and so never really indulged in this curious soliloquy called blogging...
And blogging is all about wanting to be heard, in some sense, I guess...

But my thoughts slowly changed over time...its good after all to know what people have to say about your ideas...and realised that its especially so, with music-infact essential for your growth!

So here I am, audioblogging :P