I recently came to a realization- it seems to me like I'm not an artiste in the true sense of the word at all. Here's why: I think a key characteristic for an artiste is to be spontaneous. And I'm the least spontaneous person with respect to almost everything. I don't talk spontaneously, I don't write spontaneously and I don't SING spontaneously. I don't do anything on impulse. Everything needs to be reasoned and planned out. I never surprise myself or anyone around me. When I think about it, it's such an irony that I'm into as spontaneous an art as music. I sat down to think one day, why I love composing Carnatic songs. And it dawned on me that that has to do with my lack of spontaneity as well! May be if I were a natural talent, I would tend to do alaapanais with ease and rattle away kalpana swaras. Why compose? Coz it involves careful thought, construction and coming up with a concrete form. It's so much easier than doing an aalaapanai or singing swaras.... for the simple reason that it doesn't require spontaneity and is not extempore!
I've always firmly believed that with singing, Carnatic is much tougher than film songs, but with composing, it's exactly the other way round. Why? coz true singing in Carnatic involves manodharma- or imagination (in the form of aalaapanai, neraval, swaram etc), and if you want to be good, it better not be "pre-meditated imagination"! And composing Carnatic I believe is easy since SO much of it comes ready made in the form of ragas. So if you pick a raga in which to compose, it has its standard usages and nuances and you just go with the flow. There are boundaries. There are rules. And with limited pieces to move around in the game, its not too hard to come up with a standard classical composition. (There's at least a small challenge only if you pick rare ragas, but that's not all too tough either) Where as with "filmi" songs, a whole new range of possibilites arise. Chords. Harmonies. Overlays. Variety of instruments. There's lesser rules, so it's that much tougher to produce a good piece with not much to follow.
Anyway, coming back to me- if art means spontaneity, then I must admit I'm hardly an artiste. I'm so regimented in my thoughts... Sometimes, the thought that I'm fundamentally wired this way scares me. But many times, I feel good as well. I find immense pleasure in analyzing a piece of music philosophically. So if this is what is "natural" to me, then is this art as well? I don't know.
I have a lot to thank tfmpage for. Back in the day, that was my point of entry into the online world of musically like minded people. The Raga-Of-Song page (or ROS) was like home for a good 2-3 years and that's where I made some of my best musical associations. The song I'm presenting here today is the result of one such association- with Ram. Ram wrote the lyrics for which I composed the tune. This was one of my first compositions , and my very first experience with online collaboration (back then, Ram was in the US and me in India), which has become the order of the day today. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun! Although the song made its rounds within part of the ROS community and was quite well received, I think people were just being nice to me- probably because I was this kid just out of high school :P I now think the song was such an immature composition- half baked and cliched in a lot of ways despite some moving lines by Ram... (Not that I'm great now...!) Nevertheless, wanted to post it just for records- and to revisit those old ROS days... I can't believe it's been 9 years!!
Today, Ram is a noted music critic in the Chennai circles and the author of a book on the Carnatic music stalwart, G.N.Balasubramanyam titled "isaiulaga iLavarasar". I can only say I'm so pleased and proud! Way to go, Ram :)
This song goes out to my three good friends from ROS - Ram, Murali and Sheela. Glad to have met you all.
And dear blog visitor, will be glad to know what you thought of this piece!
If I were asked to use the word "grand" for any one Tamil film song, it would be for this one. True to the name of the raga of this song - Gambheera Nattai - that's what this song is: majestic. Of course, what else can we expect when all the pillars of Tamil film music come together - the maestro, SPB and S. Janaki...
One song whose prelude alone can give goosebumps, one song which is such a magnificent combination of intelligence and aesthetics, one song I can never tire listening to.
(If there's something I don't like about this song, its probably the lyrics and the visuals - but the music more than makes up for both of these!)
I've collaborated on this song - for the first time - with Vivek Mahadevan. I think he's done a beautiful job of this! It was a pleasure working with him. And as many of you may know, he's getting married very soon! So Vivek, here's wishing you and your wife-to-be a very happy married life and the best of everything! :)
A little about the mix: the k-track is something I created by a simple voice-removal from the original and I was pleasantly surprised to hear the result - I thought it wasn't bad at all, for a voice-cut track! However, it can never equal a properly made karaoke in quality, and that in turn has a bearing on the effects we use for the voices as well, so as to make them blend with the track. Vivek and me have tried our best in making this sound reasonably good. Let us know what you thought!
Here's a non-Carnatic song from me after a while! Ajay Chandran passed on this absolutely beautiful Japanese song from Final Fantasy to me quite a while back, and told me he was writing alternate lyrics for it which he wanted me to sing. The idea really excited me- for one, the song was so beautiful and two, by past experience, working on Ajay's lyrics was always a pleasure... Like with many other projects in the past this too got stalled and stalled... but finally here it is!
Many many thanks to Meera who mixed this for us in no time and making me sound better than I actually do perhaps :P
It might be interesting for you to note that Ajay has tried to make many of the Hindi words rhyme or sound similar in some way, to the original Japanese lyrics! Great job Ajay, to come up with something completely on your own and make it fit in so beautifully with an existing tune, that too with some resemblance to the original words which were in a totally unrelated language! Enjoyed doing this :)
Here are Ajay's lyrics:
________________________________________
udti pirun main to aasmaan mein yoon
main chanchal, hawaa ki tarah
gum hai kahaan
teri aashiqui mein
kaash ye dil ko..hosh aaye
sajna main yoon
teri raah khadi
dekh zara..
kabhi to yahaan
hosh nahin.. mujhe.. tu jo mila..
tuu hi magar ye jaane naa..
dil kii aahen....kahe maahi thaamo baahen
aaa yoon, jiya na jalaaa
yahaan jaltii hoon
kahaan jaane aankhen teri
aise to.. naa jaa...
so jaaoon mai
kho jaaoon aaj mein
aaun phir aankhon mein
banke aansoon
kahin se sada
teri dil ne suni
aankh khuli.. kuch bhi nahiin
haqeekat kya.. jaane kyaa sapnaa
kaun se sach ko maanu mai
kehna kabhi
hoon mai kaun teri
khel nahiin ..
pyaar mera
umeed to hai.. jaane.. kyon dil mein..
laut ke tum phir aaoge..
dil kii aahen....kahe maahi thaamo baahen
aaa yoon, jiya na jalaaa
yahaan jaltii hoon
kahaan jaane aankhen teri
aise to.. naa jaa...
so jaaoon main
kho jaaoon aaj main
aaun phir aankhon mein
banke aansoo
_____________________________________
So here it is, for you to appraise!
Song: udti phirun
Music: Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano (for the original "Suteki da ne" in Final Fantasy X)
Lyrics: Ajay Chandran
Singer (lead and harmonies): Self
Mixing: Meera Manohar
[UPDATE as of August 2018: Click here for a spunky recreation of this piece with an amazing team for IndianRaga.]
Here's a new composition from mom and me- a thillana in Bindumalini. Thillanas have always attracted me and needless to say, Lalgudi thillanas have been some of the most inspiring ones, as I'm sure any Lalgudi rasika would agree. I feel blessed and fortunate to have learned some of his pieces from his own sister.
I was under the impression that there was no thillana in Bindumalini- it was only after I finished this piece that I got to know (thanks to Jayanthi akka) that there were at least three more, one of them by the maestro Lalgudi himself! Still haven't had a chance to listen to any of them though, and I hope to do so sometime soon. (Links/ references in this regard most welcome!)
This piece was done a couple of months ago and I wasn't planning on blogging this anytime now, but the abundant, incessant rains in San Diego now prompted me to :) The lyrics by my mom are about rain- a tribute to the Rain God, if you will. As always, loved collaborating with amma :) This is my first attempt at composing a thillana - feedback with pointers/ critiques most welcome. Please do let us know your thoughts!
Special thanks to my Guru and Jayanthi akka for their constant encouragement for my compositions!
Its been a while since I updated this space with any music. Hopefully, I'll do so soon.
Couple of weeks ago when I was on vacation, I passed on a youtube link to Sathya's rendition of Kaapi on keyboard to my dad, in response to which he told me of T.M.Krishna's article in The Hindu against the use of keyboard and certain other instruments in Carnatic music. Thanks to a friend, I got the link to the article on The Hindu's website. Here it is: http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/music/article67245.ece
Quite an interesting perspective sparking off a debate for this season, I thought.
I read it and my immediate reaction was complete disagreement. I started thinking about what it means to preserve a tradition, what purpose do labels serve (could Carnatic keyboardists for instance just get off the hook by saying "If your problem is that the keyboard cannot handle Carnatic, then just take it that what I play is not labeled "Carnatic"- its some new genre"??), what defines a tradition and so on. Soon enough, found Anil Srinivasan's reponse to TMK reflecting a lot of my views: http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/12/27/stories/2009122750110300.htm
The rejoinder made me revise some of my earlier thoughts. I found it to make a lot of sense. It seemed to me that TMK's main point was that the keyboard is not suited to handle *certain ragas* satisfactorily and NOT that it cannot play *any* raga satisfactorily:
"Let me give you an example. Let's say that certain ragas are not played in an instrument because the instrument cannot accommodate them. What do we then do? Just ignore them and let them become irrelevant over a period of time? This way we only narrow down the mural of Carnatic music. Carnatic music is not only about scales like Gamanashrama and Dharmavathi, it's also about Dhanyasi, Sahana, Ahiri, Anandabharavi, Devagandhari, Manji, Varali, Nayaki, Narayanagoula, Surutti and these are only samples. There are so many more ragas like these that every instrument should be able to express represent." - Words of TMK taken from The Hindu dated Dec 26 '09.
What was the difference between the former and latter sets of ragas? I think it is that the latter set of ragas are all gamakam-intensive, relying little on the arohanam avarohanam. That is, characteristic phrases involving certain very specific gamakams speak more for the raga than the arohanam avarohanam. Where as for the former, the arohanam avarohanam can bring out the essense of the raga reasonably well- and it is always easier to play the former on an instrument such as a keyboard since they are not gamakam-intensive and can be played reasonably well with just the use of phrases from the arohanam-avarohanam.
Since his references seemed indirect, I had to infer that he meant the keyboard/ saxophone cannot handle these ragas the way they should be. I may be wrong- I'm not sure if he exactly has keyboard in mind when he talks about these ragas. I then did a youtube search for Sahana by Sathya and sure enough, found one :) And to my ears, it sounded quite pleasant (may be not as good as some of his other renditions though, but I don't think that's because of the inability of the instrument- I see lot of potential for a better rendition). I'm yet to look for Carnatic keyboard renditions of the other ragas that TMK has mentioned, although I have heard (IMO) very good keyboard renditions of ragas like Bhairavi (Viriboni) and Nattakurunji (Chalamela) which are out and out gamakam based.
Throughout, I was left with this one nagging question: Why is TMK not talking about the modern keyboard with the pitch bender??? Like a friend said, "the idea that the keyboard is not suited to Carnatic is as old as the mountains"- for the simple reason that it can only produce straight notes and not gamakams. This having been the case for so many years, in my opinion the introduction of the pitch bender in the keyboard was a great revolution- one could now produce gamakams on the keyboard! And I imagine this to be the kind of keyboard that serious performing Carnatic keyboard artistes would use. If there are some who don't use a keyboard with a pitch bender and if TMK's arguments are only directed at them, then I have absolutely no problem with his views. And, if on the other hand there are some who do use a keyboard with a bender but don't use the bender well enough, then the issue is just about talent and not about an inherent shortcoming of the instrument (since to me, Sathya's instrument and playing are testimony to the possibility of superlative rendering of Carnatic music on keyboard). I'm pretty sure though, that the disagreement (between my and TMK's views) lies in the effectiveness of even the best pitch bender used by the best Carnatic keyboardist. I think TMK wants to say that even the best pitch bender cannot render the gamakas intrinsic to certain ragas. Then the issue really comes down to ignorance on my side with respect to authenticity and sufficiency of gamaka rendition.... All that said, I'm nevertheless curious about why TMK did not talk about the bender at all.
I don't mean to contest a stalwart such as TMK's views (I don't think I have the credentials to do that) and my sample space of Carnatic keyboard renditions is probably too small. I need to listen to more. So as always, comments, insights most, most welcome!
Anyway, lets just enjoy some music for now :) I find this kid Sathya- all of fourteen years- highly talented!!
Oh, what a coincidence- today happens to be the birthday of one of the most brilliant composers we have today- who started off as an ace keyboardist! (not Carnatic, though :) ) Here's to all fellow Rahman fans: HAPPY RAHMAN'S BIRTHDAY!!
Here's a Vadiraja composition in a rare raga called Vidapi. This was tuned in this raga by my guru Smt. Lalgudi Rajalakshmi ("mami" as we fondly call her :) ). Mami celebrated her birthday recently (Nov 5) and this is dedicated to her. Sorry that I'm late, mami and here's a belated Happy Birthday to you once again! And thank you so much for all the wealth you've shared.
Please excuse me for any mistakes in the rendition!
Vidapi I think is similar to the Hindustani Raag Bhatiyar in the feel, although the latter includes ga3 and ni3.
(I remember a documentary that used to come on Doordarshan years back- on the National Literacy Mission - in the voice of Kavitha Krishnamurthy, and I think that was also Bhatiyar... was a lovely tune and brings back fond memories of the DD days...)
Song: Saarideno
Raga: Vidapi (S R1 M1 P D2 S, S D2 P M1 R1 S)
Thalam: Adi
Lyrics: Sri Vadiraja
Tune: Smt Lalgudi Rajalakshmi
Here's Dwijavanthi on impulse: A short aalapanai followed by a song I learnt from a Bombay Jayashree recording years back. (Source of inspiration of the sudden impulse: TNS's mind-blowing RTP that I've lately been listening to like crazy)
An abridged version of this post is now in Sruti magazine.
(Pictures courtesy: Anu Sood and Flickr)
That life springs surprises on you may sound cliched, but it is not until it happens to you that you actually know what it feels like. Couple of months ago, I had what I can easily call the biggest surprise of my life till date. Little did I expect a random intro email I sent long ago to a contact here in the Carnatic Music circle; to get me an opportunity to be part of a musical ensemble curated by Pt Ravi Shankar, to perform at "India Calling!" in Hollywood Bowl, LA! It was the tail end of my vacation in India when all of a sudden I heard from a Bharatanatyam artiste, Divya Devaguptapu of Indian Fine Arts Academy, SD, that Pt. Ravi Shankar was looking for vocalists to join his ensemble. I was asked to send a vocal sample for audition, and the rest just fell in place...
September 12th 2009 is a day I can never forget: the day I first met and spent an evening learning some music with the Sitar legend Pt. Ravi Shankar at his house. I was elated, nervous, excited and dazed, all at the same time. I was at a loss for words for a while... Guruji- as everyone there calls him- was ever so warm, affectionate and encouraging though. Nearing 90, his energy and drive are unbelievable. Sukanyaji and Anoushka Shankar were also extremely warm and friendly. (So was their cute little dog Sukhee) There were four other singers, one flutist and one violinist that day. We were going to meet the rest of the artistes in a couple of days, from when all-day rehearsals for a week would start at Guruji's house.
September 14 was when the rehearsals started full swing. Ah, what an atmosphere! I'd never felt so fortunate before... Here, before me, were some of the finest artistes- many from India, some from US. About twenty of us put together in a room doing music all day... I have no words for the experience- felt blessed. Guruji would sit in front and teach us the songs with Anoushka beside him, helping him out. (She was going to conduct the ensemble at the show) Every piece was composed and hand-picked by him and such a beauty! All of them were wonderful raags including Khamaj, Pilu, Bihag, Maj Khamaj, Yaman..And not to mention a small Carnatic piece from "Raghunayaka" in Hamsadhwani!
What I loved most about the experience was that I had the opportunity to spend a whole week with these wonderful artistes, listening to their renditions all day long. I am so glad that the whole thing was an amazing learning experience for me: I'm now able to appreciate Hindustani music a lot, lot more! About half of us were from Carnatic background and the other half, Hindustani. It was a beautiful exchange of ideas and styles. I could clearly see, beyond a point, the two genres seamlessly merging into one another when you could no longer tell the difference.
Same with the people :) Keeping with the spirit of Guruji's household (with Sukanyaji being a Tamilian) the two languages we could predominantly hear among the artistes as well, were Bengali and Tamil :) It was a lot of fun, each pulling the others' leg now and then. And out of the blue, Guruji and Anoushka would surprise us with a a word or two in Tamil! Ah... I could go on and on about the rehearsals.
We were taken to LA a couple of days prior to the day of the show. Between rehearsals, a bunch of us would go on long walks looking around Hollywood and we had a great time.
September 20th, the day of the event, finally dawned. That morning we had a couple of sound checks in the bowl and that was a tremendous experience! If the empty auditorium could give me goosebumps, I was wondering what it would be like that evening, with the seats full. Even a seemingly insignificant thing like the sound check proved to be an absolutely delightful experience, with each artiste getting to sing/ play anything they wanted, individually for a couple of minutes. Everyone was at their creative best and for once I actually wished the sound check never got over!
Soon it was evening- and we were all finally on the stage. As the dais turned around facing the audience, Guruji was right there in the front, smiling... Finally we were there, ready to present his creations in front of a 25-30,000 strong audience- the feeling I had is indescribable. Never before had I faced such a large crowd. The half hour of our performance went off very well with Anoushka conducting it. The end had a kind of "thani avarthanam" with the dhol and dhaak and was amazing, making all of us want to get off stage and start dancing! The resounding applause after each item was exhilarating- however small a part of the ensemble I was.
And oh, my evening was made extra special by my mom who made it to the show! And thanks so much Karthik for being there :)
Unfortunately, we could not record the event, but some good soul in the audience ("bharathwaj" on youtube) has recorded and uploaded on youtube. Thanks to him, here is a small sample of the event. (You can find most of the other parts too on youtube) Since I guess this was shot from the left side, the right half of the stage is not very well covered. Nevertheless, many thanks to the person who uploaded all the videos.
The rest of the event had Kailash Kher, a Rajasthani folk dance and music, Anoushka Shankar's solo performance and a Bollywood dance item. They were all very enjoyable and needless to say, Anoushka's was a stunner.
At the end of it, I was left wondering if I deserved any of it... anyway, I'll profusely thank my stars (or whatever!) for this totally beautiful, memorable experience with one of the greatest legends of our times, Pt. Ravi Shankar.
Octaves turns three and I couldn't have found a better song for today.
Its usually hard to pick out a single favorite song for anyone, but I think if I'm asked to do that, its very likely that I'll pick poo vaasam most of the time.
I usually say that once a composer picks a good raga, half the job is done- for the beauty of the raga itself takes care of much of it. But this song, despite being in one of THE most beatiful ragas (vivahapriya/ shudhdha sarang) stands as a wonderful composition in its own right. I'll be ever so thankful to Vidyasagar for creating such an outstanding melody. Everytime I listen to it, I feel so much thought and care has gone into making each and every bit of it. And of course, can't forget the beautiful lyrics!
Not to mention everything else associated with the song: anbe sivam, one of the classiest and brilliant movies in Tamil cinema- and one with which I really relate to; Kamal Hassan- what an absolute genius... and of course, Madhavan who's adorable in this.
For this song, I could only think of Karthik's voice... and when I heard his recording, I was just amazed. His parts can really pass off as the original, I would say. (I totally loved Vijay Prakash's rendition by the way!)
I've been wanting to do this song for long but never found a good karaoke... So thanks, Karthik for the patience to fix the karaoke track to make it sound as good as the original, and of course for all the efforts in mixing.
This one's probably the most fulfilling cover I've done till date. Here's hoping that you enjoy it too.
And as this blog completes three years today, many thanks to friends, fellow bloggers and well meaning critics who have kept it going through all the hits and misses :)
Murali suggested I do this song and created a karaoke for it. Then thought it would sound nice as a duet. Asked Rashmiand she was immediately up for it.
Can't resist mentioning Meera's eagerness to do the mix and and especially her super fast completion of it!
Thanks Murali for spearheading this and valuable inputs on doing overlays, backing vocals and such; Rashmi, for joining in and lending your lovely voice; and Meera for a very fine finish!
Here's how we've divided the portions: (S is me and R Rashmi)
This is a relatively less known number by Rahman from 1-2-ka-4. The movie bombed at the box office I guess, but had some good melodies- including this one and sona nahi na sahi.
Found an excellent karaoke track for this one on an esnips page... and it was a long pending idea to do a duet with fellow blogger Rajesh Raman and it somehow never took off until this one.
Needless to say, Rajesh is remarkable. One of those singers who we should be lucky to have here, among us.
A little about the original: A sensational duo, Sonu and Lata have sung this. Lata, despite the shake and all other age related factors sounds so expressive. I wish I could isolate her singing from her voice...
Sonu: Amaaazing as always. Check out a live version by them at the Unity of Lights concerts with Rahman here: Sonu is adorable! :P http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gsmoWEsvpo&feature=PlayList&p=BFBDCF7A7807CBBF&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=37
Now, here's our's :) Let us know what you thought. This was recorded a long time back- we kept going back and forth on mixes... finally decided to pick the best one and put it up... Many thanks to Rajesh's friend Arun Varma for his efforts in mixing this.
Song: Khamoshiyan gungunane lagiin
Movie: 1-2-ka-4
Music: A.R.Rahman
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
Singers: Lata Mangeshkar, Sonu Nigam
Here's a short piece also recorded with my sister couple of weeks back. Its vande mataram in raga Khamas as rendered by four of the best Carnatic musicians of our times. Listen to that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YpxQRVOpdU
Enjoying my summer break with my sister... after albela sajan last time, we recorded this old Kannada song from the 80's today. Beautiful song set primarily in Shuddha sarang/ Brindavana saranga.
Thanks Sumi, for the choice of song.
Do let us know what you thought about this :) And whether you could tell who's who ;)
Here goes...
Song: Theredhidhe mane
Movie: Hosabelaku
Music: Ranga Rao L M
Lyrics: Kuvempu
Singers: Janaki S, Vani Jairam
I am writing this on impulse, but I shall go on...
Its all been about screaming out to people what I CAN do. "Listen to me!", "I can sing too!" and about "getting an audience". Bah!
How egotistical.
Some days back, a dear friend from high school- Janani- requested me to sing the song "bhor bhayi" by bade ghulam ali khan. Very enthusiastically, I checked out the youtube link she gave me, of the Delhi 6 version rendered by Shreya Ghoshal. I heard the song and was dazed for a while. Then I heard it again. And then again.
The next day, with a lot of reluctance, I started to try singing it. I am glad I did that, for two reasons: one, it made me realize the greatness of the singers even more, and two, it made me realize, all over again, how grossly inadequate I was. After a whole day of trying to perfect it, I'm left feeling so angry and disappointed with myself. So angry that I want to say out loud, that here is something I CANNOT do.
All this while, I respected Shreya for the golden, silken, flawless voice she had. And that was it. People had often told me that my tone was similar to her's, and having covered some of her songs, I thought I wasn't too far behind. HAHAHAHAHA.
This song- bhor bhayi just made my respect for her go up ten times. This girl can SING! Wish I could do half as well as her.
Okay, time I stopped and gave the link to I am talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM2NkPOOd84&feature=related
You know what's worse: the mind knows it all- this is Gujari Thodi- Thodi minus pa (i.e Shubhapantuvarali in Carnatic minus pa); so there's no grounding, M2 to D1 transition is difficult; starting phrase itself is dmdndmgrs at lightning speed. The mind understands it completely. But the vocal chords don't. It is SO annoying.
Janani- I'm sorry; I hope there comes a day when I've mastered this song.
On the other hand, sometimes (many a time actually), I feel I should just get into music research and stop singing. Or at least stop till I get somewhere close to where I want to be, with my singing. But no, the Ego won't let me do that. I'll be happy if my ego even lets this post remain to see the next day.
I can't believe a world phenomenon can just end like that. So soon. MJ brings back a lot of childhood memories. Thanks to my sister, I would listen to a lot of his music as a kid. I still remember lazy Sunday afternoons playing Heal the World or Dangerous or Jam. Often, a bunch of us, neighbour kids would get together and dance to Black or White- trying to do that famous step crisscrossing arms and legs :) I still love listening to his songs. Wish he had the chance to make that come-back! The world sure will sorely miss him... Michael Jackson- RIP.
This is a relatively rare song, one of Rahman's earliest. Swarnalatha's sublime voice enhances the beauty of this song. I love the way the song meanders on, in a most pleasing, soothing manner.
Having unearthed this song recently, I realized kannaamoochi was not after all Rahman's only nattaikurunji (sorta)!
Ripped off portion of the "interlude" and created a track.
I hope I've done some justice to this lovely song.
Song: oru naal oru pozhudhu
Movie: andhimandhaarai
Music: A.R.Rahman
Lyrics: Vairamuththu
Singer: Swarnalatha
Our own blogger Star-Murali Ramanathan- is back to active blogging :)
After Uyire- my very first duet in this blog, and then kaaththirundhaen, here's another duet with him, a Rahman number again- kurukku chiruththavale. Set in ragam Vaasanthi (with some slips into Mohanam) this is a beautiful rustic/ folkish song and has two of the most beautiful voices- Hariharan and Mahalakshmi.
Here's our version. Hope you like it.
So rejuvenated with all the beautiful music that I've been getting to hear in the past three days along with a bunch of good friends... The Indian Fine Arts Academy, San Diego has been doing a wonderful job of getting some of the best artistes from India to perform here. My first year here, and I thoroughly enjoyed it- felt like home away from home. The highlights this time were M.S.Gopalakrishnan and Dr.M.Narmada - violin duet, S.Sowmya and Sudha Raghunathan - vocal solo concerts and Ravikiran and Irshad Khan with a jugalbandhi. While they were all fantastic, some particular pieces deserve a special mention in my opinion. While Narmada's purvikalyani was outstanding, Irshad Khan played a beautiful solo in Rakeshri- one of his own compositions. I loved the choice of raag! The jugalbandhi defied tradition and they chose the unconventional Kharaharapriya/ Kaafi thaat. Needless to say, absolutely brilliant performance (although I wish Irshad Khan rested his hands for a bit more, allowing the others to play :) ) What I liked best about Sowmya was the piece in Varali (Ka va va)- although not a favourite for me, I loved the way she handled it. The swarams were so intelligently structured, alternating between different gathis/ nadais. The grand finale was Sudha Raghunathan. I don't have to do more than just mention the name to convey anything about how the concert was. Perfect choice of songs/ ragas- most were favourites :) Maathe in Khamas, Shrichakraraja in Shivashakthi, elaboration of Shankarabharanam followed by Swararagasudha, innudayabarade, bhavayami gopalabalam and kurai ondrum illai were the highlights. The last two nearly moved me to tears and left me craving M.S.Subbulakshmi's voice (which I am listening to as I type this). Some songs are immortalized by some people and you don't want to hear them in anyone else's voice. Nevertheless, Sudha of course did an amazing job. Sigh... all good things come to an end.
