'Uyire' with Murali Ramanathan- My first duet

Doesn't it feel good to sing and record songs that you've grown up listening to- songs that you would once play incessantly till you know by heart every bit of them, including the interludes and everything... :)
Uyire is one such for me; and yet another of those evergreen, unbeatable classics by Rahman.

Murali Ramanathan is an awesome talent who, luckily for us, entered the blogging world :)
Its amazing how all his renditions exude immense bhavam.
I'm thankful to him for asking me to do this song with him; also thank him for the mixing.
It has been an enjoyable and also a humbling experience.

Here is our version of Uyire :

Song: Uyire Uyire
Movie: Bombay
Music: A.R.Rahman
Lyrics: Vairamutthu
Singers: Hariharan and Chitra




I have had some difficulty singing certain parts of the song and wish I could touch the high notes with more ease...
Kindly leave your feedback.

When recording meant nothing more than singing...

It was only recently that I learnt about cool music softwares and what they can do to your voice and how powerful tools they are. Of course I knew about their existence even before, but somehow never really felt upto it to try my hand at using them... Blogging etc. never really crossed my mind. I was a happy listener and visitor to others' blogs.
So until some months back, my recording exercise consisted of just one thing- singing. No amp, no reverb, no normalising, no pitch benders or scale changers... nothing. And most importantly, no mixing! Just pop in the original casette or cd into the music system and another empty casette, hit the 'karaoke' button and just start recording, singing along with the original singer, trying drown her voice hehe...(wasn't even aware of karaoke cd's being available in the market!)
Actually in a way recording that way was great fun. 'Ignorance is bliss' so holds here.
Since I would record on a tape, there was obviously no cut-copy-paste or anything, so even a slight slip here and there, and the entire song would have to be redone, right from the beginning! There have been so many instances where I goofed up something towards the very end of the song and felt so frustrated about having to start all over again!
Although modern softwares and recording on the computer gives one a lot of flexibility and luxury, recording on tapes was a challenge in itself and the satisfaction it would give me after the completion of a song was immense. Especially after singing some of them atleast 5-6 times (the entire song, that is! ) !
I was just thinking of those good old days...and felt like blogging those old recordings, however bad the recording quality is (I trust it aint too bad, since they're all now made up and enhanced with....ahem....softwares (again! sigh)...

Some old recordings- done 6 years back :
Kannodu Kanbadhellam:

Jhoola bahon ka:

Konjum Mainaakkale:

Boondon se baatein:

More recent ones: Thathiththom:

Manam Virumbudhae:

Sowkkiyama:

Snehidhane:

Kannamoochi:

Chalo tumko lekar chalein (Jism)

pal pal hai bhaari (Swades)

Dil mera ek taara (December 16)

Mausam ki sargam ko sun (with Deepthi Krishnamurthy)

Jahan piya wahan main (Pardes)

Happy Birthday, Rahman!

Yeah, am 4 days late here :(
But I've been so deeply drowned in your music that trivial endeavours in life like blogging didn't cross my mind....And what can be bigger and better than celebrating your birthday with your music!
On your birthday, apart from listening to Guru a crazy number of times, I set my caller tune on my mobile as "Dum tara dum tara chashm chashm..." :)
Thanks- your music makes life itself more meaningful.
Happy birthday to you, Rahman!!
Hopefully will update this space with one more of your mindblowing compositions soon...

Jhumka Gira Re

Back with a song after a long break.
Since long I've been wanting to step aside from melodies for a change and try something different.So here's a song that belongs to what I call 'The Asha Genre'.
Whatever kind of song Ashaji sings, it has such a distinctive feel to it that none other than her can bring in, and none other can even reproduce! Notwithstanding the fact that she is one of those rare singers who can sing completely effortlessly just any kind of song and so amazingly create that right kind of mood, we are all particularly fond of her for a certain class of songs that she has sung and continues to sing-I seem to be unable to classify them as any single kind-well yes, I'm talking of her naughty songs, her peppy songs, her 'drunken' songs...you get the idea I guess... :) What's common to them all is the unmistakable 'Asha-ness' :) Those sudden lightning speed twists in her voice, the child-like vigour, the intermittent laughter, the sighing, the sensuous feel...she is just inimitable!
And today, at 74 she's still kicking!!!

Here's my attempt of one of her hits.

Disclaimer: This version to be compared with the original at listener's risk.

Song: Jhumka Gira Re
Film: Mera Saaya
Music: Madan Mohan
Singer: Asha Bhonsle
Lyrics: Raja Mehdi Ali Khan

Audiobloggers' meet in Bangalore!

7th of this month saw the meeting of four of us from the audioblogging world-Pradip Somasundaran, Vidyu Appaiah, Kiran and myself. Suchin, a friend of Pradipji from Orkut joined us too. We met over lunch at Ceasers, Bangalore.
We were finally 'meeting the voices' in the words of Vidyu :)

It was the first time we were meeting each other (except that I'd met Pradipji briefly the previous day at the Jazz concert organised by Sandeep Chowta) and it felt really good :)
Some really nice musical discussions, and not to mention-the great food made it a memorable day, for all of us I guess :)

Mella mella from Blogswara-V2

BLOGSWARA!-Wow! These people are taking audioblogging to new heights!

There are some songs that are so beautiful and so powerful...have that intense feeling and take you to a different world-Mella mella from Blogswara is one such. No song has had this much impact on me in a long time.
From the time I listened to a 30 second pre-release teaser of this song, I'd been waiiiting to listen to the song in whole.Actually, when I heard that sample, I thought it was hamsanaadam! Yet again, it was infact a shruthibhedam! I percieved the notes as
Sa....Ri Ni....
RiMaPaNi...DaNiRiSaNiDaMaDaPaMa.....
And since I simply love hamsanadam (esp. with the Da :) ) I was sooo eagerly waiting for the song to release.
When it did, and when I played it for the first time, I was surprised that it was infact Gambhira naattai based (with shades of naattai/kedaram here and there)! So I figured the notes for that teaser were actually
Ma....Pa Ga....
PaNiSaGa....RiGaPaMaGaRiNiRiSaNi....... :) :)
Nevertheless I love the gambhira naattai family too, so this song was after all a fabulous treat!Both the singers Jo and Vidyu have done an amaaaazing job!I've been drowned/drenched/immersed in this song for the past 2 days and its still going strong! Completely in love with it.
What grand orchestration it has!!
Both the singers rockkkkkk in the lines 'sonthangaL yAvum thuranthEn' and 'en solvEn nAn en seivEn'-wowwwww!!
The only (minute) drawbacks-Jo's tamil pronunciation here and there, Vidyu's slightly more-than-required classical style and the similarity of some lines of the song with some of pon maalai pozhudhu.But again, these are wayyyyyyyyy too insignificant compared to the greatness of the song as a whole.
My other favourite is 'Hai mera dil' composed by Pradip Somasundaran and sung by himself and Swati Kanitkar; and has some mindblowing violin.
All the songs can be played/downloaded here:
http://www.blogswara.in/songs/player/songs.htm
Hats off to the team! Hope they give us more such stuff in future!

Yet another concert...

Aah...am blogging about this after so many days...lazy,lazy meeee...
Last Saturday, there was a hindustani vocal recital (again organised jointly by IIT and SPICMACAY) by the renowned artiste brothers- Rajan and Sajan Misra, belonging to the Benaras vocal gharana I learnt. They are the recipients of numerous awads, like the Sanskrit Award for musical excellence from the Prime Minister of India,Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1998, Sangeet Bhushan award to name a few.
The concert was for an hour and a half.
They started with Yaman Kalyani-explored all possible intricacies of the raaga...their aalap was spell binding!
The entire piece was for about 40 minutes.
Next was a piece in Durga (requested by someone in the audience).
They ended with a bhajan in what I think was Tansen Peelu (coz it sounded like the carnatic Keeravani)
It was a great concert, but somehow, like many 'lay' carnatic listeners, I felt a little 'Hindustanically challenged' :P Could not enjoy the slowness and repetitive elaboration of the same words to the extent I would have liked :(

Chanchala

Malayalam film music is known for its rich classical, raga based songs.
I stumbled upon this song about 3 years back on Asianet, as I was casually channel surfing. I loved it the very first time I listend to it.I couldn't read any of the song details which were in Malayalam and so had a tough time finding it on the net!
Chitra leaves me dumbfounded with every song of her's and this is no exception. The ease with which her voice meanders through the highs and lows of the song is truely amazing.
I have tried my best to do justice to this wonderful composition, within the constraints here, and the scope of my voice and ability of course.This is my first attempt in Malayalam and I hence sincerely apologise for any mispronunciations. I would be grateful to have corrections and suggestions for improvement.

Song:Chanchala
Music:Mohan Sitara
Singer:Chitra
Film:Ishtam

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