Vasanta Mullai

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All the radio stations seemed to be playing one song again and again today. It seemed a ‘remixed’ version of the superb old Tamil song, ‘Vasanta Mullai’. Not only have the lyrics of all the lines except the first one been changed, adding beats to the song has made the song lose its beauty. Look at how stupid the lyrics are: Kaadhal enbadhu coffee pola….aari ponaa kasandhu pogum! (Don’t remember the exact words. Are these words even worth remembering?) Btw, which movie does this song belong to? I hate it.

Going to see Rahman atlast?

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As I was hurriedly getting ready to leave for work today morning, my mom asked me if I saw in the Metro Plus about the programme that was going to be held at Narada Gana Sabha. Thinking it would be some concert of Sanjay/T.M.Krishna, I went and took the Metro Plus from her and what did I see?!! A.R.Rahman is going to release the new CD of Ganesh & Kumaresh titled ‘Carnatic Chills’ on Saturday!!!!!! You should know how excited I must have got! So, right after I reached office, I forgot all my work and called up the number given in the ad. The person who answered said that passes (free passes) would be available from 10 a.m. today at Narada Gana Sabha. When I called up NGS at 10, they said they had no clue about it! I called up the number given in the ad once again and he said he was on his way to the venue taking the passes with him and the passes would most probably be available in the evening too. But, how could I take a risk and wait till the evening to get the passes when it involved a chance of getting to see A.R.Rahman in person? My sister finally managed to get the passes in the afternoon. I just hope Rahman does come on Saturday. I am not ready for another disappointment. (Neither did Rahman come during the Global Rhythms concert at Saarang nor did the show live up to my expectations) Rahman, please do come on Saturday!

Spirit Of Unity Concert

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As I had written earlier, I got hooked on to Rahman’s Spirit of Unity Concert title music a few months back. This programme is being re-telecast on DD on Sundays at 10.30 am for quite sometime now. Apart from the first one which I got from A.R.Rahman’s Yahoo Group, I recorded all others recently. I thought I would share it with all the readers of my blog.

[audio:http://www.mediamax.com/music_music_fan/Hosted/Spirit%20of%20Unity-1.mp3]
(I don’t know why this one is getting played in a fast tempo like this. Can anyone please help me?).
This is the one that comes in the beginning of the programme, before a female voice starts saying the words, ‘Welcome to the Spirit of Unity Concerts’.
[audio:http://www.mediamax.com/music_music_fan/Hosted/SOU-Title.mp3]
These two come at the end of the programme (I recorded these on two different days).
[audio:http://www.mediamax.com/music_music_fan/Hosted/SoU%20-%202.mp3]
[audio:http://www.mediamax.com/music_music_fan/Hosted/spirit%20of%20unity1.mp3]
I have uploaded these in Rapidshare.com. In case any of you are interested, here are the links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/14832199/Spirit_of_Unity.mp3.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/14832283/spirit_of_unity1.mp3.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/14831548/SoU_-_2.mp3.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/14832023/SOU-Title.mp3.html

P.S.: Thanks to this post by Ranjhith, I came to know about the embedded audio feature of WordPress.com

Sunset

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The one road on which I like travelling in the evenings is the Adyar Bridge. If you are someone who likes to see sunrise  or sunset, then you must surely travel by the Adyar Bridge at around 6 pm. The sun appearing like an orange ball, the sky in myriad hues of pink and its reflection on the water! Wow! Thank God water is there atleast in Adyar river!

Why we don’t like Rahman’s songs first time?

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This is what someone had searched for in Google and my blog comes up as a result for that. I wanted to see what other results came up for this search term. That’s where I came across this interview with Srinivas that Prabhu has mentioned in this post.
Coming back to the question, I have attempted to answer it here. One thing about most of Rahman’s songs is that you would never have heard anything like that before! So, naturally it might take sometime to like that song. Take for example, some of Harris Jeyaraj’s songs like Oru Nadhi (Samurai), Mudhal Mudhalai (Laysa Laysa) and Kadhalikkum Aasai (Chellamey), don’t they all sound similar? (No offense meant to any HJ fans out there. I too like these songs.) The point I am trying to make is since we had already liked and enjoyed one of these songs, the moment we listen to the others, though we say that they sound similar we do like it immediately. That is not the case with Rahman’s music.
Now speaking as a Rahmaniac, I will listen to a Rahman’s song till I like it! I strongly believe that the man who gave us songs like Chinna Chinna Aasai, Dil Se Re, etc. would never give something that is not good. So, if I don’t like a song the first time, I will keep on listening to it and will eventually find Rahman’s magic in it. So it’s not that we don’t like some of Rahman’s songs the first time we listen to it, it’s just that it takes some time for the music to grow on you.
Rahman Rocks!!!!

Global Rhythms at Saarang 2007

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The show which was supposed to start at 7.00 pm started only at 8 and concluded at around 9.45.
1. Navaragamalika Varnam
Played by Carnatic musicians Embar Kannan (Violin) and U.P.Raju (Mandolin) along with Poongulam Subramaniam on the Mridangam, Ghatam S.Karthick on the Ghatam and one more person on the khanjira.
2. A piece of music named Ecstasy
Played by the same team along with musicians from the Global Rhythms.
3. Jeff Queen of Global Rhythms played some percussion instrument.
Pat Hernly from Global Rhythms who compered the whole show called the one played by Jeff as American music.
4. Raagam Taanam Pallavi in raaga Revathy
This was not like the usual RTP in Carnatic Music concerts. The ‘Konakkol’ by Pat Hernly was awesome.
5. Srinivas Krishnan sang a medley of some raagas used by A.R.Rahman in his compositions with a few words from the songs which are based on the raaga that he was singing. The songs included Lukka Chuppi (the line ‘Kya bataoon Maa’), Yeh Tara Woh Tara (the humming in the beginning of the song and the line ‘Bood Boond’), Oru Deivam Thanda Poove, Ghanan Ghanan and Mangal Mangal
6. An Italian piece of music played in Saxaphone by a member of Global Rhythms.
7. James Sparling of Global Rhythms played some percussion instrument.
8. Pat of Global Rhythms called this one as a tribute to Mridangam/Tani Avartanam. This one was amazing! The percussion artistes from Global Rhythms as well as Poongulam Subramaniam and Ghatam S.Karthick played this one.
9. Again a Carnatic music composition, Shobillu in Jaganmohini raaga.
10. A.R.Rahman’s Shakalaka Baby (Bombay Dreams’ version)
11. A.R.Rahman’s Thaiyya Thaiyya sung by Rahman’s sister Rehana and Palghat Sriram with Srinivas Krishnan also joining once in a while.
12. A.R.Rahman’s Dol Dol.

On the whole, the show was pretty good. But I somehow didn’t enjoy it that much. This is one show that made me feel I wouldn’t have missed much even if I had not attended it.

Request from a fellow rasika

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Dear Next-Seat-Maama/Maami,
I know that you are a highly knowledgeable person as far as Classical music is concerned and you know all the songs/raagas that the musician is singing / playing. But, should that make you sing the song or the raaga alapana along with the musician? I have come to the concert to hear the artistes on the stage perform. Not to hear your voice. You may be a good singer. But, if you want to show-off your singing skills, this is not the place for you. Why is it that in almost all the concerts that I go to, I find someone like you sitting next to me/behind me? I am not able to enjoy the performance of the musician completely as your singing keeps distracting me.
– Kaadhil Panjudan,
Aparna
P.S: I wrote it in this way after getting inspired by Prabhu’s writings.