Deshil yaavum marandhene :-)

dEsh is always synonymous happiness. 🙂 Thanks to TMK & Sangeetha’s concert, I discovered the very beautiful song, prEmaiyil yAvum marandEnE, in dESh. I didn’t know it was from the old movie, Shakuntala starring M.S. till somebody sitting next to me in the concert told me.

The first thing I did yesterday was to search for ‘Sakuntala’ cassette at home & since then, I have been listening to this song on a loop! Till I found that I had an mp3 version of it too with me, I was rewinding the cassette again and again and listening to it. It brought back memories of the days when I had more cassettes than CDs/mp3s and I used to untiringly rewind and listen to many songs again and again from a whole lot of cassettes. Cassettes have almost become a thing of the past now!
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T.M.Krishna & Sangeetha Sivakumar’s Concert

This is the first concert that TMK & Sangeetha are performing together. It seems yesterday was their wedding anniversary. Here’s wishing them a long musical life together! 🙂

Concert at Narada Gana Sabha (Bharat Sangeet Utsav) on 6th November, 2009

Accompanists:
Akkarai Subbulakshmi – Violin
Poongulam Subramaniam – Mridangam
B.S.Purushotham – Khanjira

Duration of the concert: 2hrs 30 min Continue reading

Ebony & Ivory – Celebrating M.S. & her piano

A concert by Anil Srinivasan (Piano) & Sikkil Gurucharan (Vocal), accompanied by B.S.Pururshothaman on the Khanjira on 24th July, 2009

See the date of the concert. This is another of those posts which I never got around to publishing here. But today when I am lost in the music of Anil Srinivasan & Sikkil Gurucharan, I feel I shouldn’t leave this post unpublished here. So, after adding/rearranging a few lines and reliving the concert all the while, here it is.
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Weekend

Watching one of my favourite old movies, Parichay on Filmy channel, guitar practice after a long time and watching the one-hour programme on Orissa on Discovery Channel which has now made me add to Orissa to the looong list of places I want to visit someday – these are the only things worth mentioning about the typical lazy Saturday that today was, when I wasn’t in the mood to even step out of home.

It looks like tomorrow might be a day in complete contrast to today, thanks to

  • Sriram V’s talk on ‘C. Saraswathi Bai, First Lady Bhagavatar’ at 9.45 am (Bharat Sangeet Utsav)
  • Sriram Parasuram’s lec-dem on ‘Rakti ragas in Hindustani & Carnatic Music’ from 11.00 am – 12:30 pm (Bharat Sangeet Utsav)
  • Concert of Anil Srinivasan with the NalandaWay All Girls Children Choir at 6:30 pm at Sir Mutha VenkataSubba Rao concert Hall. Seems some Bharatiar’s compositions will be performed in this concert.

Let’s see if things go as per plans.. Happy Sunday to you all! 🙂

Am back! Or so I hope!

Postponing writing post after post will result in the blog becoming like how mine has – a blog getting updated once in a blue moon. But more than that, something you very badly wanted to write about once might become insignificant/out-dated at the present moment when you finally find the time or get the urge to write. I have a looot of unfinished posts in my drafts! Besides there is a chance that you might now not be able to write something the way you initially wanted to. I hate seeing my blog in this state. So, starting from today, I am going to seriously try to restore this blog to how it was quite a few months earlier. Let’s see how it goes…

P.S.: I was thinking whether to post this or not. But I wasn’t interested in postponing posting it either 😉

Sowmya’s Concert

At Sastri Hall on 24th October

Accompanists:
B.U.Ganesh Prasad – Violin
Manoj Siva – Mridangam

List of Songs:
1. varnam – Sankarabharanam
2. nArada gAna – Atana – Swarams at nArada gAna
3. sandehamunu – Ramapriya – Alapana; neraval at varamunu
4. kumaran tAL – Yadukulakambhoji
5. Sri guruguha pAlitOsmi – Padi – swarams at Sri guruguha
6. koluvaiyunnADe – Bhairavi – Alapana; neraval & swarams at manasu ranjilla
tani Avartanam
7. vagalADi – Behag
8. yAr pOi solluvAr – Todi
9. bhoolOka kumAri – Bhimplas (Bharatiyar’s composition in Sanskrit)
10. tillAna – Purnachandrika? (Don’t remember)
11. mangaLam – Sowrashtram

Overall, a good concert. I liked nArada gAna lOla and Sri guruguha pAlitOsmi the most.

Music & Yoga

Today morning, I discovered what a great combo the two make to begin the day with. Anandabhairavi varnam, santAna rAmaswAminam and Sri rAmam – 3 very, very beautiful compositions made extra pleasing by T.M.Krishna’s voice and superb singing were what gave me company while I was doing yoga and made the already rejuvenating experience an even better one. After going for class for the last several months, I have now gained the confidence that not only will I be able to do yoga on my own, but I will also do it regularly. Thanks to my laziness, being regular was what I was/am a bit concerned about. But now that I have discovered the joy of yoga+music, I guess my laziness will automatically be driven away.

Sights and Sounds of nature!

Voiceless version of Worldspace theme is playing. As I look out of the window of the bus, I see a group of about 20-30 birds flying over some backwaters (or is it not backwater?). The scene somehow looks beautiful. Within a few seconds, I see another group of birds flying, those together forming a V-shape. Voiceless version of worldspace theme has already ended and even as I am enjoying the sights of nature lost in Rahman’s music, the same theme with voice plays and I hear Rahman say, ‘It’s the sound of nature. If you listen carefully, there’s music in everything.’ 🙂 Moments like these are what make life beautiful, even if only for a few fleeting seconds, even when nothing else is going great in life. Thank you yet again, Rahman!