Super Singing!

Airtel Super Singer 2008 is on in full swing and I am hooked to it. I haven’t watched the earlier seasons. Last year when I was in Madras in June, I happened to catch the end of Super Singer Junior and loved the show.These days, once the week starts I start obsessively looking for the episodes on youtube. God bless the wonderful people who take the pains to upload them a couple of hours after it is aired!

They have some really high profile judges. The triumverate of Mathangi, Mahathi and Srilekha were really good with their decisions and approach. Now we have Malgudi Shubha, the droolicious (cmon..with a voice like that and after suttum vizhi!) Sriram Parthasarathy and the unworthy Deepan Chakravathy as judges for the next round. Deepan Chakravarthy is hilarious..He keeps talking about shruthi and then goes on to demonstrate how things have to be sung..only problem being, he has a grating voice and can’t hold a note himself! I hate the maudlin violin tunes they play when people are rejected or when they break down in front of the camera. The show will sell without that. Someone please tell Vijay TV that! Chinmayee is wasted on the show. Personally, she should have more screen time and probably sing more often than she does..She started one episode with a brilliant charanam from Minnale (the May Madham song).

The song choices for the competition are brilliant..A lot of lovely 90s melodies..The participants are a mixed bag. There are some really good ones. I think I sing better than some of the others..I have been gaining confidence in my singing capabilities. Gee, I think I can even take part in super singer sometime Ofcourse one bad side effect (that is effect on people by my side ) has been that I have been singing obsessively and bugging Mr.Violinist Agnostic to observe if my swara sthanas, pitch and landing notes are right (terminology judges use). Poor DPack had to listen to me throughout the drive back from our canoeing trip!

Also, in shows like these you start having personal favorites from episode 1 and you root for them through the rounds. Yesterday’s episode had my favorite, Ravi sing a brilliant alapanai in Brindavana Saranga. The circumstances leading to it was a little contrived, but yes he definitely is a sure shot at being Super Singer 2008. After that I ODed on Brindavana Saranga. It is such a wonderful floating raga. My personal favorites/recommendations :

1. “Yayum Yayum” from Madhirakshi - Fantastic sangam poetry, lovely musical interpretation, soulful piano support and ofcourse SGC’s magnificient singing! The album itself is out of this world soulful! I strongly recommend checking it out.

2. Ranjani Gayathri’s “Rangapuravihara” from their album “Paramanandam” or ofcourse this brilliant rendition. Paramanandam is another album I recommend. It has a mindblowingly brilliant “Hiranmayeem” also.

Sanjay and Ranjini Gayathri are coming to Columbus in the next 2 months. And in other news, I bought a new tennis racket and also,I am going to go watch Lion King, the Broadway show tonight! Life is good!

Music memories-Kaalai Thooki

Most of us have memory associations with a particular song or album. I always associate songs with a time period of my life. Minnale always reminds of post 12th standard summer hangouts in the beach, Rhythm with chemistry class rides with D, Pehla Nasha of singing in the moonlight on the terrace…I digress..But you get the point right!

So anyway, I was browsing through my music and chanced upon this piece from Sanjay Subrahmanian’s Tamil Moovar CD. The Yadhukula Kamboji composition by Maarimutham Pillai..I love tamil compositions. I emote better with tamil songs. Especilally songs praising the dancing lord of Thillai! Yadhukula Kamboji is a joyous raaga with wonderful glides and I almost envision a gentle swaying when I listen to it. The first time I heard Kaalai Thooki was when my Athai sang it in her almost abaswaram koral. My Athai is a little overweight due to thyroid issues and always gets teased by us on her weight. On one such day she took chagrin to it and told us about how she was super slim when she was young. And about how she was the choice dancer for school plays and events. “Valanju valanju gracefull a aaduven theriyuma?”, she said. Cruel kids that we were burst into laughter immediately! And to prove it, she immediately launched into song and dance :”kaalai thooki nindradum deivame”..And to her credit she managed the Nataraja pose pretty well..She was breathless very soon..But we were quietened. And I fell in love with the song! My athai is a super sport, and since then has always complied to put on a “Kaalai Thooki” performance whenever we requested, sometimes with my other Athai providing a slightly (very slightly) improved vocal support!

You can listen to the song here : http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/ZqK2pqqMHd.As1NMvHdW/

Sanjay Blog!

This discovery made my day today! And he’s on facebook too!

Foot-in-mouth!

I take back my words about JTYJN I love that album too! Just didn’t give the songs a chance.. The Jaane tu mera kya hai by Sukhwinder Singh is such a gut wrenching piece! And Pappu has ishtyle!

Moral of the story : Don’t jump the gun with an ARR album!

Why I like Ada better

Contrary to popular opinion I’m hooked onto Ada more than Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na..Ishq Ada hai with it’s lovely flourishes and swing touches has been on loop almost continously in my head. I love the style with which Rashid Ali pulls this song off. The female version is really nice too with Parul Mishra adding lovely alaaps and making it sound more classical. I like the “march” like rhythm arrangement and the lovely accordion accompaniments in the song. The song is fantastic and fresh and simply brilliant. It reminded me a lot of the under appreciated title track from Sillendru oru Kaadal.

The music is organic and fertile. Contrast this to the IMHO over hyped Kabhi Kabhi song from JTYJN (what a mouthful as apposed to the poetic Ada)..The same Rashid Ali in a very stylish and neat composition which is trendy and groovy but very contrived! The song is hummable and lovable but thats about it. It sounds like a generic hindi movie “college” song with the hero running behind a crying heroine!

Moving on to Mehereban! Man! This song takes the music to a new height! And the lyrics!!!When someone reaches a level of spiritual enlightenment you can hear it in their voice! There’s definitely music in heaven (i won’t believe in a heaven sans music!!) and I bet this is on the playlist there..

These three songs define the album for me! In JTYJN Nazarein Milana caught my attention almost instantly.. But really Ada certainly has more “ada”!

B for Bhairavi

As a part of my raga a week program , most of last week was spent listening to Bhairavi compositions and RTPs. It really helped that the week was a “writing” week, where I spent most day at school siting at my desk with Word open, trying to find new BS for 2 new proposals. I am known for perpetually wearing earphones in the lab and so can listen to music pretty much all day! With the task at hand I set to work purposefully. I have had very little previous association with Bhairavi other than a few occasional hearings and ofcourse having learnt the viriboni varnam, what seems almost a lifetime ago! So the exercise was not only a very good learning experience but I also discovered the majestic beauty of the raga itself!

My pick of the Bhairavi compositions I listened to was Amba Kamakshi, Shyama Shasthri’s awesome Swarajathi. It was simply regal in its melody and the rhythmics of its Chittai Swaras. By the end of the week, I had this song in loop for hours together! I particularly liked MSS and SSI’s  joint rendition that I found which was from a Ramanavami kutcheri at Kalki Gardens. Next in my choices is Muthuswami Dikshithar’s magnum opus Balagopala , especially a version of TMK singing it. Simply mindblowing! Yaaro Ivar Yaaro was another favorite. The version on youtube from Sanjay’s Jaya TV concert is particularly good. Especially the neraval. My pick of the RTPs was Sanjay and SSI. Ofcourse this was just what appealed to my ear. I am still a beginner and am in no capacity to judge the quality of the RTPs. MLV’s RTP was also very good. Her voice is so unique and powerful!

Here is a comprehensive list of my hearing experience :

RTPs : Sanjay, SSI, TMK, GNB, MLV

Krithis : Amba Kamakshi -Shyama Shastri

Balagopala - MD

Yaro Ivar Yaaro -Arunachala Kavi

Thaye Ezhai - Papanasam Sivan

Upacaramulu - Thiagaraja

Janani Mamava - Swati Thirunal

Odi Bharayya - Purandaradasa

Keesu keesendru - Thiruppavai-Andal

Koluvai - Thiagaraja

Neevanti Deivamu - Thiagaraja

Overall I think it was a very fruitful exercise as not only did I become familiar and in love wit Bhairavi, I also got to listen to krithis I hadn’t previously heard of. I’m loving every moment of this. I have changed the mood and it will be a Sahana saaral this week

1k and raga of the week!

Blog stats tells me there have been 1001(my paati will be happy) visitors to my blog so far! It might not be a big number for a blog that is about 4 months old now. But frankly I wasn’t expecting to get that many eyeballs, as I rarely leave comments in blogs and almost never as Dandilsa. And it’s not like I write brilliant stuff for the url to spread by word of mouth. So thanks Subbu and Sid. Glad you guys kept the promise and opened my webpage 10 times a day…Lol! Kidding..People, even if you came here looking for “puliotharai dishes” and went back disappointed: thanks! If not anything else, it is but motivation for me to write more sensibly and frequently! I have only 30-odd comments but I won’t be a hypocrite and ask people to de-lurk (hint hint)

My friend Uts and I are doing a raga a week exercise where we listen to one raga all week-RTPs, all possible krithis and almost everything that pops up on searching for the raga on sangeethapriya. This will hopefully make me “the maami with the discerning ear” I soooo long to be! I have been maintaining a notebook to record the songs and ragas I’m covering. But I realised might as well put it down here-good for the environment and the blog :P. I did a whole week of Kalyani last week. By the end of the week I could recognise a Kalyani from miles away (Wishful thinking!). This week’s Bhairavi- a raga that both my favorite singers - Sanjay and TMK, sing with superb elan! Will keep you posted (pun intended)!

Zakhir Hussain and the masters of percussion

I was very lucky to watch the Ustad live as a part of his masters of percussion ensemble on Friday (2nd May). It was in the magnificent Southern Theatre building in downtown Columbus, complete with the ornate gold brocading and the velvet curtains that such buildings are known for! A packed hall of white and brown. All eagerly waiting in anticipation. The opening act left us gaping with our mouths wide open. A brilliant display of acrobatic percussion from the Meitei Pung Cholom troupe from Manipur combining drums, dance and martial arts. I was completely floored by their rhythmic footwork complimenting the drumming (reminded me of Revathy Ramachandran’s Shuddhanritam). The soulful music of the Saarangi then ushered in the ustad and his brother Faizal Qureshi. This was the first time I ever heard a Saarangi live and the melancholic tones of the instrument was simply inspiring! Dilshad Khan on the Saarangi then provided the musical backdrop for the tabla gimmicks of the brothers. There were several humorous interludes and soon Zakhir Hussain had the audience eating out of his palm literally! Then came the musician from Tashkent playing the Doyra. The stuff he did with it were mindblowing. There was also some brilliant beatboxing from Taufiq Qureshi another of Zakhir’s brothers. Post break, Niladri Kumar came on the sitar with some brilliant stuff and soon the whole ensemble was jamming together breaking spontaneously into tunes including Vaishnava janato, Ragupathy raghava and Mozart’s 25th symphony (ala Titan ad). The music reached a crescendo building up on rhythmic fireworks from the Qureshi’s, Manipuri drummers, the uzbeki doyra player, Vijay Chauhan on the Dholki and the saarangi and the sitar providing the melodic support. Brilliant stuff and a truly rare and blessed experience!

Life in bullet points

These are random jottings from my life that breezed past while I was busy writing proposals!

• Watched Djokovic beat Nadal and Fedrer lose on the same day in the Pacific Life Open - my kinda day!
• Saw Hrithik Roshan in a Sony Ericsson commercial on TV here. Yay to that!
• I am making progress in my resolution to be “greener”. Refused plastic bags in stores and did laundry in cold water. Now if only I can get into recycling at home! ( I do it diligently with my stuff in school. But somehow with no recycling centers close by at home the resolve gives into laziness.)
• I have been ODing on Khamas the past 3 days. Fell in love with Dr. S. Ramanathan’s voice watching this youtube video. My first encounter with his voice and I simply love the “twang” in his voice! I of course then hunted for more of him and found a mine in good old sangeethapriya. (And also found fodder for the trivia hunting me. I knew he was Sowmya and Unni’s guru. But he also happens to be Geetha Bennet’s father and can be linked as a fifth generation descendant to all three of holy trinity of carnatic music!) I found more Khamas in the form of a melting RTP by TN Seshagopalan. And to keep pace with the mood Mathey from Morning Raaga (I can’t find any other version of this varnam) and M.S’s Dholayam have been added to the listening loop. And this has led to a non-stop humming of saamba sivayanavera .
• I am currently reading Sophie’s World and am thoroughly enjoying.
• And the absolute best thing that happened to me was a word of praise from my advisor (on reading my proposals) when she told me she was “very pleased with the quality” of my writing

The particle nature of love!

Friday was a day of adrenalin rushes for me. The whole day at school was spent in a frenzy of anticipation and impatience. By 3 I had given up on attempting to get any work done. Why you ask me..There was a Sikkil Gurucharan concert in town that evening and being an arrrrrdent fan , I had bulldozed S into driving me some 30 mins away from campus for it. To be fair to him he also showed some mild interest in wanting to attend My friend U and I had fervently “sited” SGC all through our college years. I love his voice and from what little I know of Carnatic music I think he is very good! So back to story..It had been almost 10 months since I heard a kutcheri of the live variety and not something off a CD or Youtube. So obviously I was thrilled to bits about sinking myself in the bliss that is SGC’s music. By 5:30 I completely gave up on work and left to spruce up for the concert. On reaching home I found a box from USPS outside my house.

The moment I registered what it was I immediately made the correlation to the stuff my mom had sent me through Kindu. I definitely wasn’t expecting it that evening considering Kindu’s promptness in mailing stuff. To be fair to her, I broke her record mailing things out the last time I came back from India. The thrill that I felt with the realisation of what was inside made me behave like a five year old. I rushed inside and immediately grabbed a pair of scissors and started ripping the box apart. I was like a kid let loose in candy land. Inside were several thoughtful, wonderful and I must say tatseful gifts. I got a lovely puff sleeved cotton blouse in skyblue from Cotton World. Thanks Perima and Kindu! My mom had also sent me four very simple yet chic tops/shirts for summer use. But the best of the loot was a pretty pretty handbag in jute with ethnic prints in brick red. Thanks Amma! I spent the rest of the evening declaring “my mom is so cool” to S and R who accompanied me to the concert. The love with which my family thoughtfully sent me gifts sent me to euphoria. Sure I bugged my mom to send me a “surprise”. But the willingness with which she complied is sweet. I went to the concert that day in my nice moss green silk kurti (a gift from my athai in a previous package!), my funky target chappals and carrying my new jute bag. I don’t consider myself too much of a materialistic person. In fact my mother claims it is very easy to please me. More than the gifts, The thought behind it was more important for me. I spent the rest of the evening floating a few inches above ground level buoyed by all the love and wonderful music that god has directed towards me!

P.S The concert was wonderful and I hope to make a separate post of it soon. I’m currently drowned with work in preparation for a conference presentation next month and a couple of proposal deadlines next week. (Yes I clearly must be writing them now instead of blogging but escapism is my biggest sin !).

P.P.S The title needs explaining. The particle nature of love - It comes in packets from home

Kindly excuse if you find the mokkai unbearable