"Gumbals" Nandu's take on "indhak kaadhal"

Nandu Mahadevan, my friend and a talented Keyboardist with whom I have had the opportunity of performing in many concerts, has a keen ear for harmony and melody. Most of you must be already familiar with the web site gumbals where he and his friends have pooled their talents and put some wonderful music for us to enjoy. Some numbers like "Copa cobana", "Hey undhan walk i paaru" and "Chiku" have been well received by all. I am personally a fan of his base-track scoring abilities. He always comes up with some innovative approaches in the base track and also in the harmony. His voice typically suits many of the 'pop'pish numbers.

Here in the following link he presents a version of "indhak kaadhal" - a poem written by Narayanan Venkitu:

http://www.gumbalsband.com/IndhaKaathal.htm

Please listen to his nice harmonious attempt and encourage him to produce more for our listening pleasure !!

Audio post - Flute piece - My first tryst with sequencing in Motif ES

Two months after its arrival, I finally found time time and touched the beauty that is MOTIF ES. The stunning sounds urged me to compose at least a small piece. And here is the flute piece is shudhdha saaveri ragam. Just a "ching chak" with flute and piano. This may be considered a prelude to the music that I may be composing in the future.

Audio post - oru paadalai pala raagaththil

This song finds a place in my SPB list. This was tuned by the composer - G. K. Venkatesh. To read about him and his wonderful compositions in detail, click the songs links in this page. Saravanan, the walking encyclopaedia of film music, has written wonderfully about the discography of GKV.

This song is from an obscure movie "malligai mohini". the song went equally obscure I believe. With people like Udhaya and Saravanan around, there is no dearth for "new" old song surprises. It went into my "to sing" list, the moment I heard it (may be a year or two back). I was given this link for the telugu version:

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/p/x/u4b_4hZVIS.As1NMvHdW/

It has been sung by G. Anand - never heard of him - who has done a nice job too. Let me know how my attempt sounds.

Audio post- Vedham nee iniya naadham nee

Felt like singing this wonderful KJY-IR song which came in the early years of IR. Have been singing a lot of SPB stuff these days and felt like my maanaseega gurunaathar was saying "dEi, enna en paattellaam practice paNradhilliya ?" (assume JKB or maarththaaNdam piLLaivaaL here). So..

It is often said that KJY has a bad tamil pronunication. Though it is true that he sang therukkOvilE Odivaa, it is unfair to single him out as a person with pathetic tamil pronunication espcially when he has rendered 90 % of the tamil songs with clear pronunciation. In fact, there are many songs which challenge even the best singers in terms of pronunications - two examples are "vEdham nee" from kOvilpuRa and "gangaikkarai mannadi". Vedham nee is also paced at a breakneck speed. Just look at these lyrics:

வேதம் நீ..இனிய நாதம் நீ (2)
நிலவு நீ பகலும் நீ..அடிமை நான் தினமும் ஓதும்
வேதம் நீ..இனிய நாதம் நீ (2)
வேதம் நீ..இனிய நாதம் நீ (2)

கருணை மேவும் பூவிழிப்பார்வையில்
கவிதை இன்பம் காட்டுகிறாய் (2)
இளைய தென்றல் காற்றினிலே..ஏ...
இளைய தென்றல் காற்றினிலே
இனிய சந்தப் பாட்டினிலே
இளைய தென்றல் காற்றினிலே
இனிய சந்தப் பாட்டினிலே
எதிலும் உந்தன் நாதங்களே
நினைத்த பொருள் தரும் நிரந்தர சுகம் தரும்

(வேதம் நீ..)

அண்டம் பகிரண்டம் உனை அண்டும் படி வந்தாய் (2)
தண்டை ஒலி ஜதி தருமோ கமல பாதம் சதிரிடுமோ(2)
மனமும் விழியும் தினமும் எழுதும் அழகே
மலையும் கடலும் நதியும் அறியும் வடிவே
நெஞ்சம் இது தஞ்சம் என உனைத் தினம் நினைத்தது
நித்தம் ஒரு புத்தம் புது இசைத் தமிழ் வடித்தது
ஒருமுறை தரிசனமும் தருக இசையில் உனது இதயம் இசையும்
மனம் குணம் அறிந்தவள்
குழலது சரியுது சரியுது
குறுநகை விரியுது விரியுது
விழிக்கருணை மழை அதில் நனைய வரும் ஒரு மனம் பரவும்

(வேதம் நீ..)


Try saying these lines fast (dont have to sing):

அண்டம் பகிரண்டம் உனை அண்டும் படி வந்தாய்
தண்டை ஒலி ஜதி தருமோ கமல பாதம் சதிரிடுமோ

He has delivered with such a clarity and precision and it will be unfair to him bad at tamil pronunication. For that matter, SPB had many slips all the way which went a little unnoticed (Susheela and PBS had their fair share too).

SPB had difficulty in pronuncing "ள" properly. Example - mangaiyrail magaraa"ni", in nallathOr veeNai - "vaalnthida puriguvaiyO". But these errors have gone largely unnoticed. It will only be good that these wonderful artists not be chastised for these any more since they really learnt the language as they grew and delivered with clarity as they grew in stature unlike the current vEdhana sargam or udit who have absolutely no idea what they are singing. Shreya has a much more acceptable pronunication than the above two.

Let me know what you think about my rendition.