Home of Lalita and Murali

Jibon Khatar (Bangla) - A salutation to Shyamal Mitra

2011-12-05T23:28:00.001+11:00

Jibon Khatar (Deyaneya) - A salutation to Shyamal Mitra by murali-venkatraman

Song : Jibon Khatar

Movie : Deyaneya

Singer : Shyamal Mitra

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman

Karaoke Track created by : Murali Venaktraman
Mixed by : George Kuruvilla

Prior to Lalita's arrival in my life, Pandit Ajoy Chokraborty and Manna dey were my only sources of knowledge of bangla songs. Lalita introduced me to 2 important artists later : Haimanti Shukla and Shyaml Mitra. While I have sung one song of Haimanti Shula earlier, this is the first one I attempt of Shyamal Mitra. His style of singing is unmistakably polite and surreally romantic. I have tried really hard to imbibe the style of singing and also the pronunciation. Please let me know what you think of it.

BTW, I created the track and sang this without Lalita's knowledge and presented it as her birthday gift when we were apart :)

Classical Performance by Lalita in Sydney - 2011

2011-12-03T19:44:00.000+11:00

Lalita performed a classical dance number in Sydney, deriving from various styles for Malayalee and Telugu Associations. Here is a joint video of her performances.

Mother's Choice - 5 - OmalaaLE kaNdu njaan

2011-11-29T12:47:00.002+11:00

Song : OmalaaLe kaNdu
Movie : sindhooracheppu
Artist : K. J.Yesudas

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman

Mother's Choice - 5 - OmalaaLE kaNdu njaan by murali-venkatraman

Was recorded in 2009 but never did feel like releasing it. Just a simple attempt at this lovely song.

SooraavaLiyil - சூறாவளியில் - A semi-classical

2011-11-11T13:14:00.002+11:00

Song : SooraavaLiyil - சூறாவளியில்

Singers : Unnikrishnan KB, Murali Venkatraman

Lyrics : Murali Venkatraman

Composed By : Murali Venkatraman

Orchestration and Mixing : Sibu Sukumaran
Special thanks : Rahul Soman

Inspiration
========

சலதி உலகத்தில் சராசரங்களை ஈன்ற தாய் ஆகில்,
   எனக்குத் தாய் அல்லவோ? யான் உன் மைந்தன் அன்றோ?
   எனது சஞ்சலம் தீர்த்து, நின்றன்
முலை சுரந்து ஒழுகு பால் ஊட்டி, என் முகத்தை உன்
   முந்தானையால் துடைத்து, மொழிகின்ற மழலைக்கு
   உகந்துகொண்டு, இள நிலா முறுவல் இன்புற்று, அருகில் யான்
குலவி விளையாடல் கொண்டு, அருள் மழை பொழிந்து,
   அங்கை கொட்டி, வா என்று அழைத்துக்,
   குஞ்சர முகன், கந்தனுக்கு இளையன் என்று எனைக்
   கூறினால், ஈனம் உண்டோ?

-அபிராமி பட்டர் அருளிய "அபிராமி அம்மைப் பதிகம்"

Meaning

கடல் சூழ்ந்த உலகினை ஈன்ற தாய் நீ தான் என்றால் , எனக்கும் நீ தாய் அல்லவோ ? நான் உன் மகன் அல்லவோ ? எனது மனதின் இடர்களை நீக்கி, உன் அன்பெனும்தாய்ப்பாலைச் சுரந்து, வேலன் மற்றும் வினாயகனுக்கு நான் இளையவன் என்று என்னைக் கருதி விளையாட்டுக் காட்டக் கூடாதா ? அதில் என்ன குறைந்துவிடப் போகிறது ?

If you are the great mother who created this world with seas all around, are you not my my mother as well ? Am I not your son ? Why would you not feed me your love? Would considering me as a younger sibling of both Karthik and Ganesh and playing with me belittle your reputation ?

Abirami Bhattar was a poet and devi upasaka. His unshakable bhakti towards Devi can be compared with Meera's towards Krishna although unlike Meera Abirami Bhattar considered himself to be a child of Devi. In that state of mind he composed many devotional hymns many of which have been tuned and sung by carnatic experts.

My inspiration for the song comes mainly from the imaginary dialogue he had with Devi. I usually like to write songs as a dialogue with certain deep emotion rather than calling the God by a bunch of names. In fact, that is how a prayer generally is - highly personalized. Thus I have conceived a situation similar to that imagined by Abhirami Bhattar and have composed the song which I present today. This was written by me in a language much simpler than Abirami Bhattar's language.

While Abhirami may be referring to an invisible Mother, the undercurrent of love expressed in poem can easily invoke the thoughts of our own mothers and their affection thus enabling a strong connection with the poem. Similarly all gopika-radha-krishna themed songs have wonderful undercurrent of love and flirting that they can be enjoyed even by non-religious people.

This song was composed in Sep 2005. Orchestration started in Dec 2010 by Sibu who was introduced to me by Rahul Soman to whom I owe a special thanks. Sibu has been wonderful in helping me arrange some of my songs which will otherwise never see the light of the day since the pace of my orchestration is severely hampered by my professional commitments.

Unni has really taken pains to learn this song well and has rendered it with utmost sincerity. As we were making the song, he also got married and he sill found some clever way to continue his music :) Wishing him a bright singing future and a happy married life.

A translation of the lyrics is available in the youtube video above. Please feel free to comment and let us know how you liked it.

பல்லவி:

=======

சூறாவளியில் சுற்றும் இலைபோல்

மனமே கலங்கின் வருவாய் நீயே

அனுபல்லவி:

============

குன்றின் வேலனை ஈன்றவள் நீயே

குழந்தை வேழனை தந்தவள் நீயே

அன்னார்க்கு மட்டும் தான் அம்மா நீ தாயோ ?

என்னைப் போன்றவர்க்கும் கருணை தாராயோ ?

சரணம் :

=======

வெள்ளி மலையில் நாத வேதம் பல முழங்க

அமர்கின்றாய் அருள் தருகின்றாய்

கண்ணிலே நீர் வடியும் காண்கையிலே - மனப்

புண்ணின் வலி குறையும் உன் சொல்லிலே

என் தாயாகி நின்ற பெருந்தேவி

எனை எடு நீ அம்மா

எனை எடு நீ ஒரு குழந்தையைப் போலே

என் அறியாமையை நீ அன்பாலே மாற்று

SooraavaLiyil - சூறாவளியில் - Teaser of upcoming Semi-Classical

2011-11-04T15:19:00.001+11:00

A preview of an upcoming semi-classical number in carnatic style. Currently in my voice for the teaser. Will feature the voices of both Unnikrishnan and mine.

Song : SooraavaLiyil - சூறாவளியில் - Teaser
Singers : Unnikrishnan KB, Murali Venkatraman
Lyrics : Murali Venkatraman
Composed By : Murali Venkatraman
Orchestration and Mixing : Sibu Sukumaran

Two Videos of My 2005 performance with Dr. P Susheela

2011-11-02T17:51:00.000+11:00

Managed to upload two videos of my performance with Dr. Psusheela in 2005 in Atlanta for Tamil sangam.

Impromptu Aalaap

Brindhavanamum Nandhakumaranum (Unrehearsed)

வார்த்தையின்றி ஏது கண்ணா - A teaser

2011-08-19T14:27:00.000+10:00

Song : வார்த்தையின்றி ஏது கண்ணா - vaarththaiyindri Edhu kaNNa

Singers : Bhavadhaarini Anantharaman
Lyrics : Murali Venkatraman

Composed By : Murali Venkatraman , Vijay Rajagopalan
Orchestrated by : Keyboardvijai

A teaser of a joint composition by me and Vijay Rajagopalan sung by Bhavadhaarini in the ragam Gowri Manohari. Theme : Meera-Krishna

Choolena - छूलेना -A Rain Dance Song

2011-07-17T22:58:00.006+10:00

Song : Choo lEna- छूलेना

Singers : Swati Kanitkar, Kuhoo Gupta, Murali Venkatraman

Lyrics : Sajeev Sarathie

Composed and Orchestrated By : Murali Venkatraman

Mixing /Additional Percussion : Sibu Sukumaran and Bharath Venkatesan

A dense rain-cloud, with flashes of lightning can destroy the darkness of the world.

And can cool the entire burning hot world - Soundarya Lahari - Verse - 40

Available in iTunes : http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/id456679630

Available in amazon : http://www.amazon.com/Choolena-A-Rain-Dance-Song/dp/B005HX70YY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313728149&sr=8-1

(Please listen in Headphones in a good volume)

Some photos were provided by Rashmi Nair

Rain brings joy. Especially to the parched souls. It instigates the festive occasion in India. The thunder instills hope and the rain fulfills it. In this monsoon season, we present here a modest musical celebration of rain. In this song video you will see some trivia about this song and a mention of some inspirations. We dedicate this song to all those legends whose works continue to shape our musical life.

Since conception, this song has taken more than 2 years to complete. The first teaser was posted on 3rd June 2009 ! However, the song started taking shape a year ago when Sajeev kindly agreed to write the lyrics. I cannot thank my team enough for being patient with me till now for its release. This is my fourth song that I am posting as a fully orchestrated number after Sendhaamarai, blogswara theme and war theme. Please scroll down for Lyrics

Please listen and register your valuable feedback. Also please watch this space for more music in the near future. Thanks.

Swati says :

All I can say is I am proud to be part of ‘The best team’ I have come across in a long time and I have to Thank Murali for giving me the opportunity to be part of the same. This song was quite challenging in many aspects and singing was one of them. I thoroughly enjoyed the Harmonies in it. The tune and orchestration of the song enticed us enough to learn and sing it to our, and mainly Murali’s satisfaction. He is a tough one to please you know :) Bharat and Sibu have done a wonderful job of getting final and satisfactory mix. Only the team members know how much efforts and time have gone into getting the right sound and a feel to the song. Kudos to Bharat & Sibu

So, here is the Recipe of ‘Choo lena’

Sajeev Sarathi’s superb lyrics.
Add Murali’s creative composition.
Let it simmer for a while with Murali’s maddening orchestration.
For extra sweetness add Kuhu’s Koyal si meethi aawaj (of course with little bit of mine too :P)
Finally blend and balance it accurately to make a perfect concoction.

Hope all of you will enjoy the song as much as we did making it

Sajeev says:

अपने लिखे बहुत से गानों में "छू लेना" कई कारणों से ख़ास है. पहली वजह तो है कि इस गाने के माध्यम से मेरा परिचय मुरली जैसे बेहद गुणी और प्रतिभाशाली संगीतकार से हुआ. ये हमारा पहला गाना था, जिसके बाद हमने साथ में कई गीत किये जिन्हें आप निकट भविष्य में सुन सकेंगें. दूसरी वजह ये है कि ये गाना करीब ७-८ मिनट लम्बा था, और इसमें धुन की विविधता भी अधिक थी. फिमेल युगल था और उनकी बातचीत थी आपस में. चुनौती ये थी ये बातचीत पूरे गाने में रुचिकर बनी रहे. मगर आप देखेंगें तो दोनों अंतरों में भी एक विविधता है, जहाँ पहले अंतरे में विरह का दर्द है वहीँ दूसरे में होने वाले मिलन की ख़ुशी और उत्तेजना है. बहरहाल मैंने गीत लिखा और मुरली की धुन पर और भेज दिया, करीब एक ढेढ़ हफ्ते तक कोई जवाब नहीं...पता चला कि मुरली और उनकी बेहद संवेदनशील पत्नी गीत के शब्द संयोजन पर गहन विचार में हैं. कुछ दो हफ्ते में गीत फाईनल हुआ, मुझे ख़ुशी हुई कि जो मैंने लिखा बिलकुल वैसा ही फाईनल रूप में आ गया था, अब चुनौती गायिकाओं क़ी थी, मुरली जो ऑस्ट्रेलिया में बैठे हैं उन्होंने चुनाव किया अमेरिका में बैठी स्वाति का और पुणे से कुहू का. मुझे लग रहा था कि दिक्कतें आने वाली है, क्योंकि गाने में संवाद और आपसी छेड़ छाड़ है और दोनों गायिकाएं एक दम अलग अलग छोर पे बैठकर कैसे निभा पाएंगीं ? खैर मुरली ने करीब करीब १ साल का समय लिया, और बहुत सी मेहनत के बाद अंततः गीत अपने मुकाम पर पहुँच ही गया ये मेरे बहुत ही पसंदीदा गीतों में से एक रहेगा हमेशा ही, और उम्मीद करूँगा कि इसे श्रोताओं का भी भरपूर स्नेह मिलेगा. मुरली, स्वाति, कुहू के साथ साथ मैं गीत के संयोजक सिबू का भी ख़ास शुक्रगुजार हूँ जिन सब क़ी मेहनत से ये गीत आज इस रूप में प्रस्तुत हो पाया है. .

Kuhoo Says:

This is my first song with Murali and the kind of creativity he has is amazing, and it appeals to me even more after knowing he has no formal training in classical music. Sajeev's lyrics are beautiful but a challenge for the singer because they are tongue-twisting. This was my first song with Swati as well, I have been a fan of her voice when I first heard her on Muziboo. When Murali told Swati and I have to sing this duet, I was happy to be singing with her. Sibu and Bharath have done wonderful job in mixing. It was a challenge singing this song because it is a decently tough composition with tightly fitted lyrics where there is very less space of taking breaths, and also maintain a conversation like singing with a female partner and be thorough expression wise as well. It was great working with the team and hope the listeners like the song.

Kanavu kaaNum Vaazkkai - Cover with Rajkumar Anjan

2011-03-18T08:14:00.005+11:00

Song : Kanavu kaaNum
Film : NeengaL kEttavai
Original Singer: K. J. Yesudas
Resung by : Rajkumar Anjan
Karaoke Track by : Murali Venkatraman

Raj Kumar Anjan - Kanavu KaaNum from NeengaL Kaettavai..

I made this Karaoke track for myself long time back but never found the time to sing it. I requested Rajkumar Anjan to lend his voice on this and he has done it admirably. Watch out for his clear and subtle sangathis in this cover version and please let us know if you liked it.

Rest in Peace - Dear Malaysia Vasudevan

2011-02-21T11:40:00.003+11:00

"என் வானிலே ஒரு 'தேவ' மின்னல் வந்தது
என் நெஞ்சினை அது கிள்ளிவிட்டுச் சென்றது" -

One may write a long obituary for a dear artist like Malaysia Vasudevan but as Vairamuththu says:

" கோடி கீர்த்தனமும் கவி கோர்ர்த்த வார்த்தைகளும்
ஒரு கண்ணீர் போல் அர்த்தம் தருமோ ?"

Best eulogy for an artist is to remember his great works and pass them on to the next generation:

Non-Folk Songs
==============

1. aLLi thandha boomi

2. kODai kaala kaatre

3. indha minminikku

4. adi aadu poonkuyile

5. vaa vaa vasanthame

6. vaan mEgangaLE

7. malargaLE naadhaswarangaL

8. aagaaya gangai

9. poove iLaiya poovE

10. oru thanga radhaththil

Folk Songs
==========

1. vettivEru vaasam

2. poonkaaththu thirumbuma

3. thenkizakku cheemaiyile

4. koodaiyila karuvaadu

5. ponmaanai thEdi

16. pattu vaNNA rOSaavaam

17. Eraadha malai

ஓலைமேல காத்தாக - Lyrics of one of my folk compositions

2011-02-12T12:51:00.002+11:00

பல்லவி
=======

பெ: ஓலைமேல காத்தாக – என்
உசிர வந்து ஒரசுறியே

தரிசா கெடந்த என் மனச
தளிர வச்சு பாக்குறியே

எங்கேன்னு கண்ணுதானே ஏங்குறதே (ஏங்குறதே)..
நீ முன்ன வந்து நின்னா தேங்குறதே (தேங்குறதே)..

அட பஞ்சா என் நெஞ்சு..
பறந்தோடப் பாத்தாலும்
ஒரு தீயா உன் பிம்பம்
அதை தீண்டிப் பாக்குறதே..

ஆ: ஓலைமேல காத்தாக – என்
உசிர வந்து ஒரசுறியே

தரிசா கெடந்த என் மனச
தளிர வச்சு பாக்குறியே

சரணம் 1:
=====

பெ: கம்பளிப் பூச்சி போல
உன்மீசை அசையுதே
முண்டாசு முறுக்கு பார்த்து
முந்தி வழுகுறதே..

ஆ: கத்தாழம் பூவாசம்
மனசையே பிசையுதே
உன் கூந்தல் தூண்டிலுள்ளே
மனசே மீனாச்சே..ஓ..

பெ: கண்ணிமை நின்னு போச்சு
கன்னத்தில் வெட்கப் பூச்சு
உன் வலுவை பார்த்து பார்த்து
அசந்து போறேனே

ஆ: உன்னாலே இந்த மூச்சு
பார்த்தாலோ காலியாச்சு
உன் வடிவை பார்த்து பார்த்து
மாஞ்சு போறேனே

பெ: வளர்ந்த மரம் மேலே சாயும்
வளைஞ்ச கொடி போலே-உன்
பரந்த மார்மேலே படரும்
மெலிஞ்ச என் தேகம்

பல்லவி
====

ஆ: ஓலைமேல காத்தாக – என்
உசிர வந்து ஒரசுறியே

சரணம் 2:
=====

ஆ: மாவாலே கோலம் போடும்
மானே உன் கையுமே
எம் மார்பை கீறும்போது
நெஞ்சம் திறக்கிறதே

பெ: வண்ணத்துப் பூச்சி போல
இருதயம் துடிக்குதே
உன் சூட்டில் ஈரக்காத்தும்
போர்வை கேக்கலியே

ஆ: காடெல்லாம் வேலை செஞ்சி
களைப்புல கலயக் கஞ்சி
குடிக்கிற காலம் போச்சு - உன்
உதட்டைக் கொண்டாடி

பெ: முல்லப்பூ சூடி வந்து
பின்னலும் பொட்டு சாந்து
வைக்கிற நேரம் உங்க
கண்ணே கண்ணாடி

ஆ: கருத்த ராவினிலே மின்னும்
வெளிர்நிலா போலே - உன்
துருத்தும் மூக்கினிலே மின்னும்
பருத்த மூக்குத்தி

சரணம் 2:
=====

ஆ: ஓலைமேல காத்தாக – என்
உசிர வந்து ஒரசுறியே

பெ: தரிசா கெடந்த என் மனச
தளிர வச்சு பாக்குறியே

ஆ: எங்கேன்னு கண்ணுதானே ஏங்குறதே (ஏங்குறதே)..

பெ: நீ முன்ன வந்து நின்னா தேங்குறதே (தேங்குறதே)..

ஆ: அட பஞ்சா என் நெஞ்சு..
பறந்தோடப் பாத்தாலும்
ஒரு தீயா உன் பிம்பம்
அதை தீண்டிப் பாக்குறதே..

பெ: ஓலைமேல காத்தாக – என்
உசிர வந்து ஒரசுறியே
ம்ம்ம்..
ம்ம்ம்..

A poem for Sindhuja-Karthik Marriage

2011-02-04T11:04:00.001+11:00

This is a poem I wrote on the occasion of marriage of Sindhuja Bhakthavatsalam and Karthik Gomadam.

மதியினைத் தூண்டும் முனைவரின் பாடம்
மனதினைத் தீண்டும் மரபிசை ராகம்

கதியெனக் கிடந்த கன்னியுன் வாழ்வில்
கவிதையாய் கார்த்தியும் புகுந்தான் உன்னை

ரதியெனக் கண்டான் ரசனைகள் சேர்த்தான்
நிமிர்ந்த உன்நடை காதலால் சற்றே

நதியென வளைந்து நாணமும் பூண
நாட்களில் உன்னுடை நல்மனம் கனிந்து

பெற்றவர் உற்றவர் பெரியவர் வாழ்த்த
பெருமழை போலே அன்பது பெய்ய

கற்ற உன்குரு கையுடை வீணையால்
கனிவாய் சுரங்களும் கவினோடெழுப்ப

மகவை ஈன்றும் மாளிகை ஈன்றும்
மாசிலா உடல்நிலை மட்டிலா இளமை(யோடு)

அகவை ஆயிரம் கண்டுநீர் வாழ
அன்புடன் வாழ்த்துவம் ! வாழிய ! வாழிய !

Ali Ali - A Qawwali (Teaser)

2011-01-25T13:36:00.002+11:00

The richness of Sufi music has always inspired me to create some of my own. This is a teaser of an upcoming song which I attempted to tune in qawwali style.

Song : Ali Ali (Teaser)
Composer-Arranger : Murali Venkatraman
Singers : Murali Venkatraman, George Kuruvilla, Unnikrishnan, Eshwar Ravishankar, Deepesh Krishnamoorthy

Lyrics : Vishwa Deepak
Mixing: Sibu Sukumaran

Project Rajam : A Carnatic Documentary (A Teaser)

2011-01-04T12:12:00.003+11:00

Song : Paaduvadhaal (Teaser)
Composer-Arranger : Murali Venkatraman
Sung by : Adithi Devarajan
Poet : Harikrishnan
Mixed By: Bharath Venkatesan

Other songs feature : Karthik Nagarajan, Sindhuja Bhaktavatsalam, Pradip Somasundaran

Shri. S. Rajam was a carnatic musician/painter/ actor who passed away in 2010. This documentary by "Lalitharam" Ramachandran focuses on various aspects of his life for which 5 poems were written by Harikrishnan and were set to tune by me More about Rajam here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Rajam

Or in youtube:

Choo Lena - A rajasthani rain dance song (Teaser)

2011-01-04T11:34:00.005+11:00

Song : Choolena (Teaser)
Composer-Arranger : Murali Venkatraman
Sung by : Swati Kanitkar, Kuhoo Gupta
Lyrics : Sajeev Sarathie
Mixed By: Bharath Venkatesan and Eshwar Ravishankar

Mother's Choice - 4 - VaalkaNNezudhiya

2010-11-13T13:31:00.003+11:00

Song : Vaalkannezudhiya
Composer : S.P.Venkatesh
Originally sung by : K. J. Yesudas,
Movie : Paithrukam

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman

Dialup
======

Mother's Choice - 4 - VaalkaNNezudhiya | Upload Music

Broadband
=========

When my mother was visiting me last year I had sung quite a few songs at her request but did not find time to even upload since usually I write about it. And somehow a sense of apathy has entered my mind towards covers and I do not see myself doing many covers in the future. Anyway this song was long sitting in my computer and I thought may be I can use this to break the inactivity. Somehow I was not very happy with my singing either and hence the delay. Will let you decide.

Aruvi Kooda Jathi Illaamal - With Pradip

2010-04-06T15:00:00.000+10:00

Song : Aruvi Kooda Jathi ilaamal
Composer : Iniyavan
Originally sung by : K. J. Yesudas, S. P. Balasubramaniyam,
Movie : Gowri Manohari

Arranged by : Murali Venkatraman
Singers: Pradip Somasundaran, Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : Pradip Somasundaran

Aruvi kooda Jathi - with Pradip Somasundaran | Music Upload

This song is one of those rare songs in which two giants of south indian music shook hands vigorously and interlaced their voices seamlessly. Yesudas assumes the role of a classically trained singer competing with SPB who represents a lay person singing out of "kELvi jnaanam". The argument is built well through the lyrics, reaches a crescendo and ends in KJY accepting that kELvi jnaanam is sufficient.

However that is a tale of KJY and SPB. Here it is one of Pradip and Murali. Hence, the end result is different. Here Pradip has managed to impress on me how much classical training is important.

Can thunder sing a melody ?

If you want answer for this question you must listen to Pradip in this song. In what seems to have been the most melodious lion’s roar I have heard till date, Pradip has used his commanding voice to send a chill down the spines of lesser singers like yours truly. In what has been my long standing ambitious desire to collaborate with Pradip on some male duets, I have been made to realize how much I lack emphasis in my singing. And Pradip in his own inimitable and warm hearted way did not “tell” me this, but just sang his portion in such a way that I just sat dumbstruck wondering what I should do.

Celebrating ShankarabharaNam - 4- Saa ri ga ri - With Adithi

2010-02-16T13:35:00.000+11:00

Song : Sa Ri Ga Ri
Composer : K. V. Mahadevan
Originally sung by : S. Janaki, S. P. Balasubramaniyam
Movie : ShankaraBharaNam

Arranged by : Murali Venkatraman
Singers: Adithi Devarajan, Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : Meera Manohar

Celebrating ShankarabharaNam - 4- Saa ri ga ri | Upload Music

It is one thing to have classical songs with swaras and another to have a song made of just the swaras without sounding too complicated. This is one of the rare songs in film industry which in spite of having only swaras as its lyrics, sounds very melodious to all and sundry. Ragam Bowli is a cousin of Revagupti which traditionally signifies the music at dawn. Here Adithi and I have tried to recreate the song that touched us deep some 30 years back.

My wedding - Udhaya's Write-up

2010-02-03T18:00:00.001+11:00

Udhaya - My friend and a gifted writer, flew from San Francisco to attend my wedding. My wedding is described in his words:

Part I: From Tracy to Durham
======================

--Took a Delta red-eye flight from SFO to Cleveland, it was crowded like a slaughterhouse. Luckily I got the aisle seat from online seating. I was hoping not to rub thighs with a fat slimy bastard for 5 hours straight. Luckily it was a girl in the middle seat and thankfully her thighs weren't touching each other or mine. She fidgeted all night trying to get comfortable, while I fell asleep oblivious to cheap snacks and over-hyped soda runs by the crew.

--We landed in Cleveland in the wee hours. I ate a McD breakfast and window shopped for a while. Many Bengals and University of Kentucky wares were being sold. Tried to find the powder-blue UK cap to no avail (Just for my initials. I don't give two shits about Kentucky basketball).

--The connecting flight was like transitioning from the ocean to a wading pool. I had both the window and aisle seat as I sat single file. To my right was the bigger row with two seats each. The hostess was also considerably downgraded to a cover girl from the 60s (the 1860s). I could feel the grade and debris on the runway upon takeoff and landing. I developed a new regard for the wellness of my balls.

--We landed in Durham airport around 10 am. My eyes stung like I rode a scooter without shades on a country road. Rang up Bala, one of MS' many ilavampanju friends. I was splitting a room with this dude. Hadn't spoken to him more than once. He said that the ceremony was underway but the knot was yet to be tied. He conveyed his own and MS' eagerness over me making the wedding on time. So Bala picked me up in a modest Ford rental and took me straight to the wedding hall. Bala was, how shall I put this, sweet, soft-spoken, energetic, and delicate. He makes JR seem like P.S. Veerappaa.

The wedding hall was only 20 minutes away, about the time it takes me to go to the grocery store from my house in Tracy. We Californians are more spread out than a hooker's corpse on a police chalk line. Durham was not the Ku Klux Klan rally or a parade of pasty-faced white rat bastards that I had pictured. It was scenic and green. The roads were so thin with cars that a two-lane road seemed
enormously desolate.

Part 2: At the wedding hall
====================

--The cold of the morning hadn't worn off yet. I set foot into what was an unassuming community hall on the outside. The inside was a typical makeshift Hindu temple that we have grown accustomed to in U.S. over the years. I noticed the bride and the groom seated Indian style towards one end of the hall.

The couple of the hour were flanked by a bilingual priest who explained the ongoing ritual to both sides of the wedding party. The wall behind the bride and groom was filled with pale-faced deities sparely decorated in silk and lit up in soft halogen lights. The length of the hall had a maroon-curtained stage on the far side. On the near side were chairs, benches, and a couple of tables with fancy South Indian breakfast –idly,vadai, sambar, chutney, and the like--still breathing. Several unknown elders ushered me to have breakfast.

I couldn’t eat right then. I was still enthralled at getting a good eyeful of MS and Lalitha. As I saw the contentment in Lalitha's face, the ease with which she handled all that was mandated by the priest and others around, the relief seeping through the fatigue in MS's face, I couldn't help getting caught up in the history behind that moment. The trials that these kids went through, the torment of desire and loyalty, responsibility and need; the risk of asserting oneself at the perils of alienating one's parents...and the lesser evils of academia and workforce that twisted and turned this already harsh path of love... I needed a cigar to manage a sigh of relief worthy of the occasion. So I stood there getting my fill of the couple some more.

MS had lost weight. Seated there in his panjakachcham and bare body he looked like fresh gay bait. On his head was a crown that looked like a hollowed and split flower coconut. Reminded me of the whale, Narwhal from my kid's whale book. The Narwhal fell from his head periodically as if to remind us of the human element in that celestial atmosphere. Going back to the panjakachcham, what an outfit! It looked pretty airy and transparent except around the privates where it layers up like the sari. I wonder how many priests walk around everyday with undetected hard-ons beneath this stealth outfit. I can't wait until the west discovers the panjakachcham fashionably. It looks not different from the M.C. Hammer pants from the 80s. Throw a designer jacket or full-sleeve top over it and it’s good to go.

Lalitha looked impeccable from head-to-toe. She was done up beautifully and accessorized with taste. As the ceremony progressed, I met Meera who guessed who I was and introduced herself. I had learned earlier that she lives not far from bb and Aruna. Then I saw Vijay, MS' roomie from his Berkley days.

Then this curly headed 30-something guy approached me and asked if I was doing anything with a camcorder. I plead innocence and made small talk before someone said that it was Srinath. At the same time Srinath realized who I was and he seemed a bit surprised and disappointed. He said later that based on my writing, he expected an 8-foot tall warrior type (not the undercard sumo wrestler that I am I guess). I had expected a piss-and-vinegar type full of energy and wrath in Srinath. He looked more subdued and at peace like an emasculated husband character in a Thamizh serial. Anyway, we discovered each other simultaneously. My first reaction was to pinch his cheeks and slap them while uttering, 'I adore this bastard' at which point this charming lady joined us, her face a bit curious. Srinath introduced her as his wife Bagya and me to her as 'The Udhaya.' We reminisced our history at which point this SL look-alike (well if SL were 10 years younger and had to shower, shave, and press his pants) joined us and introduced himself as PK.

Soon we were all clapping to substitute for the ketti mElam and the thali, ammi, and arundhathi phases were carried out gracefully. It was a done deal for MS and Lalitha. For someone as jaded and cynical about rituals, religion, and pageantry, I felt several shards of ice dissipate inside me. Perhaps I was dew-eyed, my heart was full and heavy with joy. There was so much joy in me that had I the mammaries, I would've breast fed the entire crowd willing or not.

Part 3: Lunch and chores
==================

Around lunch time I met MSâ€™ dad and mom. MSâ€™ sister Aparna was busy running around getting things done. MSâ€™ parents both seemed to have heard of me and said so. Whatever trepidations they mustâ€™ve had before this wedding, they seemed absolutely at peace with the goings on. There was a sense of purpose and clarity in their demeanor that warmed me. MSâ€™ dad was so collected and dignified in speech and toneâ€”truly a throwback, old school soul; I wanted to hug the man and dwell in the comfort he represented. It is the comfort of childhood when all my uncles towered over me and imparted wisdom, wit, direction, and security. There are telling moments in my adult life where I have longed for such a figure of the past to guide and comfort me with wisdom unknown to me.

A bunch of us put out some more chairs and got the crowd ready for lunch. The food was excellent. I met Aravind, Mathi, Raj, and Ramanan (some more friends of MS) during lunch. Srinath and PK were discussing about getting the musical instruments and equipment set up at the Reception hall. Bagya sent her man to go get Ziplocs to save the leftover food. I wish I could go back in time and eat it now. Wonder what happened to all that food! We thought of donating the food to some shelter, but didnâ€™t know enough venues around for that.

MS pulled me aside and expressed regret about not being able to hang with the boys. I felt like reminding him that this will be the first of many occasions for him where he would have to unwillingly forego hangtime with friends; friends that donâ€™t have much to do with the wife. He was married now. Married men and their pre-marriage friends are in parallel universes. Any male who doesnâ€™t agree with this is either lying, has his wife reading this with him, or has his in-laws as friends. But I didnâ€™t feel that the day of the wedding was a time for the groomâ€™s disillusionment. Life will do it slowly and painfully, and before long he will be summing up the state of things with a non-verbal hand movement and shrugged shoulders that said, â€œYou know how it is. I canâ€™t go dude.â€�

MS hinted about a bottle of Rum that was saved for the reception. He mentioned that the reception would be a very relaxed affair. There will be singing and dancing and guaranteed merriment, he said. All my fires were stoked at this point.

We took a while to clear out of there. Everybody pitched in and cleared the place, folded chairs, emptied garbage, and all that. But somehow an organized effort to shoulder everybody to their fronts was missing. We really needed a Periyappa figure there telling everyone what the priorities were and what had to be done next.

After much dilly-dallying all the aforementioned friends of MS drove in two vehicles to gather all the equipment. PK connected his iPod and treated everyone with mid-80s IR music, replete with insipid Vaali lyrics, morose romanticism of KJY, and the suggestive singing of the AARP audio porn queen S.Janagi. The first depressive thoughts of the day arrived in my mind at this point, and by the time the nursery rhyme music of 'kELadi en paavaiyE' came on, I was deeply contemplating mass murder or at least the opportunity to go the way of Van Gogh to slit my ears off. The only solace was the angry Gutka sauce in my mouth.

Part 4: Spirits: Channeled/Bottled what have you
====================================

We waited at the parking lot trying to consolidate our efforts to knock out the remaining chores—gather the instruments, do a grocery stop, pick up some flowers, and some choice kavas am for MS' kundalam.

All through the day I felt the presence of all my missing friends from the chat room where MS and I frequent. When Ramanan invited himself and all of us to Srinath's house so that Bagya could make tea for all of us, I saw Raja G's socialism at work there. When Bagya and Srinath readily accepted and extended a warm welcome to our bunch of faux and bonafide bachelors to their pad, I saw Aruna and Balaji show up in their hospitality. When a perisu hugged MS and told him that God will take care of everything, Kitkat was there. While waiting for the wedding party to show up, Aravind noticed the flaw in our plan for not leaving one of us behind to drive them to the reception venue; I knew Ranga would've picked up on that detail right away. When someone remarked at the beauty of the evening sky, I saw JR's photographic vision there. When I was breaking down the beauty of the MSV's , 'ninaiththathai nadaththiyE mudippavan', I was channeling Sriram there. When PK was mesmerized in the beauty of ARR's ,'munbE vA', I saw Srikanth there. When somebody was air-violining along with an IR interlude with closed eyes, I knew Shankar was there. Whenever someone interjected another's comment with a better one and sent us all into hysterics, I knew inji was there. When Raj confided insider information on knowing actor Surya personally since childhood and proclaimed him as a 'flaming asshole', I could hear Arun's frustration with Kollywood. When Ramanan leaned over during one of the songs and said, 'That's in Revathi. A very expressive raagam,' I knew Ram was there.

We went to Jawahar's office to pick up amps, speakers, and mics. Jawahar was a local figure that everybody seemed to know. He loomed over the proceedings like a kind Tony Soprano. I got to meet him briefly and could tell he rolled with the heavy hitters. Somewhere on the way to getting the evening organized, I raised an important element that was missing in the plans—libation.

Between the shopping stops and missed phone calls from Bagya who was texting us with numbers of people who had to be accessed for some pickup or other, we landed at a spiritual place.

Ramanan magnanimously announced that whatever we got was his treat. Guys got excited and pondered over two 18-year old single malts that were ridiculously priced. Some of us thought of going Dutch but Ramanan wasn't having any of it. I wanted to ascertain that the objective was universal. Did we all want the best tasting Scotch that could be savored and worshipped or did we want something that went the distance without losing its essence from ice cubes and club soda? Srinath came out with the timeless nugget: quantity beats quality. I did a quick survey and determined for everybody that if the Scotch was to see cubes or soda, then an 18-year old was indistinguishable from a 12-year old. So we settled on a small barrel of 12-year old Glenfiddich and saved Ramanan's 401K money.

We ended up having to stop at Srinath's on the way to pick up his keyboard and the invitation to go in was revived again. Myself and a couple of others stayed in the vehicle to prevent any further delays. We were under the gun for the 6 pm reception and Srinath, who chaperoned us, had this sense of urgency about him that I last observed in an INS service clerk. He moved at a pace that suggested that the rest of us were either restless or in the wrong speed altogether. Srinath bitched and moaned about having to dress up for the occasion, he mentioned sheer discomfort at what Bagya had proposed for him to wear. I envisioned a 3-piece suit or a tuxedo with cumberbun and bow tie in the least. Upon seeing just a pressed pair of pants and a full-sleeve shirt on his hanger, I just had to laugh. I reminded him that his appearance was a reflection of Bagya and not himself, he knowingly relented.

Part 5: Paattu, Baratham, Punidha Neeroattam
==================================

At around 6 pm we reached the reception venue and rushed in to make up for lost time. Little did we realize that the terms lost time would gain new meaning that night. We marched in with our wares and an empty hall awaited us. Empty of humans that is, the tables were already set, and the buffet lines were in place. The concierge seemed happy that somebody showed up to honor the reservation. The guys got the equipment s set up in no time and we rocked some more to PK's iPod muscling it out through concert-strength speakers. Srinath's sense of timing had been wise all along as the only clueless punctual guests were an elderly white couple. Thankfully no seating chart was in place, so we picked the table closest to the music and tucked away in a corner at some distance from other tables.

A half hour passed and those of us who brought change of clothes went and got changed. The caterers brought the food and we helped them set up. More time passed and there was still no sign of the wedding party. We congregated at our table and got the event started in some sense with our plastic cup toasts aided by a bucket of ice from the ice machine. Even at 12-years of age, young GlenFiddich showed much of the promise and potential that will be achieved six years later. We enjoyed the Scott's company immensely, watered down as he was. Most of the guests were in by then and there was still no sign of the wedding party. Time was creeping into 7:00pm and slowly at 7:30 pm the kids were showing some signs of chaos. A general concern crept up about the wedding partiesâ€™ whereabouts. Calls were made and positions were ascertained. We discussed having the kids fed early, but the plates and utensils were stuck in the van with the wedding party. Jawahar and Srinath called and GPS-ed MS who shockingly was driving the group to his own reception. I felt very stupid for being oblivious to MSâ€™ side of the evening. One of us should've stayed back or gone back to lead them to the right place. Perhaps we should've done a trial run to ensure everybody knew the way. Many such suggestions came out in hindsight.

Around 8 pm the wedding party finally made it to the reception. MS got out of the driver's seat looking like the visuals of a country-western song where the guy lost his job, girl, and dog on the same day. I gave him a hug and reminded that it was his ascension from solo to duet; it was his night, he had to go out there and own it. I knew he needed to vent, but I was thinking of the plates and silverware that could keep the kids from mutiny. Later on, I was thankful to hear that Bala took MS aside to let him vent. What appeared to be a disaster was easily diffused to a trivial issue. As Raj mentioned before a toast, 'I'm already here and I'm not going anywhere else, what's the fuss?' Libation makes philosophers of us all.

The stars realigned themselves into perfection the moment the wedding party entered the hall. Despite our concern about the pliable carpet not being suitable for a sure-footed dance like baratham, Aparna was bent on doing her routines. The night was too big for her brother, and in her eyes she couldn't be kept from delivering her part that night. Bagya MC-ed and introduced Aparna to the crowd better than James Lipton does on 'Inside the Actors Studio'.

Aparna sprang into her first dance with vigor. Though I knew very little to appreciate the dance technically, I could tell that her moves were fluid and precise, especially when a move ended in a stance her mechanics revealed the extent of her practice and prowess. Her big expressive eyes complimented the dance ably as the crowd lapped it up. I kept turning to watch Lalitha's reaction, as I knew her to be a dancer too. I wanted to see an insider's appreciation of the art form. She looked like she was itching to join in, her face beamed the whole time that Aparna danced. This had me convinced that my uninitiated eyes had picked up on some of the expertise that was wowing everybody. At the end of her first routine, Aparna was almost out of breath; her eyes appeared to give out a little. We were worried and thought that at least she got to finish one routine. Her folks sat her down and rested her.

Ramanan got the mic. next and launched into 'Hey nath' a prayer song by SPB in Ravi Shankarâ€™s composition. MS had earlier requested that Ramanan begin the night with this song. Maybe Ramanan always had that ghazal singer timbre, but I was willing to bet that our Scottish friend lent a bit of Bass to that song. Both the song and singer were top notch. By then Aparna was ready with her second dance and so it went the rest of the night with a singer alternating with each of Aparna's dances. She danced at least four maybe five. Through it all the buffet lines moved from appetizer to main course to dessert, whereas the boys' were at various stages of the liquid diet. I kept filling cups like it was the victor's election headquarters in Tamil Nadu.

The other singers to take the stage were Meera, Swati, Sindhuja, Ramesh, Swarna?, and MS.
Meera sang idhazhil kadhai ezhudhum with MS. MS mixed some self-cooked Bengali into the song and the word Lalitha jumped out in it. A very romantic rendition it was (also with a little Scottish Bass). Special kudos to Meera for holding the mic. in one hand and a tired toddler in the other without missing a beat.

Sindhuja sang MS' own devotional composition, 'karaigindra megam'. Ramanan expressed surprise at hearing that MS also penned the lyrics. I told him that MS can't help but write formal Thamizh lyrics in the lines of Maruthakaasi. Sindhuja, for whom the song was composed by MS, sang it reverently with aplomb.

Ramesh and Swarna? sang 'thoongaatha vizhigal rendu'. The song, never one of my favorites, actually sounded better live with better pronunciation than the original.

Swati sang two songs that were just out of this world. One of them, 'Barse Badaria', an MS composition in Urdu was so good that I wept without realizing it. Srinath pointed it out and asked me if all was well. It is a crime that Swati is not a national figure. If you detect any hyperbole in this statement, just find out for yourself and listen to her singing.

MS took time to serenade Lalitha with several Hindi songs that oozed love. We dimmed the lights and made the two dance, or at least attempt to move in unison, hand-in-hand. It worked. MS threw me a surprise by singing a lullaby I wrote for one of his compositions. His dad pulled up a chair to the front to listen to it. MS paid homage to his dad with the song which after all is about a father showing the way to his son.

MS' dad was glowing with satisfaction. His cup was full. He later joined us at our table and chatted with everyone, remembering their families and other mutual friends. He looked at me and asserted that MS and all his colleagues were a bunch of great kids with stellar character and nary a bad habit. To that statement we all nodded as we shook the ice loose in the cup to have the Scottish kid lose some more color quickly.

As the night drew to an end, people dispersed slowly. MS said Jawahar had booked the honeymoon suite at the same place as his gift, so he only needed to travel 3 floors up. Some women had decorated the place and already placed some kavasams prominently on the bed. I still presented the one Srinath had bought, and said, that it had a decidedly male perspective to it.

The rest of the boys met at PKâ€™s Extended Stay room and partied into the wee hours. Bala who had been running other errands all day (dropping and picking up people) finally joined us to hang out. We finished the Scottish treat and topped off with some Heineken that Aravind brought on the way in. Then we discussed everything under the sunâ€”movies, songs, technology, NRIs, NRI parents, etc. PK looked about to collapse so we dragged his ass out and smoked some cigars. Mainly he and I did while the others stood around shivering or smoking cigarettes. We finally parted ways and hoped to stay in touch through MS' Facebook page or website.

On the way back to our room, Bala and I discussed the need for people, especially men, to upend their station in life, to test their boundaries from time to time. No matter how civilized he gets, man is still a hunter and gatherer, a wild beast on the inside. If that beast doesn't get to come out and butt heads periodically and bang itself on the chest in revelry, there is bound to be a severe price paid on the domestic front.

Thamasamendhe varuvaan : A snippet from my marriage reception

2010-01-27T18:33:00.002+11:00

One of Lalita's favorite songs sung by me for her in our marriage reception. Only a snippet of this is available :(

விரகம் - 3

2010-01-23T02:40:00.004+11:00

மனமேதான் உன்னன்பு மடியில் தஞ்சம்.
மரிக்காத சடலத்தில் ஆர்வப் பஞ்சம்.

கனமேதும் இல்லாத பஞ்சாய் நெஞ்சம்.
காலக்காற் றாலூசல் ஆடும் கெஞ்சும்.

தினமேநாம் கணிப்பொறியின் திரையின்மூலம்
திரைகடலும் தாண்டிமின் தொடர்புற்றாலும்

சினமேதான் வருகிறது சித்திரமே பொய் !
உயிர்ப்புள்ள நீயேமெய் சீக்கிரமே வா !

Meaning:

மனமேதான் உன்னன்பு மடியில் தஞ்சம் : My mind seeks solace on your lap

மரிக்காத சடலத்தில் ஆர்வப் பஞ்சம் : I am like a zombie..a living deadbody with no interest in life

கனமேதும் இல்லாத பஞ்சாய் : Like a weightless cotton ball

நெஞ்சம் காலக்காற்றாலூசல் ஆடும்: my heart gets battered by the wind of time

கெஞ்சும் : and pleads for mercy.

தினமேநாம் கணிப்பொறியின் திரையின்மூலம் : On the computer screen

திரைகடலும் தாண்டிமின் தொடர்புற்றாலும் : we see and talk to each other through video chat across the pacific

சினமேதான் வருகிறது : I still get irritated because

சித்திரமே பொய் ! Your image is not you. It is unreal.

உயிர்ப்புள்ள நீயேமெய் : You,with the heartbeat, are real.

சீக்கிரமே வா ! : Come Soon !

(The last 2 lines have been inspired from the old hindi lyrics :
jo baat tujh mein hai..teri tasveer mein nahin)

விரகம் - 2

2010-01-23T02:09:00.004+11:00

"இல்லாளோடுன் வாழ்க்கை இன்புற்றுண்டோ ?"
இங்கனமே கேட்போர்க்கு : "அவளே இங்கு

இல்லாள்"என் றுரைக்கின்ரேன் இதழில் ஏக்கப்
புன்னகையும் புண்சுவடாய் பதிந்தே போமோ !

நல்லாளாய் ஆவணங்கள் வெகுநாள் முன்னே
நாம்வைத்தும் புலப்பெயர்ச்சி ஊழியரெல்லாம்

பொல்லாளாய் இருக்கின்றார் பொறுமை எல்லை
போயேதான் விட்டதடி புலம்பல் உச்சம்.

Meaning:

"இல்லாளோடுன் வாழ்க்கை இன்புற்றுண்டோ ?" : How is your new life after marriage ? are you happy ?

இங்கனமே கேட்போர்க்கு : To those who pose this question,

"அவளே இங்கு இல்லாள்"என் றுரைக்கின்ரேன் : I say : " She is not here with me"

இதழில் ஏக்கப் புன்னகையும் புண்சுவடாய் பதிந்தே போமோ ! Will my lips get scarred by the fleeting sad smile ?

நல்லாளாய் ஆவணங்கள் வெகுநாள் முன்னே நாம்வைத்தும் : We submitted all our documents very early. Even then,

புலப்பெயர்ச்சி ஊழியரெல்லாம் பொல்லாளாய் இருக்கின்றார் : Immigration officials are so slow and take their own sweet time

பொறுமை எல்லை போயேதான் விட்டதடி: This has gone beyond my tolerance level.

புலம்பல் உச்சம்: And I am at the pinnacle of my rantings and ramblings.

விரகம் - 1

2010-01-18T20:13:00.002+11:00

விழியாலே வீழ்ந்தேன்பின் விரைந்தே உள்ளம்
விரியும்வரை விண்ணப்பம் இட்டேன் எந்தன்

மொழியாலே மோனங்கள் உந்தன் வாயில்
முறுவலுடன் கொணர்ந்தேனே ! முனைந்தே பெற்றோர்

பழியாதே பாங்கோடு பண்பும் வழுவா(து)
பதமாயே மணம்செய்தொம் கொடிதாம் காலச்

சுழியாலே நீஅங்கே நான் இங்கென்று
சுகமின்றி வாழுநிலை ஏனோ கண்ணே ?

விழியாலே வீழ்ந்தேன் : I fell in love looking at your eyes.

பின் விரைந்தே : Then I rushed and...

உள்ளம் விரியும்வரை விண்ணப்பம் இட்டேன் : kept requesting you till your heart opened up for me.

எந்தன் மொழியாலே : With my words,

மோனங்கள் உந்தன் வாயில் முறுவலுடன் கொணர்ந்தேனே ! : I brought a silent accepting smile on your lips (as in I pestered you and you accepted me)

முனைந்தே பெற்றோர் பழியாதே : We tried hard and got the approval of our parents

பாங்கோடு பண்பும் வழுவா(து) பதமாயே மணம்செய்தொம் : And married traditionally with all dignity

கொடிதாம் காலச் சுழியாலே: But because of the cruel kaala chakra (to translate it as circle of time would be stupid)

நீஅங்கே நான் இங்கென்று
சுகமின்றி வாழுநிலை ஏனோ கண்ணே ? : we are apart and unhappy, my dear.

Pallavi of En vaanile - on piano

2010-01-08T21:45:00.001+11:00

Was playing the piano at JAwahar's residence in Raleigh.

Transition from Solo to Duet - Nee Paarththa Paarvaikku Nandri

2009-12-11T20:36:00.009+11:00

Song : Nee Paarththa
Composer : Ilaiyaraja
Lyricist : Kamalhaasan
Originally sung by : Asha Bhosle, Hariharan
Movie : Hey

Singers: Tara Balakrishnan, Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : M

Transition from Solo to Duet - Nee Paarththa Paarvaikku Nandri | Music Upload

When a Tamil guy meets a bengali girl and the inevitable love blossoms, music (and english) seem to set bridges of communication. While, "Nee paarththa paarvaikku" stands singularly as a masterpiece of Raja, the couple seem to have forgotten the world around them and seem to be consumed by an enraptured entanglement of affection. The melody as it slips like water droplets on the lotus leaves, seems to embody this private conversation where the language is, as it occurs, often absent. With a hug here and a brush there, the song allows the couple to savor the nectar of love as the procession of notes is played as a simplified version on a broken piano.

Wait.. simplified version ? Broken Piano ?

Sorry. I was not describing the scene in the movie Hey Ram, but was describing one of yours truly. And so who be the lady, you may wonder. Well, the lady is multi-talented with postgraduate degrees in two fields - Statistics and Dance with a PhD in statistics. A Gorgeous dancer with a record 24 years of experience performing and teaching, an invited presenter at the school of arts, University of South Carolina, a rank holder in MSc statistics in Bombay university, second ranker in the PhD qualifiers in USC - her list of laurels seem to evolve naturally due to her flair for both the subjects. Her arrival in my life is like a million dollar CEO package except that she the package receiver is no CEO, but at the best a research clerk who struggles to understand the immensity of the fortune.

I found her in a stroke of artistic destiny almost 5 years back when we met in an Indian Students association function. The ignition and the subsequent flame are culminating today in the holy fire (havan) of our marriage with all the blessings of our families and friends in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

When she met me, I was into a period of academic and personal vegetation - the nadir of my life. Music was the only reason I was breathing, however it was after Lalita's arrival that I started finding my roots of life back. I collected myself, finished my PhD and she was singularly responsible for my reversal. And for that singular great gesture where she reintroduced myself to me, charging me up with the love and hope that I needed to build my life on, I will remain indebted to her till my last breath.

And to her this song is dedicated. To Lalita Das

Thank you Lalita for:

adding a dash of color on the greyscale map that my life was

the memories of many lunchtimes with the broken piano at the Dept of Statistics, University of South Carolina where in spite of my minimal playing abilities u were a patient listener

believing me despite the utterly bitter physical separation that we endured over the past 2 years where our relation, endurance and affection were tested

all the unconditional love that you have extended right from seeing my PhD through to making me a better person. ever indebted.

the countless number of other things and moments that I will cherish for the rest of my life with you

And our invitation to our friends read:

===============================================

Transition from Solo to Duet

Statistical Thermodynamics warns : The "free energy of mixture" of two ideal single components, is always less than the sum of the "free energies" of the two individual components.

Recognizing and reconciling to this, We - Lalita Das and Murali Venkatraman, at the expense of our free energies, enter the wedlock on Dec 11, in Raleigh NC.

Through this concerted effort, we seek to alter our current status of singular monotony and enter a more purposeful state of binary bliss. We strongly and happily seek the catalytic presence of you and your family towards our marital equilibrium.

===============================================

More on the marriage later with updates on how many singer friends made it enjoyable and memorable.

छम छम छलका रे - A Teaser

2009-11-05T21:23:00.002+11:00

A teaser from my stable. Just an unfinished prelude. Lyricist will be Jai Kshatriya and singers will be decided later.

Madhyamavathy is one of my favorite ragams and this song is primarily based on that.

छम छम छलका रे - A Teaser | Online recorder

Celebrating ShankarabharaNam - 3- Brochevarevarura and Dialogues preceding the song

2009-09-30T12:56:00.005+10:00

Song : Brochevarevarura and Dialogues preceding the song
Composer / Lyricist : Mysore Vasudevacharya
Originally sung by : Vani Jeyaram, S. P. Balasubramaniyam
Originally Arranged By : K. V. Mahadevan
Movie : shankaraBharaNam

Dramatization and Dialogue Delivery: Narayanan Raju (Dasu) and Vamsikrishna Nadella (Shastri)

Singers: Srividya Kasturi, Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : Meera Manohar

Celebrating ShankarabharaNam - 3- Brochevarevarura - With Srividya Kasturi | Upload Music

(The song starts at 3:43)

Remix - these days has become synonymous with making a cacophony of older compositions of high musical standing. The disturbing trend has started eroding the minds of newer listeners who may, if ignorant about the classics, start hating them baselessly simply because the only version of the classic they heard was a bad inharmonious effort from a wastrel of an arranger.

Lyrics form another domain where the value seems to be getting lost especially in tamil and telugu. Meaningless words with some stupid rhyme like:

"kaNNum kaNNum nOkia
cappuccino cofee ya
sofia "

are flooding the music scene. Songs like "arigori bonsaai samba nellaalE" which feature gibberish are better only than the vulgar songs like "aakalesthe" (nee rent kodutha tent pOdalaam)". In the movie Shankarabharanam there is a scene where 'Dasu' tries to 'teach' the kid a new variant of Brochevarevarura. His insistence on remixing the song in a speedy trendy (we are talking about late 70s here) way, incurs the attention and wrath of Shankara Shastri (Somayajulu). Shastri explains how each and every syllable of the great classical compostions brims with life. He explains how every aksharam has a distinct swaram and naadam and how one must not ruin the original in the name of remixing it.

I was of the opinion that this movie stressed only on the "holier-than-thou attitude" about Indian classical music until I saw this clip:

The director K. Vishwanath through the character of Shankara Shastri explains how one should approach and perform music with dedication be it western or Indian. That, I thought was a great piece of advice. What do we do with the musical giant that is S.P.B ? See how he effortlessly sings the 'pop' portions ? I don't know anything about western singing, but I can certainly recognize a voice which can effortlessly transition through octaves with ease and utmost clarity. It may be that he won the National award for Shankara Naada Shareera Para. But I think the movie has many bits like these which never got popular but featured some excellent singing (Remember - punjai uNdu nanjai uNdu humming of SPB in unnaal mudiyum thambi?).

As a tribute to the situation in the movie which featured the comical Dasu and serious Shastri, my friends and I here present you with both the dialogue and the song. For this, I requested Narayanan and Vamsi - two good singers in their own right - to recreate the situation. And that they did beautifully with Vidya who also joined me in rendering the song. And I need to acknowledge their guidance in pronunciation. The original had a few minor mistakes done by the lead singers and Vidya and I have tried to sing the song with the right words (with help from vamsi).

With Meera's help we seem to sound better than we actually do. And for the rest of the series too Meera has graciously accepted to mix. Thank you Meera.

Over to you all for all the bouquets and brickbats !

Lyrics:

ब्रॊचॆवारेवरुरा
निनु विना रघुवरा
नी चरणाम्बुजमुलनॆ
विडज़ाल करुणालवाल

ऒ चतुरा ननादि वन्दित
नीकु पराकॆलनैय्या
नी चरितमु पोगडलॆनि ना
चिन्त तीर्च्चि वरमुलीच्चि वॆगमॆ

सीतापतॆ नापै नीकभिमानमु लॆदा ?
वातात्मजार्चित पादा ना मोरलनु विनरादा ?
भासुरमुग करिराज़ुनु ब्रोचिन वासुदॆवुडवु नीवुकदा ?
ना पतकमेल्ल पॊगोट्टि गट्टिग ना चेय्यि पट्टि विडुवक

Sa;;Sanida pada niSanini dada pama ||

pa;dama;; ga;; ma;pa; da;ni ||

Sa,ni,dapama ni,da,pama gamapada ma ||

garisa; sama;gama padama; padani ||

SaSaRi ni; niniSa da; dadani pa;da ||

mapadani Sanidapa magama nidani pada||

ma; padaniSa Ma;GaRiSa Ri;Sa;ni ||

dapa Sa;ni;dapama ga;ma;padani ||

Celebrating Shankarabharanam - 2 - Maanasa Sancharare

2009-09-26T11:27:00.005+10:00

(pic courtesy : Sulekha.com)

Song : Maanasa Sancharare
Composer / Lyricist : Sadashiva Brahmendra
Originally sung by : Vani Jeyaram, S. P. Balasubramaniyam
Orignally Arranged By : K. V. Mahadevan
Movie : shankaraBharaNam

Singers: Meera Manohar, Murali Venkatraman
Karaoke/ Arrangement : Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : Meera Manohar

Celebrating Shankarabharanam - 2 - Maanasa Sancharare with Meera Manohar | Upload Music

"Have you read all these books ?!"

My mother exclaimed innocently looking at the many cartons of books I have ranging from highly technical ones which ran for thousand pages or more to ones which were pocket-sized that captured popular science in an interesting way. I was stunned for a moment since I did not know how to answer. I took a look at my big collection and responded:

"No amma. I hope I will read them some day"

She got busy with kitchen work and had forgotten the conversation. For her it was just a curiosity as to how much her son could study.

But the question reverberated in my mind. Why do I have so many books some of which I may never be reading ? For example, I have books on mathematical logic,topology etc but given my time constraints, I wonder if I will ever get to read them. It led me to an important decision - "No more books until absolutely necessary". My mother's simple innocence-laden question pushed me to rethink about my attitude towards buying books.

While talking about the life of the poet-philosopher-composer Sadashiva Brahmendra one cannot but admire how a simple instruction from his mother-in-law transformed his life from one of a possible ordinary family man into someone who moved freely like a gypsy and composed beautiful songs with deep philosophical thought. It may be a folklore, that his mother-in-law's words "Don't come inside the house" on the night of his marriage consummation, made him rethink about his real pursuits in life. However, consider another related question : "What is the purpose of life if there is one at all ?". This seemingly simple question has been addressed for centuries and people are still trying to find an answer. With brahmendra, the simple instruction/question did have a deep impact on the man who finally came to the public domain and we were blessed with an exceptional poet. Thus seemingly simple innocent questions/instructions may bring about some dramatic irreversible transformations.

Read more about Sadasiva Brahmendra here :

1. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fr/2003/05/02/stories/2003050201370400.htm
2. http://ssubbanna.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/08/sadashiva-brahmendra-the-avadhuta.htm

To quote my mentor Dr. Bosco Emmanuel:

"Pioneers of science always asked and addressed simple questions. How did D. J. Thouless arrive at the branching in the theory of percolation ? He just asked a simple question. What will be the conductivity of carbon if I randomly punched a few holes in it ? He took a carbon sheet and punched a few random holes in it, measured the conductivity and plotted a graph of the conductivity versus available area. He finally ended up being an exponent in percolation theory "

In this beautiful song which is set in the ragam shyama, which is a cousin of shuddha saaveri and aarabhi, Sadashiva expounds beautiful descriptions of a divine being (krishna) when he himself is in a state of trance. He instructs the mind to roam in the field of universal consciousness (the Brahman) aided sweetly by the music.

In the movie, this comes as a lullaby that the sishya sings for the guru. The director K. Vishwanath had tastefully used a break in the song in the guise of sishya forgetting the lyrics. This invariably invites the voice of guru (SPB) and an uninfringing melody which gently rocks the listener is born. In our version, I have expanded the song a little more to allow more room for the male singer to savor.

And this I believe is one of Meera's best renditions in which her gamakam laden voice has captured the soul of the song.

Lyrics:
====

maanasa sanchararE
brahmaNi maanasa sanchararE

madasikhi pinchaalankruta chikurE
mahaneeya kapOlajita mukurE

shri ramaNeekucha durga vihaari
sEvakajana mandira mandaarE
paramahamsamukha chandra chakOrE
pari poorita muraLeeravadhaarE

(courtesy : http://www.telugulyrics.net/Sankarabharanam-Movie-Lyrics/Manasa-Sancharare-Song-Lyrics/)

Meaning:
======

Oh, Mind ! Undertake your pilgrimage in the Brahmam !

The locks of Brahman, is adorned with the plumes of an exhilarated peacock (mada sikhi)! The cheeks of the Supreme One outwit the brightness of a mirror !

He sports around in the fort of the breast-hillocks of Mahalakshmi (Sri). For his devotees, He is a Kalpavriksha in the court yard (mandira Mandaare) Supreme ascetics (paramahamsa) delight in that face-moon (mukha chandraa) as a partridge bird (chakore - with obvious reference to the chakora bird that thirsts for moonlight) Oh, Mind! May your pilgrimage be complete in this Brahman that fills everything with the flow of the music from His flute(murali) ! !
(courtesy : http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/homepages/shivkuma/music/manasasancharare.htm )

Quietitude Weighs Heavy

2009-09-06T11:20:00.003+10:00

..And parents have gone back. So has my dear sis aparna.

I have always preferred a balance between calm and chatty times. I have sought quiet contemplation when home bubbles with activity and now ..the emptiness stares at me reminding the clatter and clamor that was life for the past 6 months..

well.. I realize that the clatter and clamor IS life..and quietitude should only be a vacation.. The affectionate awakening with steaming coffee by mom, the long puja by dad accompanied with a barrage of strong verbal push for aparna to get up against her characteristic sleepy defiance to savor the early morning slumber...

Appu is much younger to me and I have never seen her as my sister. The bond between her and me has been more like dad-daughter. Right from she was born, I was have babysat her for hours. The three of us - dad, mom and me - could easily go into our own worlds like cooking, reading and office work respectively and we may not even feel our mutual presence until either hunger beckons or mom sounds the food-bell. But with appu around, the home is always filled with vibrancy which is an admixture of arguments, jokes, laughter, her follies and what not.

That my dear appu - I miss. I never thought I would miss 'clamor'. But I realize that is a part of life.

When you folks were around, I felt a bit suffocated at times with a tight work schedule, weekend plans and the impossibility of finding time for things that otherwise enthuse me - like music. But with you folks gone, I have time but no interest.

Love you all.

Anbendra Mazaiyile - Sindhuja Bhaktavatsalam and Rashmi Nair

2009-08-29T10:36:00.005+10:00

Song : Anbendra Mazaiyile
Composer : A.R.Rehman
Singer : Anuradha Shriram
Movie : Minsaara kanavu
Lyrics : Vairamuththu

Karaoke By : Murali Venkatraman
Performed by : Sindhuja Bhaktavatsalam, Rashmi Nair
Mixed By : Meera Manohar

Anbendra Mazhayile (Tamil Cover) Duet with Sindhuja | Music Upload

It is a heartwarming confluence of artists weaving a web of religious harmony. Although not very apparent. A.R. Rehman a muslim, teamed up with Vairamuthu - a non-believer, to give Anuradha Shriram - hindu to sing a beautiful christian devotional. The lilting flute of Naveen with the powerful lyrics of Vairamuththu has made this song an everlasting melody to cherish.

Another song, which I felt was a little easy to make a simple karaoke for. And to double the beauty of this song, I thought it would be nice to have two beautiful voices instead of just one. Sindhuja and Rashmi have done a great job in rendition and Meera - christened Mixie Mami by anup - has helped their voices sound great.

Let us know what you feel about this work here

Mother's Choice - 3 - Nakshatra DeepangaL

2009-08-17T01:05:00.005+10:00

Song : Nakshatra DeepangaL
Composer : Jaya-Vijaya
Singer : K.J.Yesudas
Movie : Nirakudam

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman

Dialup
======

Nakshatra DeepangaL | Music Upload

Broadband
=========

It is sometimes difficult to understand how an artist feels. If you ask Ilaiyaraja or M.S. Vishwanathan, they would swear and say that they would like to be remembered as composers and not as singers. I woudl guess the same with Rehman. These people are amazing creators and they pride themselves in their creations. The sense of producing something new, unique and unprecedented drives them hard towards music.

And then there are people like Sharath who probably want to be remembered as both great singers and composers. I have belabored over Sharath's composing abilities in quite a few articles. However, if people had heard his "bhavayami" from a recent film, they would also understand how great a singer he is. His drive to perform beyond human reason is unmitigated.

But there are some like Jayan-Vijayan - the gifted twin duo who also are pupils of Balamuralikrishna similar to Sharath, who would like to be remembered for their singing only and not their songs. However it is hard not to remember them when a song of Nakshatra DeepangaL's quality comes afore. Its splendiferous tune with a brilliant orchestration delivered by a simmering Yesudas. I have no idea how this is picturized in the movie, but it is one of those songs which KJY sings occasionally in his carnatic concerts as a tribute to this great composer duo. Please find more info on Jayan-Vijayan here :

http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/10/28/stories/2005102801250300.htm

In my school days when I learnt Bharatanatyam at my Mom's insistence, I had danced on this song a couple of times on stage. As I grew, my inherent reluctance to dance grew but the songs that I danced for stayed in mind. Needless to say my mom introduced me to these gems as she was preparing me for those dances. And now recognizing that her daughter is dancing well, she urged me to check if I could produce any worth singing this song.

You may let me know if there is any.

Thanks to Roshni for sending me this track out of her own volition after correctly guessing that I will be interested in it.

Dr. Bosco Emmanuel visit to CSIRO

2009-08-05T13:57:00.003+10:00

It is not very often that one gets to work with his undergraduate school professor in his career. But I have been fortunate in that respect. Dr. Bosco Emmanuel of CECRI is currently visiting CMSE-CSIRO as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow. Dr Bosco is a theoretical electrochemist who has made important contributions in the various fields including (but not limited to) lithium batteries, corrosion, percolation and Feynman’s path integrals in leading journals. His current interests include developing a generic framework for Multiscale modeling in corrosion which coincides with our current interests.

Apart from his commendable work, he also was the first PhD student of Prof. late S. K. Rengarajan of IISc who was an eminent electrochemist. Dr. Bosco had not travelled outside India for nearly 23 years and was kind enough to accept CSIRO's invitation to work with us.

Everyday I am learning a new concept. and I am really happy about it.

Mother's Choice - 2 - SaagarangaLE

2009-08-03T22:13:00.008+10:00

Song : SaagarangaLE
Composer : Bombay Ravi
Lyrics : Yousuf Ali Kachery
Singers : K.J.Yesudas
Movie : Panchagni

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman
Mixed by : Meera Manohar

Dialup
======

SaagarangaLE | Music Upload

Broadband
==========

I had written a bit about composer Bombay Ravi in dhool a while back : http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/567.html . He transitioned beautifully from Hindi to Malayalam in the 80s. And this was made possible by the director Hariharan who made some beautiful movies like Panchagni. Although I got to see the movie much later after it was made, I was really moved by the story line and the brilliant performances. And the music - 2 songs - SaagarangaLE and aa raatri maanju pOyi were just absolutely wonderful melodies enshrining the voices of Yesudas and Chitra individually.

This is the second song in the series of the songs that my mom has requested me to sing. Hope you like it. Meera helped mixing this so well. I think it may not be wrong to call her Mixer Meera ( a la Simxer Sidhu) :)

And ya..Sindhu, to your exasperation - another Sudhdha dhanyaasi number :)

Celebrating shankarabharaNam - 1 - E teeruga nanu

2009-07-23T12:57:00.009+10:00

Song : E teeruga
Composer / Lyricist : Bhadrachala Ramadas
Originally sung by : Vani Jeyaram
Orignally Arranged By : K. V. Mahadevan
Movie : shankaraBharaNam

Singers: Meera Manohar, Murali Venkatraman
Karaoke/ Arrangement : Murali Venkatraman
Mixing : Meera Manohar

Celebrating ShankarabharaNam - 1 - E teeruga - With Meera Manohar

Sabhaku Namaskaaram.

It may not be wrong to call the movie shankarabharaNam as the crowning jewel among the works of composer Shri K. V. Mahadevan. It was a movie that simply established that in the midst of light music, one could really be left captivated by classical music if presented appropriately with a good story-line (by director K Vishwanath) . Although KVM had worked magic all through his telugu and tamil movies (e.g SwatikiraNam, thiruviLaiyaadal ), he made a remarkable choice of a singer in this movie. In all his earlier movies, he went for singers who were either partially trained (Susheela) or at the level of vidwan (Ghantasala, T. M. Soundararajan). In this movie, he picked S. P . Balasubramaniyam (who calls him that ? It is either SPB, SP or Balu) who was completely untrained and established that a committed effort to train him would provide rich dividends. SPB just grew from strength to strength and was associated with so many other films where he breezed through many classical and semi-classical compositions and both telugu and tamil music were never the same.

Science and Art cross barriers. An obscure researcher working quietly in a remote place like port of Madras, was recognized by the great mathematician Hardy only to unveil the genius that was Ramanujan. Ramanujan knew nothing but math. But Hardy ensured that his work was recognized beyond doubt. Similarly for our country that has had many regional problems because of languages, music has often provided the much needed fabric of harmony. How would one explain KVM and SPB's success then ? SPB - a native telugu speaker - is loved by tamils all over and KVM - a tamilian- whose reputation as a composer in Telugu is unmistakable. Other greats like MSV, IR, Susheela, Janaki, Chitra, and Yesudas and now Rehman have similar reputations. The beauty of Telugu seems to be locked in the fact that it is heavily derived from sanskrit but slanted in a delivery which is southern. In a way it ideally represents a good blend of the North and South Indian elements in sync. Malayalam is another language which has a similar blend although it is softer on most syllables than Telugu.

In an effort to recall and celebrate 30 years since the release of the movie, I team up with my friends ( Meera, Narayanan, Vidya, Adithi and may be some more) to re-do some of the songs in the movie as a tribute. Some songs will be rendered as they were in the movie and some with slight modifications in arrangements. Some of us are not native telugu speakers but have sincerely tried for dictional accuracy by consulting with telugu speaking friends. Despite our best efforts, if there be errors we sincerely apologize.

The first song in this series is "E teeruga nanu" - a classical composition of Bhadrachala Ramadas who may be called the telugu equivalent of Manikkavaasagar. Both were state-servants who out of their devotion towards their deities,, used up the state money for charity and religious causes. Both were great poets and singers and have left a wealth of literature for us to indulge. This song appeared in a truncated form in the movie. Hence when I created the Karaoke track, I took the liberty of expanding the song to include the last paragraph of the original. In the movie, the song was delivered by the inimitable Vani Jeyaram. In here, we present this as a duet with some extra (hopefully) un-infringing phrases. I find that the raga of the song is either Nadanamakriya or Mayamalawagowla. I am not very sure about the differences between these two. The lyrics of the song were obtained from :

http://www.engr.mun.ca/~adluri/telugu/classical/musical/rit/ramadasu.html

They are provided here for your reference:

E teeruga nanu daya jUcedavO ina vaMSOttama rAmA
nA taramA Bhava sAgara meedanu naLinadaLEkshaNa rAmA |E teeruga...|

Sree raghu naMdana seetA ramaNA Sritajana pOShaka rAmA
kAruNyAlaya Bhakta varada ninu kan&nadi kAnupu rAmA |E teeruga...|

krUra karmamulu nEraka cEsiti nEramuleMcaku rAmA
dAridryamu parihAramu sEyave daiva SikhAmaNi rAmA |E teeruga...|

vAsavanuta rAmadAsa pOShaka vaMdanamayOdhya rAmA
dAsArcita mAkaBhayamosaMgave dASarathee raghu rAmA |E teeruga...|

Please let us know how you feel about this song and also about the rest of the series to come.

My interview at Musicblogsindia

2009-07-10T12:50:00.002+10:00

Jo is conducting a series of interviews about the blogger-musicians. My interview is here:

http://musicblogsindia.com/2009/07/interview-murali-venkatraman/

Mothers Choice 1: Aandholanam - With Rashmi Nair

2009-06-29T15:14:00.008+10:00

Song : Aandholanam
Composer : Bombay Ravi
Lyrics : Yousuf Ali Kachery
Singers : K.J.Yesudas, K.S. Chithra
Movie : Sargam

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman, Rashmi Nair
Mixed by : George Kuruvilla

It was year 2001 I believe. I got a chance to sing in Tyagaraja Utsavam of Charlotte. I sang Samajavara gamana which I managed to learn from a stalwart's recording. The Charlotte community was extremely warm and embraced me in spite of me not having had a formal . They instilled in me a sense of confidence that I could sing bit of classical (and also compose a bit). One among those who became one of my best friends for life was Ramanan Moorthy.

Ramanan and I had similar music interests (not same) and it was easy to strike a conversation with him. He had a modest 2 bedroom flat (which luxury hotels could envy for its cleanliness and organization) and a small Yamaha keyboard with a music system and PC connected to it. We slowly learned basic voice recording using goldwave in the PC and were very happy to try out different things in the jam sessions which would last till 3:30 AM. Of course some nutrition supplements and 'health' drinks would help our singing cause.

Together we sang songs o f countless varieties through out the night. He introduced me to the world of Urdu. Earlier to him, I had heard ghazals but never paused to understand them. And I used to dismiss urdu as sounding bombastic and too high flown. In fact jokingly I remember a friend remarking that Urdu sounds like somebody burped as they talked (In fact he used a more 'southern' adjective). Even then I had only reluctantly agreed to understand urdu. (The real transformation of being able to appreciate urdu and develop a love towards it came a bit later, which I shall elaborate in a later post).

Bottom line is: mallu, hindi, urdu, tamil and bangla songs - formed our discussion. Ajay chakraborty, Lata Mangeshkar, Yesudas, SPB, Jagjit, ghulam Ali, Hariharan and other greats paid a vicarious visit to our mehfil in the form of their songs. But in person, he was visited by his endearing Mom for quite a good length of time and I had the pleasure of listening to her sitar and also vocals. In one of the Jam sessions that ensued, his mom and I sang andholanam dholanam - the song which seems to have been composed to ensure that melody would drip like honey would from an overflowing comb - and it was a memorable experience.

My mom is visiting me here in Melbourne and at her insistence I am singing a series of malayalam songs off which personally this is my biggest favorite (my yahoo id is andholanam). when I decided to sing this, one voice that came to my mind was Rashmi Nair's. Check her rendition out yourself. To me it sounded like a perfect combination of bhavam, swaram, layam, gamakam and sangathi (especially in the aalaap that find its place in the second charanam).

Sahana Chaaral/saaral thoovudho - With Meena S

2009-06-22T00:43:00.007+10:00

Song : Sahaana Chaaral
Composer : A.R.Rehman
Lyrics : Vairamuthu
Singer : Udit Narayanan, Chinmayee
Movie : Sivaji

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman, Meena S
Mixed by : George Kuruvilla

Meena - who is a new talented face in the audio blog world was kind to invite me to sing this song with her. I have tried to iron out some of the pronunciation problems in the original. Hope you like it.

Sahana Saaral Thoovudho From Sivaji-Duet By Meena and Murali

கலைவாணியே -->களவாணியே --->Song Satire

2009-06-15T12:02:00.006+10:00

In TFMPAGE, there used to be a song satire threads where we would write alternate comical lines for tfm numbers. Here is one I wrote for kalaivaaNiyE from sindhu bhairavi..there is not much meaning..just for fun.

களவாணியே
உனைத்தானே பிடித்தேன்
உயிர்போக உதைத்தேன்
தர வேண்டும்
களவானதை

இடித்தேன் கடித்தேன் உதிரமும்
குடித்தேன் அடித்தேன் ஓடிடும்

(களவாணியே)

சுரம் வாங்கி அடித்தாய்
சுருதி ஏற்றிக் கவிழ்த்தாய்
தடி கொண்டு அடித்தேன்
தலை தெறிக்க பறந்தாய்

சிறு விரல்களால் களவாடி
வங்கிக் கணக்கினை வளர்த்தாய்
காவல் படை வெள்ளம் வரும் நேரம்
திசை சொல்லவில்லை பறந்தாய்

முகம் காட்ட மறுத்தாய்
முகவரியை மறைத்தாய்
நீ முன் வந்து
தான் குந்து
பசும்நரம்பு புடைக்கிறது
அடங்கிவிடு

(களவாணியே)

கள்ளம் செய்தது கபடம் செய்தது
உனது கதையில் சரிபாதி
சங்கை அரிந்தது கொள்ளை செய்தது
இரண்டும் உலகில் வெகு பீதி

மாமன் ஒருவகை மச்சான் ஒரு வகை
இவர்கள் பங்கு சரிபாதி
அங்கே திருடுதல் இங்கே வருடுதல்
அதுவும் இதுவும் ஜன வியாதி

தொல்லை பெருகியதே..
தொல்லை பெருகிய காலம் உன்மேல்
அழுகிய முட்டைகள் பறக்கும்

மவனே..
ஓடுற மவனே..

வையுறென்..
நல்லா வையுறேன்

இனி ஒரு வழி இல்லை
உன்னால் ரொம்ப நாளா தொல்லை
காவல்காரன் போட்டான் எல்லை
ஓடுவதில் பயனில்லை..பணிவாய் !!

குரு வந்தனம்

2009-06-10T18:27:00.003+10:00

வேதாந்தம் கற்றுக் கொள்ளும் காலத்தில், என் நண்பர்களுடன் அளவளாவும்போது ஏற்பட்ட வாதங்களில் குருவைப் பற்றி எழுந்த வாதத்திற்கு நான் கொடுத்த கவி வடிவம்.

குரு என்பது ஒரு மனிதன் அல்ல. உண்மை தான் குரு என்பதே இதன் சாராம்சம்.

நண்பன் 1:
========

கருவறை வாழும்
கரிய தெய்வமும்
மறுவுரை பகரா !
மதியிலீர் ! ஞானக்

குருவரை சென்று
குவிகரம் செய்து
திருவுரை கேட்டே
திருந்துதல் வேண்டும்

குறுகிய மனமும்
குவலயமாகும்
இறுகிய இதயம்
இளகியே போகும்

அறியா மையது
அண்டாதொழியும்
குறையா மையது
குணமென ஆகும்

நண்பன் 2:
========

குருவெனச் சொன்னால்
குறுகிய மனித
உருவினில் உண்டென
உருவகிக்காதே !

பரந்த வானம்
விரிந்த பூமி
சுரந்த நீரும்
நகர்ந்த காற்றும்

எரிந்த தீயும்
எண்திசைக்கோளும்
செரிந்த சான்றோர்
கண்டதைப் பகரும்

கண்டது எல்லாம்
விளங்கிட நீயும்
சிந்தனை செய்தே
உய்தலும் வேண்டும்

பொறிகள் மூலம்
புரிகிறதாலே
பொறியும் குருவே !
புரிதலும் குருவே!

நூலும் குருவே !
நுண்ணியம் குருவே!
நாலும் குருவே !
உண்மைதான் குருவே !

Teaser 6 - Rajasthani Folk

2009-06-03T18:15:00.004+10:00

Have been dabbling with quite a few compositions of mine and arranging them one by one (rather side by side). This is one among those songs.

Sax plays a placeholder for vocals.

Rajasthani Folk - Teaser | Upload Music

கண்ணன் பாடல்கள் - 5 - கண்ணனின் ஏக்கம்

2009-05-09T12:02:00.006+10:00

கண்ணன் கதைகளில் ராதையின் இடம் மிக முக்கியமானது. ராதை கண்ணனுடனே பிறந்து வளர்ந்து காதல் செய்து களிப்புடன் வாழ்ந்த மங்கை. ஆனால், கண்ணன் ஏன் ராதையை மணமுடிக்காமல் போனான் என்ற கேள்விக்கு சரியான பதில் எதிலும் இல்லை. சில கதைகளில் கண்ணன் அக்ரூரருடன் கிளம்பிப் போனபின் தொலை தூரத் தொடர்பை (long distance relationship) காக்க முடியாமல் அந்தக் காதல் தடுமாறிப் போனதாக சொல்லப் படுகிறது. ஆனால், பல கதைகளில் மற்றும் பாடல்களில் ராதைக்கு கண்ணனின் ராசலீலைகள் பிடிக்காமல் போனதற்கான பல தகவல்கள் உள்ளன. தன்னிடம் மிக்க காதல் கொண்டிருந்தாலும், பிற பெண்டிரிடம் கண்ணன் கொண்டிருந்த அன்பு காரணமாக ராதையின் மனதில் கண்ணன் மேல் மிகுந்த கோபம் இருந்ததாகத் தெரிய வருகிறது. லகான் படத்தில் கூட வரும் பாடல் “ராத கைஸே ந ஜலே” என்ற பாடல் கூட இந்த கருத்தில் எழுதப்பட்டது தான்.

ஆனால் ஒவ்வொன்றிலும் கண்ணன் செய்கைகள சிறிதே நியாயப் படுத்தி அல்லது “அதுதான் பேராண்மைக்கு அழகு” என்று ரசிப்பது போன்று எழுதப் பட்டு இருக்கிறது. அப்படி என்றால் ராதை என்ன கிள்ளுக் கீரையா ? ஏன் ? அவள் பிரிதொரு ஆடவனிடம் கூடி வந்திருந்தால் இந்த உலகம் கண்ணனைப் போற்றிய அளவு அவளைப் போற்றி இருக்குமா ? கோவலனுக்குப் பதில் கண்ணகி தவறு செய்திருந்தால் அவளை இழித்து அல்லவா தூற்றி இருக்கும் ? எனவே இது ஒரு ஆணாதிக்கக் கண்ணோட்டததிலிருந்து எழுதப் பட்ட சரிதம் அல்லவா ?

அப்படி அல்லாமல் கண்ணனை ராதா பிரிந்து வேறு ஒருவரை மணம் செய்ய காரணம் கண்ணனின் இந்த நிலையில்லாத மனமாகக் கூட இருக்கலாமே ! அப்படி இருந்தக்கால், தன்னை மதித்து தன்னுடன் மட்டுமே உறவாடும் ஒருவனை அவள் திருமணம் செய்து கொள்வதாக தான் அவளின் வாழ்க்கை அமைந்திருக்க வேண்டும். அப்படி அவள் தன்னை விட்டுச் செல்லும்போது தான் கண்ணன் அவளுடைய அருமையை உணர்ந்திருக்க வேண்டும். அப்படி உணரும்போது, அவள் மணம் ஆகி செல்லும்போது, அவன் சோகப்படுதல் போல் ஒரு பாடலைத் தான் இங்கு தந்திருக்கிறேன். இதுவும் ஆஹீர் பைரவியில் அமைந்தது தான். வரிகள் தற்போது. பாடல் பிற்போது.

பல்லவி
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ஒளியும் கதிரை நீங்குமோ ?
சுவாசம் நின்ற பின்னும் சடலம்
என்ன காற்றைத் தேடுமோ ?

சரணம் 1
==========

காம வேள்வியில் நானும் விட்டிலாய்
கனன்று எரிந்தாலும்

காதல் தீயது ராதை அன்றியோர்
கண்ணில் கண்டதில்லை

ஆணுக்கொர் நீதி பெண்ணுக்கொர் நீதி
இல்லை என்று சொன்னாய்

வேறு கூடல்கள் வேண்டாம் என் காதல்
ஆணை என்று சொன்னாய்

ஆணையை நான் மறந்தேன் - இந்த
ஆணையே நீ மறந்தாய்

(ஒளியும்)

சரணம் 2
==========

காற்று இன்றி குழல் இதிலே
நாதம் ஏது சொல்லடி

ஊற்று இன்றி பாலையிலே
உயிர்கள் வாழ்வதெப்படி ?

செல்பவளே உன்னிதழில்
முன்னம் நான் வைத்த ஈரம் இனிது

நீ செல்லவே என் கண்ணிலே
இன்று நீ கொணர்ந்த ஈரம் கொடிது

(ஒளியும்)

கண்ணன் பாடல்கள் - 4 - குசேலனின் கலக்கம்

2009-04-30T12:29:00.007+10:00

கண்ணன் பாடல்களில் கோபியருக்கு கொடுத்த முக்கியத்துவத்தை சுதாமனுக்கு கொடுக்கவில்லை. சில வருடஙளுக்கு முன் நான் நான் எழுதிய ”கொன்றை மலர் கொய்து” என்ற பாடலில் ஒருமுறை சுதாமனைப் பற்றிக் குறிப்பிட்டேன். சில நாட்களுக்கு முன்னே சுதாமனைப் பற்றி இரண்டு பாடல்கள் எழுதத் தோன்றியது.

சுதாமன் கண்ணனைக் கண்ட பின்பு அவருக்கு கிடைத்த செல்வத்தை பற்றி பல கதைகள் வந்துள்ளன. ஆனால், அங்கு செல்லும்போது அவருடைய மனநிலை எப்படி இருந்தது ? அப்படி சென்ற பின், கண்ணன் நன்கு உபசரித்து அனுப்பினான் - வெறும் கையுடனே. அப்படி மீண்டு வரும்போது அவர் மன நிலை எப்படி இருந்தது ?

இந்த இரண்டும் இரண்டு பாடல்களாக என் மனதில் வந்தன. அதிலே முதல் பாடல் சுதாமனுக்கு கண்ணன் களைப்பு தீர பாத பூஜை செய்து வரவேற்கும் நேரத்தில் சுதாமனுடைய மனதில் எழும் சில ஏக்கங்கள் , பயங்கள் பற்றி ஆகும். முக்கியமாக அவர் வாய் விட்டு எதுவும் கேட்பதில்லை. ஆனாலும் அவரது மனதில் இருக்கின்ற சில கவலைகள் பற்றிய பாடல் இது. அதை இங்கே தருகிறேன். இதனை ஆஹீர் பைரவி அல்லது சக்ரவாகத்தில் மெட்டமைத்து இருக்கிறேன். பாடல் வரிகளை இப்போது தருகிறேன். பாடலைப் பின்னர் தருகிறேன்.

====

ராகம் : சக்ரவாகம்
தாளம் : ஆதி

பல்லவி:
=======

கால்களைக் கழுவும் கண்ணா - என்
கையறு நிலை கண்டு கை கழுவாதிருப்பாய்

அனுபல்லவி
===========

காடு மலை கடந்த வலி ஒன்றும் இல்லை - நீ
காண மறுத்திருந்தால் தரையில் மீன் என் நிலை

சரணம் 1:
=======

அடுப்பிலே தீ மூட்டி வாரங்கள் ஆனது
இடுப்பிலே ஈரமாய் கந்தலும் ஆடுது
இளமையை இயலாமை கொன்று தான் போட்டது
இயல்பென வறுமையும் இம்சையாய் ஆனது

கரும் பலகை கண்டு கரிந்த உணவு என
கொடும் பசி உந்தவே குழந்தை வாய் வைக்குது

சரணம் 2:
=======

கோபுரம் தேவையில்லை
கோடிப்பொன் தேவையில்லை
மாடமும் தேவையில்லை
மனை ஏதும் தேவையில்லை
இல்லக் கிழத்தியின்
இளைத்த பிள்ளகளின்
கொல்லும் வறுமை போக
கொஞ்சம் நெல் தாராய்

===

Prof Oldham's Lectures on Electrochemistry at Monash University

2009-03-13T16:51:00.005+11:00

As a student, you would learn from certain textbooks, the authors of which would mostly be world-renowned authorities in the subjects. Although, I came to know about Prof. Keith B . Oldham's works later in my student life, I have always been fascinated by his crystal clear introduction to electrochemistry. What could be better ?

A course directly taught by him.

Prof. Alan Bond of Monash - another authority in fundamental electrochemistry has organized a series of lectures by Prof. Oldham and I am so very delighted to be learning from him directly in a class !

Thanks CSIRO and Monash. Enjoyable totally !

NaadharoopiNi - the swara circus of Ravindran - M.G. Sreekumar - A Tribute on the 4th anniversary

2009-03-04T09:00:00.004+11:00

Song : Naadha roopiNi
Composer : Raveendran
Lyrics : Kaithapram Damodaran Namboodhiri
Singer : M.G. Sreekumar
Movie : His Highness Abdullah

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman

Dialup
======

NaadharoopiNi - the swara circus of Ravindran

Broadband
=========

It has been quite a while since I tried anything even modestly semi-classical. The last time I sang a semi-classical was in Oct 2005:

1. Vedham Nee
2. Pramadhavanam
3. Sangeethame

But my recent enrollment in Smt. Shobha Shekhar's classes has once again sparked my excitement in the old semi-classicals. And the result of this excitement ? Internet needs to bear with my version of a National award winning song of MGS.

To say Raveendran was a gandharvan would be a severe understatement. Can you imagine an angel without wings but with an unshaven face and with glasses ? If you can that would be Raveendran. This master composer left us with his rich musical legacy four years ago when the South Indian musical fraternity wept. ( Check out dhool's tribute here ).

With all the Idea Star Singer and Super Singer programmes popping up in every possible channel, Raveendran's long lost songs like rajeevam vidarum nin mizigaL are regularly sung since they challenge the singer to the very end. A Raveendran song was always an elaborately prepared feast in a modern setting with traditional techniques. Anybody could enjoy the tasty meal and those who know musical cookery revel in the technique apart from the taste.

This song dragged MGS from relative obscurity to superstardom. MGS has been singing difficult songs for long (e.g. swaminatha paripaalayasumaam and nagumomu in Chitram) but gained unprecedented popularity with this song which won his first national award. His delivery which stuck to the classical roots with his apt warmed up tone won him plaudits.

My humble attempt is two-pronged:

1. Remember Raveendran by singing his songs akin to singing Tyagaraja's songs in Thiruvaiyaaru.

2. To dust my rust and stand-up for better semi-classical / classical performances.

Listeners - please feel free to critique.

Upcoming Concert of Kaumudee on March 8th: India Literacy Project presents ILP Fest 2009

2009-02-19T14:00:00.007+11:00

My friend Kaumudee's concert is on March 8th for a noble cause of improving Indian literacy. Please support her in this effort by attending this concert. Kaumudee is a brilliant singer and add to it the satisfaction of helping a good cause. More details at :

http://www.kaumudee.com

PS: She has sung in front of Stalwarts like Drums shivamani and Pt. Hridayanath Mangeshkar !! Cheers !!

Beggary of the Disabled

2009-02-15T14:01:00.002+11:00

பாலாவின் "நான் கடவுள் " படத்தில் காட்டிய பிச்சைக்காரர்களின் வாழ்க்கை மனதை விட்டு அகல மறுக்கின்றது. அதன் பிரதிபலிப்பாக இதோ எனது சிறுகவி.
(இது பாடலாக வர வாய்ப்பு உள்ளது)

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கால்கள் வளர்ந்தது காலளவே -மன
ஊனம் வளர்ந்தது முழு அளவே
கரமாய் சிரமாய்
திசைக்கு ஒன்றாய் தசைகள்

ஊழ்வினையோ ? பெற்றோர் வினையோ ?
இயற்கையின் ஓர வஞ்சனையோ ?

எண்சாண் உடம்பில்லை
ஒரு சாண் வயிறுண்டு
வயிறு வாழ நிதம்
உயிரைக் கரைக்கிறது

ஊனம் ஒன்று தான்
விற்கும் பொருள் இங்கு
விற்ற பின்னாலும்
விட்டுப் போகாமல்
பற்றிக் கொண்டு நிதம்
விற்கும் பொருள் இங்கு

இணையம் கணினி என
இகமோ இன்புறுது
இதயம் பணி விட்டு
இருண்டு உறங்கிடுது

சதையின் அவலமாய்
சடலமாய் வாழ்கின்ற
ஊன வறியார்கள்
உய்ய வழி என்ன ?

===================

uDalin thiriyaalE - Tribute to Mother - My composition sung by Pradip Somasundaran

2009-02-07T11:53:00.012+11:00

Song : udalin thiriyaalE
Composed by : Murali Venkatraman
Lyrics : Murali Venkatraman
Singer : Pradip Somasundaran

uDalin thiriyaalE - Tribute to Mother - My composition sung by Pradip Somasundaran | Music Upload

(photo courtesy : Howard Weingarden )

A mother's contribution toward's a child's life is immeasurable. This is a song that I wrote and composed as a tribute to my mother.

Kanakaangi is the first mELakartha or "janana" raagams. That is, it is the first among the mother ragams. It is one of my favorite ragams and I believe it epitomizes an emotional tension. My first tryst with Kanakaangi came unsurprisingly with "thom thom" of Sindhubhairavi and then followed "shree gaNanatham bhajamyaham". There are purists who feel that this raga was artificially derived when assembling the Venkatamahi scheme but one could always argue what is natural and what is artifical. To me, kanakaangi evokes a deep feeling which ragas like bhairavi and thoDi do. It may just be a personal feeling.

Every song when conceived by the composer innately comes with the image of the voice which would sing it. The composer has a construct in his mind about the song and delivery. It is the responsibility of the composer to convey the image properly to the singer. It is only some singers that grasp the mental image of the song, polish it and take it to the next level at which point the composer sits back and just enjoys his work being savored.

I can understand how Raveendran would have felt when "souparnikamritha veechikaL" was delivered by Yesudas. When I ended up listening to Pradip's version of souparnikamritha veechikaL I felt equally mesmerized that I ended up listening to it 10 times in a day. And I knew none other than Pradip can bring the required bhaavam for a soulful tribute to mom.

That he is a singer par excellence has already been nationally acclaimed through Lata Mangeshkar award. But what is more rewarding and pedagogical to a younger musician is his untiring effort towards precision. Precision as in clinical precision and not the engineering precision. As the lyricist, I felt my lines had come to life in his absolutely soothing, expression laden voice with appropriate emphasis on the syllables.

பல்லவி
=======

உடலின் திரியாலே
உயிரின் தீயாலே
ஒளியும் கொடுத்தாயே
உனக்கிணை யார் தாயே ?

அனுபல்லவி
===========

ஆலய தெய்வமும்
தாயில்லை என்றேங்கி
கருவறை என்று தன்
வசிப்பிடம் தன்னை சொன்னதோ ?
என் தாயே - நீ
நந்தாயே என்றும்
நந்தாயே

(உடலின்)

சரணம் :
=======

பரமனைப்பார்த்தொரு நாள்
பரிகசித்தேன் - அவன்
'பதரே எதற்கிந்த
ஏளனம்?' என்றான்.

'அண்டமோ உனது உன்
ஆயுளோ நெடிது - ஆனால்
கண்டதுண்டோ நீயும்
தாயன்பின் அமுதை ?' என்றேன்

இல்லை என்றான் - தலை
நாணி நின்றான் - பரமன்
நாணி நின்றான்

(உடலின்)

For those who do not understand tamil a loose translation:
=========================================

Oh incomparable Mother !

With the body as the wick
and soul as the fire
You gave birth to light that is me.

Even the deity which resides in the temple
Felt it was lifeless since it did not have a mother
And chose to call its residence "garba gruham" (the womb or karuvaRai)
Oh my mother - Your greatness will never cease !

I bantered God the other day
He retorted : "You puny creature ? why are you mocking me ?"
I replied : "The universe is yours. You have infinite lifetime. But have you ever tasted the nectar of a mother's love ?"
He felt humbled and bowed down replying : "No"

Jashn-e-Bahara - Muzumadhi

2009-01-28T18:57:00.004+11:00

Song : Muzumadhi avaLAdhu
Movie: Jodha Akbar
Singers : Srinivas
Composer : A. R. Rehman

Performed by : Murali Venkatraman

Jashn-e-Bahara - tamil - Muzumadhi | Music Upload

This song delivered in Hindi by Javed Khan was beautifully re-rendered by Pradip and from the day I heard it, I had the irrepressible urge to sing. I have heard many attempt the hindi version whereas the Tamil version was seemingly untried by many blog singers. I vaguely remember Santhosh Hariaharan singing it.

One of the beautiful qualities in a Srinivas rendition is the consistency in expression and enunciation, whatever language it may be. His voice is tailor-made for songs like these and I have always enjoyed singing his songs with a little imaginative twist of my own since he is a singer who inspires the neurons in me. Not many singers can boast of being able to sing songs that embrace the listener as does a cool breeze on a hot day - gentle, unexpected and irresistible once it starts.

The song is a mixed bag in terms of lyrics. It has some stunning lines like:

ஒரு கரையாக அவள் இருக்க
மறு கரையாக நான் இருக்க
இடையில் தனிமை தளும்புதே நதியாய்

But lines like:

மார்கழி மாதத்துப் பனித்துளி அவளது குரலாகும்

do not make any sense. Apart from that, there were some metric issues (maargazi maadhaththup panithuLi is like biting and chewing..whereas maargazi maadhap paniththuLi would be just right)

Hence I asked Udhaya to write an alternate set of lyrics. His lines dripped poetry and I plan to sing them in another post. For now, please let me know how this rendition of mine is..

Programme with Sahana in Bay Area - With Meera

2009-01-19T09:41:00.000+11:00

This blog is being dusted.

To say that my short visit to SFO was colorfully enriched with wonderful memories would be an understatement. The family that was single-handedly responsible for that was Meera's. Almost every other weekend was spent with Ayush, Meera and Manohar. A typical weekend would start with wine in the evening kick-starting Mano's technical and comical brilliance about sundry stuff. Be it the famed reference to a mallu buying "Dungin Donuts" from a Chinese at the counter or the resolution of relative velocity in circular motion - Mano had me, Vijay and Narayanan in splits or in musing for most of the time. And as we occasionally warmly welcomed Mr. Johnnie Walker into our brigade in the night, the natural smile of Meera would slowly give way to a deliberately self-imposed one (aah..the pressure of having to act as a good host !). Of course the Thai food was ordered to help us with the solids not to forget Ramya Narayanan's inventive "Oats Dhosai". Meera and Co also surprised me with a hugely surprising and meticulously planned Birthday Bash for me which included Narayanan Venkitu, Vamshi, Narayanan, Balagopal and their families. They brought with them a whole range of food including Vaththak kuzambu. The winner on that day was Mano's Potato Curry though !

And all these wonderful hospitality coupled with regular visits to Komala Vilas transformed into pounds of flab before I boarded for Melbourne.

Gluttons at Komala Vilas

Whenever such little pleasures of life were not available, music came in as Meera, Narayanan and I discussed some songs. Meera and I sat for the songs azagaay poosum manjaL and kaNNimai thaanE aadume with Ayush sometimes providing some background music. Not many times does one get the opportunity of performing with his audio-blogging friends. I am probably the luckiest in that regard since I have performed with many of them. Anup, Barani, Sam and Karthik Gomadam performed with me in Raleigh in 2006. And the latest that happened was in Bay Area with Meera and Narayanan with Sahana.

Sahana's leader Arun was a pleasure to work with although he never distinguished between types of communication. He would scrap me on Orkut and presume he mailed me. Or would talk to Meera on phone and mistake for paging her. It was fun working with Ashwin, Srinath and Krishna - the instrumentalists. I ended up singing a couple of songs with my trademark slips.

One of them was Uyirin Uyire - a Kay Kay song - a genre I should probably not have attempted. I struggled at the start of the song due to a dry throat and unable to hear my voice back from monitors but warmed up in the middle. This video has more nostalgic value and less musical value.

With the sound system not really helping much to hear the low notes, Raja Raja Chozan was also approximately delivered. I had to cut off at places like "kaadhal theeve..maNmeedhu sorgam" to ensure that I was not braying the wrong notes.

The winners on that day were Raja M's "engeyum eppodhum", Vamshi's "Sangeetha Megam" and Meera's "Rangeela Theme". Bharathi did a great job on "aattama" and "vaan mEgam". You can catch them here.

Thanks to Kaumudee for coming and cheering us up !

A new blog - Mehfil-E-Ghazal

2008-11-11T05:07:00.008+11:00

Sindhuja and I have started a new joint blog for some of the North Indian songs that we appreciate. This would include ghazals, bangla, marathi songs, some equivalent translations and/or alternate lyrics.

http://mehfil-e-ghazal.blogspot.com/

I have started off with a Hariharan ghazal (aa chaandni ) and Ghulam ali song (main nazar se). Many of Hariharan's ghazals are to be typed in. Please take a look and do inform us of any mistakes in spelling, grammar or interpretation. Thanks.

Once in a lifetime photo - The Legend and the Lay

2008-09-15T17:58:00.003+10:00

One of the greatest artists and human beings ever to have graced this planet !

Vaazga SPB !

Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 4 (Final)

2008-09-11T03:05:00.005+10:00

Idol 7 - Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 4

Impressions of an Amateur Musician
- Murali Venkatraman (dhool.com)

(The complete article can be downloaded here)

6. Classical

After all the talk about being the disciple of Shri. Balamuralikrishna where is the classical composition ? He has given us the song “praNathosmi” which is in the raga reethi gowLai. However, I do not attach much significance to the pallavi of that song because reethi gowLai is a ragam that has been used repetitively by Ilaiyaraja and others with all the pallavis sounding the same. And invariably the pallavis use the aarohanam of the ragam as it is.

Aarohanam : s g r g m n d m n n s

Songs which employ this aarohanam in their pallavis are :

chinnak kaNNan azaikkiRaan
raama kanavemira (raman kadhai kELungaL) by SPB from Swati mutyam or chippikkuL muththu
praNAthosmi Guruvayupureesam
maamava maadhava – from the movie five star hospital

In fact, the best reethi gowLai in my opinion also comes from IR – thalayaik kuniyum thaamaraiye and to a good extent azagaana raakshasiye from Rehman – both savored by SPB as he sang them.

Pranathosmi apart from the pallavi is a beautiful song rendered in the aged voice of Yesudas. I also found a version of Venugopal which I thought did more justice and have included for the readers here.

Listen to Pranathosmi here:

Pranathosmi - Yesudas Version

Pranathosmi - Venugopal Version

It is a popular practice in some of the semi-classical songs to include some established classical phrases in the middle. For example, Raveendran’s classic “Gopaangane” includes in an interlude the swarams of “Jagada nanda karaka” in the instrumental format. However, Sharath chooses to let K. J. Yesudas deliver the Karaharapriya swara phrases for the Kirtanam “Pakala” as an interlude for the uncharacteristically sweet melody – Shree Ragamo.

Listen to Shree Ragamo

In one of my conversations with rajaG, he remarked that composing a classical or a semi-classical number for film is easy. Once you choose the ragam, and play with it a bit you can come up with a pallavi and charanam. I strongly disagreed. In my opinion, coming up with a trite pallavi and a banal charanam is something anybody with some basic classical knowledge can do. However I believe, when we say composing we also innately imply impressing. If impressing is taken into account, Raveendran, Devarajan and Dhakshinamurthy swamigaL’s compositions stand out whereas many other lesser composers’ songs pale in comparison. Pramadhavanam and Gopaangane are severely semi-classical but compellingly expressive and deeply endearing. Apart from these stellar numbers, malayalam films are replete with namesake semi-classical numbers rendered by Yesudas and Chitra which hardly impress the listener. But when composers like Sharath attempt classicals or semi-classicals, they bring in an energy unseen.

7. To learn and not to learn

So what should an amateur musician like me look to learn from Sharath ? The first thing that Sharath’s songs tell me is to “think out of the box”. rajaG says:

“This kind of a rebellious attitude is the trademark of BMK. BMK got bored with what was present in carnatic system and came up with innovations himself and Sharath is doing that in film music. It is this out of the box approach that I really adore Sharath for”

I recall a discussion with Murali Rangarajan (an excellent singer and friend) who once quipped that BMK would stick to the grammar of ragas, but would explore those combinations which nobody has attempted before. That is, there are many ragams which have popular “prayogams” (phrases) and most of the carnatic singers resort to the “traditional” delivery (negatively speaking, this would be synonymous with unimaginative renditions) and BMK on the other hand would pretty much venture into that territory and come up unheard prayogams in the same ragams.

I agree with Murali and rajaG in that Sharath, in many songs, uses the same old canvass but employs a combination of colours which are unseen and hence unnerving to people who are used to a particular type of paintings. The result, as I emphasized before, is that it could be incomprehensible and sometimes deemed unpleasant too. For example, “niLaiyude maaRil” is the song I would least appreciate in the Chaithra GeethangaL album for the simple reason that its scale changes do not produce a focused output in my limited perception. SL once said in jest :

“If you meet Sharath, could you please request him not to change the Shadjam in every note ?”

I really wish I could meet Sharath someday which would certainly be a day to cherish for me. But I agree with SL that for a listener it does get difficult when the composer changes too many things too fast. The best parallel that I can think of is shooting with a camcorder. During a shoot, if one keeps moving the camcorder at a speed that is much higher than a “normal” eye can bear or discern, during playback on TV, the viewer ends up with a headache. However, if the motion is captured slowly at a lesser speed, people get the “full picture”. But too slow can be too dull. To me Sharath’s songs appear more like well-scripted action movies where things happen too fast for some people to understand the finer details.

When I was discussing this aggressive quality of Sharath in his compositions, Bhavadharini added:

“This is probably because of the ‘asura saadhakam’ (rigorous vocal practice) that he does everyday. He sleeps probably for 3 hours rest of the day / night it is all music for him – either practice or composing/arranging”.

8. Conclusion

A rigorous practitioner will certainly find new combinations. Add to the rigor, some exceptional talent, the practitioner ideally becomes the father of a range of musical forms that finally becomes christened as his school or style. Sharath is that extraordinary combination who is creating a school of his own. There are three things that I would like to learn from him :

Think out of the box
Use old elements to create new combinations
Practice and work hard

Well, the last one is a common feature of all my idols. It is indeed the most important quality however, to discuss that would be to belabour over the adage : “99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”. The first two are Sharath’s characteristics which I would certainly like to imbibe. When I composed, Barse Badariya, I certainly tried my hand to think out of the box by employing some raga changes. Many liked it but some did not, dismissing it as a gimmick. Fair enough I believe. In songs like these the composer needs the support of an excellent singer and Swati Kanitkar went beyond what I could conceive. Thank you Swati.

However, in terms of the progress of the melody I certainly have my reservations following Sharath. Quoting SL about his experience with some of Sharath’s songs:

“In 2 songs (Sudha Mantram and niLaiyude maaril) the 'Sa' shift happened too often that before the melody could be savoured, it assumed a different flavour altogether. Raavil veeNa naadham started off in Hamsanadham and kept taking a detour which was not at all aesthetically pleasing to my ears, it was almost at the expense of sounding discordant. Maybe he is trying to break the 'melody conditioning' a lot of us have. But I sincerely feel in these cases the tune has not been allowed to blossom fully...thinna pazham thanthu thinnAthE endru kayyai thatti vittu thittuvathu sariya thappA :)”

SL nailed it. “Melody conditioning” – is the new phrase that I learnt from SL and probably the most perfect way to describe the incomprehensibility that we display while hearing a Sharath’s composition. Melody conditioning is the apparent disparity between how we expect a song to be and the way Sharath’s song is. In my opinion, we certainly need to improve in being able to understand difficult musical forms (See what MSV says about Sharath here ). MSV says:

“Songs like these were composed in olden days. These days, there are few compositions of such class. However such songs must be composed so that the younger generation gets to learn”

When it comes to film music, it would be foolish to sport an opinion different from MSV, but it is my request that Sharath must also keep in mind that he is composing for us – the audience – who sometimes are not expecting to be educated but only entertained. And with the magic wand of melody that he has, he can certainly do it like he did in Ende sindoora rekha or Shree Ragamo.

With that, I take bow before this great composer who has successfully jolted some of the neurons which are responsible for understanding, appreciating and creating music. Together with Ramesh Narayanan and M. Jayachandran, Sharath has changed the way Malayalees listen to film music.

On a final note as Bhavadhaarini puts it : “It is only by a stroke of luck that such a great composer has come to be with us and we need to learn as much as possible from him. A gem of a person he always says SanthOsham, Samaadhaanam and Sowkyam”.

Dear Sharath, I would say add your “Sangeetham” to it. Thanks - for making contemporary music, a twisted and intelligent transformation of the old.

9. Appendix A : Songs featured in this article

Sudhamantram
Diva swapnam
Madhuram gayathi
Bandhura vaasandhya
Gopike nin maaril
niLaiyude maaril
ende sindoora rekha
Yamuna nadhi
Mazaiye Mazaiye
Pranathosmi - K. J. Yesudas
Pranathosmi - G. Venugopal
Shree Ragamo

10. Appendix B : ShruthibhEdam and GruhaBhedam

An interesting point is the distinction between SruthiBhedam and GruhaBhedam in the words of Sindhuja :

“I had a discussion about this with Kumaresh (of Ganesh-Kumaresh) about a month back. From him I learnt that what I had been referring to as shruthibhedam was actually 'gruhabhedam'. The latter is a more accurate term he said. All these days I thought the two terms meant the same and could be used interchangeably, but apparently there is a subtle difference. Shruthibhedam is just change (bhedam) of shruthi (for eg- u are not able to reach the highs in a shruthi, u lower it for convenience- that is an instance of shruthibhedam) But the shift of Sa (called 'gruham' as it 'houses' the rest of the swaras) is actually primarily a gruhabhedam, a by-product of which is shruthibhedam since when u shift the gruham, the the shruthi changes automatically. At a glance the distinction may seem redundant but if you think about it there is a subtle difference.”

So while Gruhabhedam implies ShruthibhEdam, the reverse is not true and semantically, they are different.

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Part 1 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/04/sharath-musical-enigma-part-1.html

Part 2 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/07/idol-7-sharath-musical-enigma-part-2.html

Part 3 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/08/sharath-musical-enigma-part-3.html

Part 4 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/09/sharath-musical-enigma-part-4-final.html

Congaree Shlokam - With Professor Sethuraman

2008-09-02T17:25:00.003+10:00

Song : Congaree Jala
Singer : Murali Venkatraman
Lyrics: Prof Sethuraman
Composition : Murali Venkatraman
Genre : Bhajans

Congaree Shlokam - With Professor Sethuraman | Upload Music

Although I have not been posting any song here frequently, I have been very active musically. Enriching discussions with many musicians have been polishing me. Have met with some good music friends and made some more online. The music circle has been expanding and sometimes I wonder if it going beyond my memory.

Columbia Hindu Temple has been a symbol of hindu harmony. Northern and Southern hinduism blended seamlessly with people coming together and helping each other for many festivals. PraaN PRathisthta of Shiva was one such big festival for which unprecedented number of people came all over from distant places to witness the deity being installed.

Shiva and Vishnu have devotees all over India. Prof. Sethuraman of USC, a prolific writer wrote the following shlokam on the residing Shiva deity by including references to Congaree and Saluda rivers for which he had asked me to compose music. This is a simplified version of a much more complex arrangement that will be released later. This clip contains only my voice supported by a background shruthi.

Kudos Kaumudee ! Thank you Ayush !

2008-09-02T17:19:00.001+10:00

With Kaumudee

With Ayush - Meera's son at Kaumudee's concert.

Ayush silencing me in a humbling gesture of affection .

Audio bloggers may be familiar with Kaumudee Torsekar. Kaumudee and I have been friends for almost 7 years and the first chance to meet Kaumudee happened to be at R. D. Burman Show in the Bay Area and what a show it was ! Kaumu stood out as an outstanding talent among the singers and Kishmu and Nagaraj amped up with theri brilliant keyboard play.

Some of the songs Kaumu sang included "Aaja ..aah aha aaja" and "Monica my darling". I can confidently say that off all the singer friends I have seen till date on stage, Kaumu was the most outstanding in all aspects. Choice of song, expressiveness, staying tuned in shruti and presenting the song with the energy that the song originally intended to have. Meera' family and I were in the audience and both Meera and I were clapping so much that our palms started feeling the heat. Although the other singers did a reasonable job, I preferred babysitting Ayush when they sang and certainly that was infinitely more exciting :)

Kaumu - You are a star and I am honored to be your friend !

A rapturous weekend

2008-08-13T14:38:00.004+10:00

How would you feel if too many good things happened over a weekend ?! Happy and Tired and..may be sick !

That is what happened to me last weekend.

Raja Govindarajan (rajaG or G) - my long time friend from Kansas and Narayanan - an old alumnus from University of South Carlina joined hands together in the Bay Area to give a telugu concert http://www.aavakai.com/
I was meeting Narayanan after 8 years !!
Went to Nara and G's practice session on Friday where I met Kishmu who I have known for 6+ years but have never met. We have had so many discussions online ! It was wonderful to meet him personally.
Ended up singing "track" for G for Vidhata talapuna just for fun
It was even more wonderful to have him play some background for me and G to sing some songs like NinaivO oru paRavai where there were some voice overs. Note this was a leisurely singing after the practice..as in jamming !
Met Vamshi - a good singer with a penchant for high pitched songs and a friend of Nara. On his insistence, sang a composition of mine.
Came to know that Guitarist Krish was the brother of Raghu Tangirala - a common friend of Udhaya and me - who composes !
Bala - my DAV classmate and a close bud was supposed to pick me up from the practice session and his tyre burst !
I ended up going to Nara's place with Vamshi where we had a lively discussion about singing Aye ajnabi - a song that Vamshi wanted to give Mahesh Shankar - a budding music director in Telugu Films.
All of us packed up and headed to Vamshi's house where we chatted about music till 3:30 am !
Got up late only to be notified by Bala that a certain Mahesh Shankar - who happened to be cousin of Arthi - Bala's wife - was waiting to join them for a hike in the mountains !
That was a coincidence ! The same Mahesh Shankar who I was talking about the previous night with Vamshi!
Before we could reach Vamshi's place, Bala's car breathed its final and Mahesh picked us up. We deposited the car in the garage and headed off to Mahesh's home with the hiking programme cancelled.
Came to know Mahesh was a very good friend of Nandu and Ramesh (ya blogswara guys !) who played with me for Aavarthana !!
Mahesh and I sat for a discussion on song making and exchanged thoughts about our philosophy towards music production.
Came to hear Meera's and Nara's recordings for Mahesh and many other songs that Mahesh had composed. Shared some of mine !
Mahesh and I decided we should look forward to meet for many times before I leave for australia.
Landed in aavakkai programme an hour late only to be apprised I did not miss anything due to the unexpected long lecture by Sirivennala
Had a lot of backstage conversations with singers and musicians during the break and ended up leaving the auditorium at 12:30 with G and BB.
Went straight to a Dennis and had some pancakes and omlettes to appease the appetite and headed to BB's place
It was rollicking fun with G at his panning best. Cannot divulge it all here :)
The snoring or roaring of G made my sleep impossible and could catch only 4 hrs of sleep before which I was woken up and was asked to sing with G. You can see how disheveled I look in this video. Sang "enakkoru kaadhali irukkindraaL" imitating the voice of MSV.

Went to Meera's son Ayush's Birthday party and met tons of ppl.

Finally ended up with a severe cold and fever. And could not go to the office on Monday !!

Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 3

2008-08-13T02:35:00.001+10:00

Idol 7 - Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 3

Impressions of an Amateur Musician
- Murali Venkatraman (dhool.com)

4. Other Melodies

So, is sharath all about composing extremely tough songs which are singer's nightmares or is there a composer in him who can also create hummable beautiful melodies which even a layman can appreciate ? This is an important question because all said and done, it is finally the layman who decides the sale of music which promotes the sustainability of the composer. While people are generally aware of raavil veeNa nadham from sindoora rekha (in which song too he displays some eccentric swara placements like the first rishbham in the last line of pallavi giving a flavour of kanakana ruchira - the rest of the song is smooth sailing though), they are less aware of the beautiful "ende sindhoora rekha" which is a delightful concoction of Chitra’s and Yesudas voices interleaved with voice-overs as the melody strides sonorously.

Listen to Sindoora Rekha (Youtube link)

Another melody and probably the best song of Sharath in my opinion, which wonderfully showcases Sharath's ability to create melodies with a teaspoon of "vidwat" sprinkled elegantly over it is "Yamuna nadhi ozugum" from Devadasy. The beauty of this song is that it reveals its ragam only slowly although the melody is wonderfully preserved in those lines which confuse the listener. Now that, I call, is the stamp of a real master. It tells the listener “please sit back and enjoy my melody, but do not get overly zealous about creating one since it is not easy”. This kind of teasing is great. It is primarily based on ragam Mohanam but the way it starts gives a tinge of "madhyamavathy" feel. It would not be wrong to say that the first line especially has the ghost of madhyamavathy residing in the body of mohanam. (This twist inspired me to an alternate idea of supporting one raga’s chords with the other and I tried my hand doing this in the song “azagaay poosum manjaL”. In this song’s first interlude, raga hamsadhwani is played by the violin and the backing chords were that of mohanam).

One may write pages and empty all the adjectives in the thesaurus to describe Chitra's voice, but he would still be left with a feeling of insufficiency. Well this is a song in which the Singing Angel of South India rules supreme and brings tears to the eyes of a listener.

Listen to yamuna nadhi ozugum

5. Tamil

So much for Malayalam. What about Tamil ? The film June R had the song "mazhaiye mazhaiye" which saw the confluence of two genius singers - Sharath and Hariharan to produce a song which stands out in every aspect of composing. First the lyrics - they need a mention.

mazaiye mazaiyE
neerin thiraiyE
vaanam theLikkum
kavidhai thuLiye
Megaththin sirippoliye
neela vaaname
oru thaRi illaamal
neerin noolil mazaiyenum sElai neydhadhe

Oh my.. what beautiful lyrics ! It reminds me of Udhaya's style - who in every poem of his brings an unprecedented set of metaphors and I stand awestruck every time ! And after all his complex tunes, Sharath chooses to make this song an unhindered melody but decides to weave an orchestration that only a person with superior musical acumen can construct. The bass line, the thunder and the rain drop sounds all melt in a wonderful musical cocktail which the listener could savor as he admires the acoustic portrait of the natural splendour painted by Hariharan’s immaculate voice. In this song, the notes are definitely Sharath’s, but “maNNukkum vaasam thondrum” line makes one wonder how seamlessly Hariharan blends a western style of singing momentarily with the gamakams of the east. It is this composition of Sharath which I had no complaints about. A flawless masterpiece !

Listen to mazaiye mazaiye

=========
Part 1 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/04/sharath-musical-enigma-part-1.html
Part 2 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/07/idol-7-sharath-musical-enigma-part-2.html
Part 3 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/08/sharath-musical-enigma-part-3.html
Part 4 : http://swara.blogspot.com/2008/09/sharath-musical-enigma-part-4-final.html

Ooradangum SaamaththilE - Meera and Sindhuja

2008-07-31T11:54:00.007+10:00

Song : Ooradangum SaamaththilE
Movie: Pudhuppatti ponnuthaayi
Singers : Swarnalatha, Uma Ramanan
Composer : Ilaiyaraja

Performed by : Sindhuja Bhaktavatsalam, Meera Manohar
Karaoke by : Murali Venkatraman

Ooradangum saamathilae | Music Upload

It is a regularity for IR to produce songs of high melodic strength in movies that have the least probability to survive for even three days after their release. Some excellent examples include:

1. Songs from Eeravizihi kaaviyangaL (this was released in the morning and ran successfully till afternoon)
2. Songs from Koyil puRa
3. Geetham Sangeetham from Kokkarakko
4. siruponmaNi asaiyum from some sudhakar movie

Pudhuppati Ponnuthaayi - was another movie which he chose to lavish with some great numbers. Two of those numbers include : Ooradangum and azagaana nam paaNdi naattinilE. Swarnalatha was absolutely velvety in her vocals in Ooradangum and this received a lot of air time in the TV (apparently and mistakenly christened as a Midnight-Masala song although it had nothing masala about it). It was featured in dhool:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dhoolsotd/message/302

I had been thinking of bringing some of my favorite blog singers together for some of my compositions. But then I remembered that this Ilaiyaraja song was an easy number to make a karaoke for. Once I had made the Karaoke, I sent it to Meera (a self-procalimed Swarnalatha aficionado :) ) and Sindhu to see if they could sing and they did.

It was really awesome to listen to both their voices with equal singing importance. Look for some very good expressions by Meera ("thoongaama vaadurEne") and Sindhu ("karpooramaattam urugi urugi"). I do believe that many of the blog singers are serious contenders for professional recordings. And Meera and Sindhu, are certainly among those strong contenders. Please let us know how you all feel about it.

Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 2

2008-07-22T11:05:00.002+10:00

Idol 7 - Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 2

Impressions of an Amateur Musician
- Murali Venkatraman (dhool.com)

3. Chaithra GeethangaL

As if Sharath was not happy with the gargantuan effort and complexity that he subjected Unnikrishnan and listeners to in Sudha mantram, he went on to record some more similar difficult songs for an album called Chaithra GeethangaL. This time he chose to discard tongue twisting swara phrases and chose to have all the songs aalaap and sahityam based. (Readers please be advised that I have no information as to whether he did Sudha Mantram first and Chaithra GeethangaL next. I just happened to hear them in that order.)

The entire album was rich in melody and Sharath had chosen to tell people that he can create songs that people could understand. The best song of the album, as agreed by my friend Raja Govindarajan (Kansas Raja or rajaG), is "Madhuram gayathi mama hrudhayam" by Chitra. This song starts off in the scale of hindholam and deftly uses the root-note shift concept to have a few phrases in mohanam in charanam. The most baffling link (or its lack of) between the charanam and pallavi is the aalaap which winds down in mohanam but the pallavi starts in hindholam as its ShruthibhEdam. This once gain shows the complexity of thought but does not compromise on the melody due primarily to the beautiful voice of Chitra who goes on a roller coaster ride of swarasthanams and still extracts the nectar of melody.

Listen to Madhuram Gayathi

Although Madhuram is a beautiful song, I got really tired with the synthetic trumpet or saxophone prelude which has a long winding aalaap. In fact, one starts to wonder if it was really necessary in the first place. After getting to know from Bhavadharini– a professional singer who works with Sharath occasionally – that he pretty much sequences everything in the Keyboard itself and lets other instrumentalists arrive and practice their portions based on the sequenced song later, I hypothesize that the complex and seemingly unfocused aalap in the beginning of the song, has been played by none other than Sharath himself. May be I will confirm this with him someday if I get to meet him. But that prelude is a serious deterrent in an otherwise awesome composition.

Chaithra geethangaL featured both Srinivas and Chitra and Srinivas in his silky voice renders some tough songs. For the sheer melody - bandhura vasandhya sandhye - takes the cake. Milder form of raga hamasadhwani is beautifully captured in this song with a bit of Vatapi Ganapathim poking its nose in the interludes. Of course, the charanams have the characteristic detours to other ragas.

Listen to Bandhura vasandhya sandhye :

Another beautiful song is gopike nin maaRil aarO chaarthi chandanangaL. A very nice melody however, sprinkled with interludes that lack any definite structure. I see influences of reethi gowLai in the composition. I don’t know how many of us know that Sharath is a walking encyclopaedia of Ilaiyaraja’s (IR) songs (Check this discussion which talks about Sharath’s comments on IR ). I have heard about this from two independent sources : rajaG and Murali Ramanathan. (Murali happened to be a contestant in Idea Star Singer and had the good opportunity to interact with Sharath.) Well, IR never let his interludes go unregistered in mind. For example, when somebody thinks of nilaave vaa, he also remembers along with it, the first flute interlude and the second violin interlude. He or she may not know the beautiful layers that IR overlays, but they certainly remember the lead melody of the interlude in a monophonic fashion. And even when IR employs a root-note shift in a song, it is always a smooth sailing in the interludes where the listener hardly recognizes the transition. An excellent example is Poonkaatrile from paattu paadava in which the charanam and pallavi are in different scales. Certainly Sharath has not done it successfully in this album.

Listen to this Gopike nin maaRil

However, the song that really leaves the listener befuddled is "niLaiyude maaril". The chord progression and the beginning of the song are absolutely disjointed ( not saying inharmonious) and borrowing rajaG’s words:

"If anybody is to attempt this song live, oru note thappinaalum govindha dhaan from the beginning"

karaNam thappinaal maraNam - this is the what any singer would describe this song as. Sindhuja rightly wondered "Srinivas idhai eppadi paadinaar ?!!!". Well given the recording facilities these days, it is relatively easy to record such complex scale-shifting songs in multiple takes, although conceiving them can be a real gargantuan effort and needs mammoth talent. However, in my opinion, even the most difficult concepts conceived by the author must be explained in as simple terms as possible. Or else, the genius will get buried and may have to wait till somebody, familiar with employing simpler verbatim, digs the work up from the grave of the genius à la Galois. ( http://dhool.com/ is certainly one such digger )

Listen to NiLaiyude maaril

Although, Sharath has openly claimed IR is his favourite music director, in my assessment his style borders on Hrudayanath Mangeshkar’s who is probably the senior most in the band of tough composers. More about him in a later article.

Tutorial - Recording your voice along with Karaoke using a computer

2008-07-04T11:20:00.011+10:00

I receive many mails from people who are interested in creating an audio-blog for themselves but are unfamiliar with how to record their voices on the computer. I have written this tutorial to help them kick-start their singing. I have also included how one could possibly make a Karaoke. However, it must be kept in mind that this is only a basic guide for Karaoke singing using some of the freely available softwares. If somebody wants to take up singing and recording seriously for recording albums, he or she has to go a studio. What is illustrated is pretty much for fun.

Essentials:

Any basic recording set up would require the following (approx price in the braces):

1. Computer - $800
2. Sound card - $200
3. Microphone - $100
4. Headphones - $50
5. Recording software - $0

If you discount the computer cost, you would incur not more than $350 which is very good for home recording.

1. Computer:

OS - Windows 2000/XP
RAM - 512 MB
Disk space - at least 1 GB

Sound in a computer is a file. Computer recognizes multiple formats off which WAV and MP3 are the most popular in the music circles. WAV is un compressed audio file whereas MP3 is a compressed format without a considerable loss in quality. Almost all the audio blogs these days use MP3s. Typically an Indian song is 5 to six minutes long. A commercially recorded CD track when converted to WAV format typically at 44.1 kHz and 128 kbps produces a file which is approximately 10 MB / min of song length. Thus a WAV file is usually 50 to 60 MB in size. When compressed to MP3 format, the file size becomes approximately 1/10 of the original WAV file.

Why is WAV file important ? That is because the computers and most of the music softwares in the world recognize WAV files (exception being real player) and when you record audio on to a computer it is always a WAV file. since WAV files are 50 to 60 MB in size, a computer with a disk space is necessary. Moreover, the music softwares perform a lot of floating point calculations and hence at least 512 MB RAM is necessary.

And for the Operating system I use Win XP with SP2 and I am very happy to recommend it.

2. Sound card:

The sound card of the computer is the heart of sound generation both for playback and recording. However, most of the sound cards that come bundled with either the desktops or laptops are of inferior quality and I strongly discourage using them. ( Can a sound card that is bundled with the laptop or desktop (usually on-board) do the same job ? Answer is yes. however, it would have high background noise and latency ). Since you want to sing and record an inexpensive home studio sound card would do wonders.

When opting to go for a good soundcard, you need to decide whether you want an internal (PCI) or external portable sound card. I strongly recommend external soundcard since they are easy to install and are highly portable. Also you donot have to install a PCI component yourself if you are not good at such things.

I suggest one of these three - All are excellent:

1. Tascam US 122L
2. M-audio - Fast Track USB / fast Track Pro
3. M-audio - Firewire solo

The first two soundcards are USB based. Third one is based on Firewire. I have used all these three myself and I have had no issues with them. They are stable and offer excellent sound. You should be able to purchase it from an online store or zzsounds.com.

If you are using the sound card with a laptop, you may have to buy an external power adapter to boost the elecrical signal. It may not be needed for USB based soundcard, but definitely needed for Firewire based sound cards.

Installation is really simple and straight forward. You would install the driver and then connect the hardware. Reversing the process will lead to instability sometime. Once you have installed the soundcard, internal or external, make sure that you restart the system and enter the BIOS and deactivate the internal on-board sound card and restart. This will make the computer use your new soundcard exclusively. Any sound generated, like for e.g. if you play a song on the computer, can be heard in your new soundcard. And you will see what a difference it makes especially if you are listening to some compositions of Rehman.

3. Microphone and pop filter:

There are two types of microphones:

1. Dynamic
2. Condenser

An excellent article on comparing these two types can be found here. In my opinion, a condenser mic is unnecessary for a person who wants to record just vocals. A dynamic microphone is more than sufficient. In fact, most of the audio bloggers I know use dynamic microphones. The dynamic microphones are cheap and certainly reliable and rugged. The brands that I suggest are:

1. Shure - SM58
2. Shure - SM57
3. AKG-80

Most of the songs I have posted on my blog were recorded with a $30 Sony mic (which I bought when I was on a shoestring budget). It is good enough for me, but I do have an AKG-80 with which I have recorded 2 or 3 songs. I strongly recommend SM58.

Condenser mics need phantom power of 48 V. Do not supply phantom power to dynamic mic.

A pop filter reduces the "pop" sounds when you open your lips for saying some syllables. Buy a Nady pop-filter. Pretty good. It should be place between your mouth and the mic.

4. Headphones:

I have audio-technica headphones. They are warm to the ears and cheap for the wallet.

5. Recording Software:

Most of the soundcards come with a lite version of a professional recording software these days - for e.g. Ableton Live or Cubase SL. These are very powerful softwares and if you know how to get them working for you, you do not have to read further. However, if you end up buying a cheap soundcard with no free software or a soundcard with software which you fear is way too complicated, read on.

I recommend Audacity (Better download the stable release, I am never a fan of over-functional but undependable betas) - a free software which is more than sufficient for home-studio-vocal recordings.

Also download the LAME MP3 encoder which is available along with Audacity.

Recording:

Any recording has at least 3 stages:

1. Preprocessing setup :

a. Ensure that the microphone gain in your mic input of soundcard is not more than 40%.

b. Ensure that you dont have speakers on, but that you hear the output in headphones. This prevents unnecessary feedback.

c. Ensure all cables are functional. I bought a new mic once without realizing that the old mic was fine but the cable was faulty.

d. Your mic inputs or line-in inputs of the computer are NOT to be used anymore. Only the inputs in the sound card should be used. So, if you have connected a mic to yo your laptop or the desktop (which is actually the input on he internal sound card which had been disabled in the BIOS), remove it and plug it into the sound card input

e. If you want to record guitar the procedure is the same except that you will need to attach an electrical "pick up" unit on the guitar and connect the output from that unit to the input of the sound card.

f. Try to be in a noise-free place. Dynamics mics are usually unidirectional and usually pick-up sounds that are in the line with the central axis of the mic. So, do not stay too far away from the mic when recording. Place the mic close to your lips and just at a distance which would allow pops and clicks to not get recorded. Use a pop filter and mic stand if needed. (Do not try to wield the mic like Kamalhassan did in ennadi meenakshi or Shankar did in vaasamillaa malaridhu. That constitutes not only manhandling, but also will record nothing.)

2. Recording with software:

1. Open Audacity. You should see:

2. Use - Import Audio to import the Karaoke track you have. In this example I have used Jashne-bahara

3. You should see the Karaoke track now

4. Play the karaoke track and get the pointer to the position when you want to start recording. (It is usually a good idea to position the pointer atleast a couple of bars before the position from which you would like the vocals to be recorded. this gives you the sense of rhythm and shruthi).

5. Press the record button on top. The moment you do that, another track (mono) should appear below the Karaoke track and will start recording you voice if everything is properly connected.

6. Play back to see if the voice+karaoke sounds good.

7. Repeat step 5 till you record all of the vocals. Everytime you press the record button you would have a new track. Thus unless you sing it in one stretch you will have multiple tracks of vocals. If you made a mistake in any track, just use the close (X) button on the track. Track is removed.

8. Once you are done recording vocals in multiple tracks, select all the vocal tracks (selected tracks get highlighted by blue) that perform a quick mix (Project--> Quickmix ) to obtain a single vocals track.

3. Post Processing your vocals and exporting the mix

1. Now your vocal track is dry. that is how it should be recorded. When you play you would find that it probably lacks some effect. I do not use multiple effects since I am mostly unfamiliar with them. The only effect that I use is reverb. This can be done first by duplicating the vocals track and adding reverb to it. This way the original dry track is preserved in case you goof up. Press Ctrl-D to duplicate your vocal track and select the duplicate track.

2. Open Effect --> Gverb

3. Play with the parameters, preview the effect on the vocals and play the "effected" track with Karaoke to see if everything is fine. Do not forget to mute the original vocals track (Don't close it. You will lose it !)

4. Once you are satisfied with the result, export the whole of the project or a selection of it as mp3.

5. Get an audio blog account : ( hipcast, muziboo, esnips, odeo ), upload this and publish it ! Thats it. You are done.

Preparing a Karaoke Track by removing vocals:

I am not going to elaborate on this since there is an excellent video tutorial on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEjzdurnJhw

If you get some weird results, just remember that you do not need to invert the whole track but only those parts which contain the vocals. So, you could alternatively duplicate the track, silence the portion which does not have the vocals and invert. This kind of Karaoke creation is limited and a better option would be to obtain Karaoke tracks from shops.

Downloading Karaoke Tracks :

Some websites where Karaoke Tracks may be downloaded / purchased are:

1. http://www.esnips.com/web/IndianKaraokeTracks

2. http://www.melamaudios.com

3.http://www.4shared.com/dir/10484349/77a94d76/Malayalam_Karaoke_Film_Songs.html

4. http://karaokes4you.co.nr/

Also check out George Kuruvilla's write up here : http://blog.gksden.org/?p=260

Disclaimer : The brand names used here are only for illustrative purposes. The opinions expressed on branded products must be considered non-promotional and disinterested.

Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 1

2008-07-02T12:10:00.003+10:00

Idol 7 - Sharath - The Musical Enigma - Part 1

Impressions of an Amateur Musician
- Murali Venkatraman (dhool.com)

1. Introduction

Time and again, Indian film music comes across people who break the shackles and monotony of the musical boundaries. They may be composers, singers or arrangers. For example, in singers Mohammed Rafi, Asha, and Janaki brought a revolution in the way the songs had to be sung emphasizing the emotional content. Naushad, the composer, was responsible for envisioning such emotional delivery and proper enunciation, who even the venerable and versatile MSV considers his guru. Until then, the songs were just songs, however after the stellar contribution from defining artists, songs became a part of the hearts of million people irrespective of whether they were musically literate or illiterate. Similarly in the arrangers, many like Louis Banks have left an indelible impact on the music scene

However there are some artists, who are so innovative that initial appreciation of their work would be extremely difficult. Their work may seem extremely complicated, difficult and may even appear pointless. Mathematics is replete with geniuses like these and to mention two of them - Georg Cantor (who compared infinite sets) and Gregory Galois (who was responsible for some advanced group theory principles). In fact, when Cantor came up with the idea to measure infinite sets, he was categorically discouraged and ridiculed by mathematicians and theologians alike. Poincare and Weyl dismissed his ideas as grave disease whereas Christians were worried about the non-uniqueness of infinity that Cantor was proposing (which would imply the ultimate infinity (oxymoron) which was 'God').

In western classical music, Debussy was one such innovator. His adherence to non-formal resolutions of harmonies and chord progressions earned him the wrath of many peers. But now, long after his death, his work is hailed as the transition period.

In Indian film music too, occasionally one comes across a person who embodies the defining qualities of a revolutionary. And it is even rarer to find somebody who dons multiple roles of composer, singer and arranger and excels in each of it. Harder even, to find that he/ she would also possess the ability to create new musical forms which are unheard before and/or can go sit at the traditional desk and come up with creations that reflect the classical purity of the earlier (music) generation. When this artist attempts creations which break the boundaries, he is hardly understood by both the learned and the lay. However, in a sheer fit of obsessive and irrepressible intellectual compulsion, he goes ahead and pursues his art with an unsurpassed vigour. He knows, by such indulgence, he would be be inviting criticisms for bringing groundbreaking changes in the musical structures which test the age old conceptions, however, his compelling inspiration for creative output just overpowers his sensitivities. He would be well-versed in the idioms of the classical structures and be extremely comfortable in scoring using them, but opts for a cavalier disregard for them, since his love for creating unprecedented musical forms supersedes anything else.

Welcome to the world of Sharath - the distinguished composer from Kerala, in whose compositions you find the afore-said musical innovations. Mind it, this is not a page providing a biographic or discographic account of Sharath or any other composer but one where I express my admiration for my 7 musical idols and the way I enjoy their music. The reader will also find some non-intrusive references on how I (an amateur composer) allow these masters to influence me in my own compositions as I climb a steep learning curve।

2. Sudha Mantram and the Floating Shadjam (Sa)

My first tryst with Sharath's composition was way back in 1997 when I was still in CECRI in my undergrad days. I had been an active music troupe leader at CECRI and one of my friends Vivek MakaraBooshanam (Kumba!) who played mrudangam and tabla for the troupe informed me one day that he had an invite from one of the movie companies who had come with their crew to shoot a malayalam movie. The movie was Devadasy and Vivek was asked to pretend playing tabla for a song on screen. I had no idea about the song for which he was inducted for, but on return he told me that it was a very difficult hindustani number.

The movie was a disaster at the box office but the songs were aired in television. Since the movie had a sleazy theme (or so we were told) featuring Sethu-fame-Abitha and it was a norm in college to congregate for all midnight masala songs in every channel irrespective of the language (no regionalism!) , I got to see the song. The song was a jawbreaker and the all the guys awaiting some masala show due to the surge of hormones found it extremely displeasing and incompatible with their midnight expectations. There were no vulgar hip moves or any part of feminine body that the guys wanted to feast their eyes upon. In stead, it featured a bald and stone-faced Gopi singing the song for an intolerable classical dance by Abitha, but we cheered for Kumba when he was shown in the song. As expected, the song did not make any impact on the anybody except one.

Me.

Make no mistake of my intention to be there. I was there solely because I wanted to watch sleazy numbers and NOT to discover musical gems in the mid-night (lest I should appear holier than my college-mates, to the blog-reader). However, I was completely stunned to hear such a song in Malayalam. It was only a year back that I had started venturing into Mallu semi-classicals like Devasabathalam and others like sangeethame amara sallapame and was familiarizing myself with classical nuances. But this song just devastated any little hope that I could sing classical some day. In fact, it made me think if I should ever sing at all since I was clearly a pretender. Unfortunately I could not get any information on the movie and also could not see the movie till I went to USA. In USA, I did manage to get the video cassette of the movie from a dingy shop in New York and realized it was a colossal waste. But the song just kept ringing in my ears (only the first line, coz the other lines were too difficult to remember).

The song was Divaa swapnam - the song which Unnikrishnan admitted in one of the interviews to be the most difficult song that he has ever sung. He also alluded that it is probably the toughest ever recorded for Indian films (Well..may be..there is one composition by Raveendra Jain for the shelved film Tansen which comes close. The movie was never released and Yesudas sings this song in all concerts as a tribute to Raveendra Jain who had a nervous breakdown after composing this song.) . Later I came to know that the same song had another version for lyrics sung by Unni himself : Sudhaa mantram

Listen to Sudhamantram

Listen to Divaa swapnam

When the song starts the new listener has only a minimal clue about what is awaiting to hit him. The first line of aalaap seems to make the listener think it is starting with some hindhoLam sound-alike ragam which stands shattered by the end of the first line itself. He senses a complete concoction (or confusion, may be from the listener's perspective) of anya swaras (notes which do not find a regular place in the defined scale or ragam). He is confused. But he is ok with the first line. The second and third line offer similar windings and he seems to be ok. But in the final line of the aalaap he senses that there are some notes which cannot be mapped to the keyboard. This is where his frightening journey begins.

Since Sharath has the unusual knack of leaving the listener in a lurch in the search for Shadjam of the song, for the rest of the article on sudha mantram, I place the "g3" on the word "su" of Sudha Mantram and go ahead with the notations. Just as Newton requires a reference frame for the observer to measure the velocity of other moving objects, I need to place Shadjam (which comes later in the song) somewhere in the song to go ahead with the discussion.

Why did I choose this ? Because in the song, when the swara phrases later come in, Sharath clearly tells us where he has placed the "Sa" (for a change, he was kind to us, unlike "niLaiyude maaril" song from Chaitra GeethangaL which I shall take up later in this article).

Some readers may wonder why I am making such a fuss over "finding" the Shadjam of a song. As an aside, I have had some interesting conversations in this aspect of finding the "sa" of a song, with Sheela (Listen to her Charukeshi here) and Sindhuja about this. Once Sheela and I were engaged in an enchanting discussion about the song "Sumam prati sumam sumam" - a telugu movie song sung by SPB Janaki in the Film Maharshi and composed by IR. Sheela insisted that the swarams of the first line were:

su mam prati su mam su mam
g mada mada ga ma ga sa

and declared it was in the ragam

sallapam (surya) - s g3 m1 d1 n2 s

(I shall come back to this ragam in the article that is to follow about IR.) To her annoyance she found me refuting it saying it was in ragam

shrotasvini - s g2 m p n3 s

where I would notate the song as:

su mam prati su mam su mam
n saga saga ni sa ni pa

We both could not convince each other for a while but finally, we ended up agreeing on it being Shrotasvini after getting convinced partially that the "feel" is more of Shrotasvini.

This happens due to what is called a Shruti Bhedam (Please refer to Appendix B for some interesting and important info on ShruthBhedam provided by Sindhuja) or the shift in the root note (Sa). Unlike Western music, Indian music uses notes which are relative to each other (equivalent to Do Re Me). Hence, when the singer sings an aalaap and not swarams, the listener’s mind which yearns for a pattern recognition tries to fit it in a scale or a ragam. For example,

sallapam (surya) - s g3 m1 d1 n2 s
shrotasvini - p n3 s g2 m1

i.e. what I perceived as shadjam of shrotasvini was perceived as madhyamam of sallapam by Sheela. Reason ? Sallapam is indeed shrotasvini when it is played from m1 to M1. This is called Shruthi Bhedam. In fact if one plays the keyboard he can identify some ShruthibhEdams pretty easily. Let us start with Mohanam in scale C, i.e. Sa = C:

s r2 g3 p d2 s - Mohanam
C D E G A C

Now play :

D E G A C D = s r2 m1 p n2 s = madhyamavathy with Sa= D
E G A C D E = s g2 m1 d n2 s = hindholam with Sa = E
G A C D E G = s r2 m1 p d2 s = shuddha saaveri with Sa = G
A C D E G A = s g2 m1 p n2 s = shuddha dhanyaasi with Sa = A

Uff ! So, all these ragas are intricately connected to each other through the shift of root note. Thus if you “wrongly” place the Shadjam you will “wrongly” infer the ragam in some songs.

Sindhuja is another person who hears ragams much more differently from the way Sheela or I do. Many times when she is given a new song, either a composition of mine or some other film song that she is unfamiliar with, she would come up with the raga which happens to be the shruthi Bhedam of the ragam the composer has intended. I believe that for monophonic minded persons, who are overly familiar with Indian classical and semi-classical music, it becomes an uncontrollable and natural desire/habit to search for/find the Shadjam of a song. If there is a potential conflict between 2 ragas being probable candidates, people tend to favor that raga's name which they "feel" is more appropriate. (come on..music is not just about notation ! ). The "feel" part may be argued as being substantially unscientific (one of the most interesting discussions with Sindhuja ) , which I have no intention of elaborating here.

Moving on to the first line of the song : The Shadjam of this song coincides with "D" scale on Keyboard. Sudha Mantram would be notated as "g3ma ma;ma". The swaras for the pallavi are given below as I hear it (It may not be exact given my limited decoding ability):

Su dhaa man tram
g ma maa maa

ni ve
g gmd mdn dnn3 nn3dmga mmd mdmgsn da

di tam
ni ri

hrudu man..gala yaam
rm dnSGMSnd maa ri

prapanchamE..
(I am out of steam)

ujwalate jo
sass sa sa (shift1)

nirbhara varade
n3n3n3ri d2d2p m2d2p m2r2s n2 (shift2)

ardhanjali
da2ga3r1r1

sata tam
r2r2 da ma2 (and then comes a winding down aalap which is in a totally different scale which I am not able to decode) (shift3)

Shift1 is actually mohanam in scale G. But I see no pattern or ragam in the shifts 2 and 3. May be there is and I am blind.

Thus in a pallavi, we have got three root-note shifts ! And there are incredible gamakams and clear swarasthanams in it without any note being "averaged out" by the singer - a crystal clear rendition. This can happen only if the composer and the singer are absolutely confident about swarasthaanams. A song like this is impossible to be composed or rendered by somebody who is unfamiliar with the rigors of classical music.

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The entire song goes through so many variations and two particular swara phrases caught my attention:

s g m d n
s g m p n

Try saying these two lines in succession fast with a shift in Shadjam. It will be very difficult. Reason "p" and d are only half note away and both form the aarohanams of 2 different ragams the "feel" of which are entirely different.

In other words, the monophonic mind which is comfortably resting on one ragam, that is, a certain musical/psychological plane, finds itself jolted and offers a considerable resistance to be pushed onto another plane. I find this amusing since I always get reminded of a parallel in physics.

Consider the ball in a bowl A adjoining which there is another bowl of different dimension B. The ball is in stable equilibrium with the A. The force F applied on the ball, if small, will cause a small displacement and under damped (frictional) conditions and the ball returns to the same equilibrium point. However if F is large, it will push the ball from bowl A into B where the ball is once again in equilibrium, but a different equilibrium. The ball can happily be in equilibrium independently in each bowl but what happens when there n number of bowls of smaller and smaller radii and the force F randomly assigned a value. The situation becomes difficult to predict since chaos sets in and it will be impossible to calculate where the ball is going to be at any given instant of time. (For better examples on chaotic phenomena, the blog reader is urged to read The Cosmic Blueprint by Paul Davies).

Sharath does something similar in the songs except that he (and only he) knows exactly where the ball is. While the listener’s mind (ball) is comfortably resting on a single ragam (bowl) viewing mild fluctuations (F) as deviations (anya swaras) from Shadjam (the current equilibrium position which is the lowest point of the bowl), he suddenly changes the scale in such a way and in such short times that the ball gets confused as to where it is at a given instant of time. Sharath explains this case of shifting Shadjam here .

I have no idea how many takes did Unnikrishnan go for before finalizing this song. But one must step up and congratulate him for rendering two lyrical versions of the same song !! That is some talent and bravery which certainly deserved a national recognition but did not get any.

Taking to a Sharath's song without training is akin to going to a battle field without armour. One must have courage and skill, or else perish. And you can see how a contestant Arun gopan struggled to sing this song. (If I were him, I would not even have thought about singing that song and that too in Sharath’s presence . And for that sheer courageous effort and reasonably good output Arun – hats off ! )

Disclaimer : The low quality music clips featured here are only to highlight the artist’s music in the form of a tribute.

Baahon kE Darmiyaan - Dedicated to my father

2008-06-19T10:07:00.010+10:00

Song : Baahon ke Darmiyaan
Movie: Khamoshi
Singers : Hariharan, Alka Yagnik
Composer : Jatin-Lalit
Performed by : Sindhuja Bhaktavatsalam, Murali Venkatraman

It may appear unusual to dedicate a romantic song to one's father. But Khamoshi - the album has more connotations in my life than just music.

It was 1997. I was visiting home at tirunelveli from CECRI, my undergraduate college. My father was away for an official trip to Madras.

Hailing from a middle class (lower-middle class - sometimes I wonder how so many varieties of middle classes are there in India) family which stressed emphatically on education, moral values and minimal materialistic pleasures, it was really a struggle to do anything pertinent to music when I was growing up. Even the BUSH radio, which is still religiously serving us, was considered a luxury item. I was rarely allowed to listen to film songs since my father’s doctrine was, and is, that film music hinders studies. And with education being the only rudder to a better life, listening to music was considered a time-wasting-exercise. Nevertheless, my interest never ceased and I registered in my memory most of the songs I heard off and on.

Once I was in CECRI, in the absence of parental control, my listening and practicing of music grew to very high prorportions, however, I did not have a walkman or a transistor-radio to listen to songs. I had silently envied my classmates who had a walkman but told myself buying one of those was just the start of unending expenditures since cassettes were not cheap then (Rs 50 for CD-recorded cassette !). I had asked my father if I could get a walkman sometime and he had answered with a strong “No” since budget would not allow. also, in line with his doctirnes it woudl be a serious deterrent. A good AIWA walkman would cost more than Rs 1000 and he certainly could not afford it since it was a tight-rope walk for him every month with me going to college.

So, I had buried my desires. Dad came back from Madras to tirunelveli, and had reached home at night. I was just relaxing in the bed with some music played on the bush radio. He called me, handed me a package and said : “Open it” with a subtle smile.

And inside the package was a beautiful AIWA walkman.

My eyes gleamed and my heart skipped a beat. I said “thank you” to him (well.. real family situations are not melodramatic soap operas – that was my reaction) and found two cassettes given as a compliment for the purchase.

Needless to say one was Khamoshi. One could not ask for a better album. All songs were good but baahon ke darmiyaan was outstanding and I was really enslaved by Hariharan’s voice. Music and music players have become cheap these days and cassettes and even CDs are long gone, but what my dad bought me at a time he could barely afford will always remain etched in my memories and whenever I hear this song I get reminded of him. (That he has no idea about either the movie Khamoshi or the songs is a different thing altogether).

I also have fond memories of Khamoshi with my friends Srinath, Gump and Ravi in Columbia. In October 1999, I bought my first car, a 5 year old Nissan Sentra. Being the only guy with a car, it was normal to drive friends around. I had not forgotten the Khamoshi cassette. It was a usual routine to go for long drives in the night listening to Khamoshi songs and discussing some junk topics. Once on highway at 70 mph, probably overwhelmed by the gravity of the melody, Srinath remarked:

“indha maadhiri paattu kEttuNdE fast aa car OttiNdu pOy crash aagi seththup pOyidaNum” ( Translated – would like to drive the car fast, crash and die as I listen to these songs )

We looked at each other. I pulled over and stopped.

“Dei..arivu irukka ? ippadiya pEsuvE ?”

were some of the retorts we gave him. But later when I read in an article that Vairamuththu expressed his wish to be listening to “maalaip pozudhin mayakkathile” as he dies, I understood what impact those songs have had on Srinath. Unlike Vairamuththu, Srinath's expression of his admiration for Khamoshi songs was hardly poetic but certainly no less sincere.

Singing a song with Sindhuja is a difficult proposition generally with her razor sharp ears picking up even the most minute of slips. But it is always a good experience. And this is the first hindi song that I have felt mildly comfortable to attempt (As always, I am overly conscious about pronunciation and accent in any song / language). It is u for you guys to decide how good our version is.

Vidhata Talapuna - And an old poem of mine - The channel between the blind and mute

2008-06-17T00:03:00.008+10:00

Song : Vidhata Talapuna
Movie: Srivennela
Singers : SPB, Susheela
Composer : K.V.Mahadevan
Lyrics : Seetarama Sastry
Performed by : Murali Venkatraman

Vidhata Talapuna - An old telugu karaoke recording | Musicians Available

I am up from the slumber with a telugu number (ooh..sounds like a telugu movie dialogue ? :-)). I have not been exactly inactive musically since composing keeps me busy. But my singing nose-dived because of severely blistered throat which persisted for almost 2 months and the after effects are still haunting me. I have just started recovering and hopefully this song will dust off my rust.

Research has kept me utterly busy that I have started hating it. (Who knows, in some years, if financial situation permits, I will ditch research for music composing.) And I have also been working on some articles on music which will probably get published in dhool and this blog simultaneously.

How would two lovers - one blind and the other mute, communicate ? This was an interesting question I had when I was in college. It inspired me to write a poem in a modern style without alliterations or rhymes. This poem got published in my college magazine.

To my consternation I learn after coming to USA that the answer that K.Vishwanath had provided was in celluloid ! The movie Sirivennela directed by K.Vishwanath featuring Sarvadaman Banerjee (Blind flautist) and Suhasini (Mute fan) went on to be preserved as an all time classic in telugu. He had chosen to portray the girl as mute and the guy as blind whereas in the poem I had chosen the opposite.

I was introduced to this song by one of my friends who had causally remarked in a conversation :"vidhata talapuna in telugu is a great song". Somehow the two words stuck on my memory. And one day, thanks to musicindiaonline.com ended up listening to this song.

As they say in tamil "uyirodu kalandhadhu" - It just dissolved in my soul and became an all time favorite in the very first listnening. IF melodies were queens, their undisuputed king would be SPB. And this is just another song that proves how soulful a song becomes in his voice.

Somehow with an irrepressible desire to sing the song in entirety I have not shared this any of my favorite lady singer friends. SPB, KVM and Susheela and you all - please pardon me.

Since the Karaoke had to be made by ripping the original mp3 and adjusted, the mixing is not that effective. To ease that, I have tried some voice overs. Hope you dont find it irritating.

Special thanks to Sudhamsu for correcting my pronunciation in the first part of the song. (We could not sit for the rest of the song. So whatever good pronuncition you hear is because of him and whatever is bad is because of me. You are welcome to point out the errors as I believe no song should be sung at the expense of its lyrics)

===============================

காற்றின் மேலுள்ள காதல் தன்னாலே
கடல்நீரும் அலைக்கைகள் நீட்டுதுவோ?
சீற்றம் தாஙகாமல் சிதறுதுவோ மட்டுளிகள் ?
சிறிதும் காணாமல் நீரும் சிலிர்த்து
மண்ணின் மனதை மிதித்து இறுக்கிடுதோ ?

வளியோடு வாரியது விளையாடுங் காலை
ஒவ்வாத நிலத்திர்கென் வேலை ?

நினைந்து நடக்கின்றேன்; நீரில் நிற்கின்றேன்;
நீரலைகள் என்பாதம் நீவிவிட நெகிழ்கின்றேன்;

மண்ணில் கோட்டைகள் மட்டின்றி கட்டிடலாம்;
மனதில் வேட்கைகள் குறைவின்றி கொண்டிடலாம்;
கண்ணில் தெரிகின்ற கனவுக ளையெல்லாம்
மெய்யாய்க் கண்டிடவும் ஆசைகள் வைத்திடலாம்;

காலமெனும் கூற்றுவனோ கண்ணின்றி கருக்கிடுவான்;
கனிகின்ற போதினிலும் கருமை படர்த்திடுவான்;

முன்னே நான்செல்ல முயலுங்கால் காண்கின்றேன்;
ஓரடியும் கால்வைக்க இயலாமல் இடறியொரு
கம்பத்தைக் கையில்கொண் டிருப்பவளைப் பார்ப்பேன்நான்
பனியில் கால்வைத்த அணில்போன்றும் பதைக்கின்றேன்
எழுலுருவாய் என்முன்னே நிற்கின்ற என்பெண்ணே !
எங்கே தொலைத்திடாய் உந்தன் பார்வயினை ?

ஒளியோடு வாழுங்கால் ஒருநூறு நண்பர்கள்
உனைசுற்றி வாழ்ந்தாரே ஒருவருமே இன்றில்லை!
களியொடும் கவினோடும் வாழ்ந்திட்ட நாளுன்மேல்
காதல் செய்தேனே!காணாதி ருந்தாயே!

இன்றோ அன்பனென யார்வந்தும் காணாது
இருக்கின்ற நிலையினிலே நின்றாயே - நின்னைக்

கண்ணின்றிக் காணத்தான் காலமெனை விட்டதா ?
வலியில்லை என்நெஞ்சில் வன்துயரம் தாங்கிடவும்.

சிலையாய் நிற்கின்றேன் சிந்தை கலங்கிபோய்!
சிறிதே அண்டிட்டு மேனில்யிலே சிதறுகிறாய்!
கைதொட்டு உனைத்தூக்கி நிறுத்திடவும் செய்திட்டால் - என்
கரம்கொண்ட வளையத்தால் கணத்திலெனை உணர்கின்றாய்!

"நீங்களா.. ?

முன்னம் வாழ்வினிலே சுற்றம்பல விருந்தார்
இன்னம் விழியின்றி இருக்குங்கால் - ஒரு
கழியே - எனக்கு
விழியே - மற்றும்
வழியே

உம்மனதை வெந்திட்டேன் முன்வாழ்விலானாலோ
தம்மனதைத் "தந்திட்டேன்" எனச்சொல்லி எனையேற்பார்
தாரணியில் இலர்போலும்!உளரோ ? சொல்வீர்நீர்!"

கண்ணே!

கடலின் மேற்புறத்தே அலைகள் உண்டென்றும்
ஆழ்புரத்து இல்லை இதுண்மை;மண்ணில்
மேலொன்றும் கீழ்ழோன்றும் (இ)ரண்டென்று இல்லையடி
என்றென்றும் ஓர்நிலையே தான்!

"வாழ்வு இருந்தக்கால் அன்பை நினைந்ததிலை
ஊழின் பயினிங்கு வாட்டுங்கால் உணர்கின்றேன்
ஏற்பீரோ என்னைநீர் இந்நிலையில்"என்றழுது
நிற்கின்றாள் !நினைவேன் நான்!

நின்னை அடைந்திடவே என்னதவம் செய்திருப்பேன் ?

காமத்த்தால் அன்றிக் காதலினால் மட்டும்
கருத்து ஒருமித்த வாழ்வும் தண்திடுவேன்! - ஆனால்

"இயம்புவதும் இயலாதே தோழி !
என் நாக்கினிலே வாக்கில்லை இன்று"

விழியைத் தொலைத்திட்டு வீதியில் நீ வந்தாய்
மொழியைத் தொலைத்திட்டு முன்னேனான் உள்ளேன்

ஏ வாணி !
என்னருகே வா நீ!

கண்மணி தன்னிடம் காதல் சொல்லிட்டே
கட்டாயம் தருகின்றேன் உன்னிடமே !

ஏ வாணி !
என்னருகே வா நீ!
=========================================

My friend Sivakumar's recent trip/ordeal to India

2008-05-29T15:16:00.003+10:00

Shivakumar- one of my good friends lives in Chicago. He went to India recently and vented out his frustration in a mail. I am reproducing his mail with his permission:

In Shivas' words:

"My India trip was for just 10 days.

Flew by Air India and was as usual bad. In Bombay, the pilot started backing the flight with aero bridge still connected and scratched the doors. So there was a fight between the flight crew and ground staff on this on whose was at fault. After an hour passengers started shouting at them, then they deplaned us, started looking for the rules book to find out what to do with us, as there were passengers from Newark, Chicago, Paris and singapore - part of them had completed immigration and customs in Bombay and some of them are suppose to do it at chennai.

After 5 hours of confusion, they found that the flight had only minor scratch, so decided to fly the same flight - which left me with barely 5 minutes to connect to my Coimbatore flight, which I miraculously managed to make it! Then after boarding that flight, there was some problem with that flight too (it was Jet Airways) so they took another 2 hours to replace something in the front wheel.

Finally reached home very tired, hungry, dehydrated and had food poisoning. The very next day, after consulting a doctor for my stomach upset, I set off to Kodaikanal with my family for a 3 days/ 2 nights trip. On the way to Kodai, stopped at Pazani and had a quick VIP darshan of Lord Subramanya, and hogged few cans of panjaamirtham.

Kodaikanal was very crowded, dirty, commercialized with shops, and damn expensive (a ordinary dosa was 41 ruppees) but there was no place to pee! I think TN has the worst tourism dept. In Karnataka, the popular places used to be at least cleaner than TN.

With 500 rupee bribe and a letter in written in green ink, we got permission to visit the forest preserve Berijam - this place is pretty good and looks less inhabited. Has lot of view points and would be best for trekking with its valleys and steep hills. But in a years time, it will be as dirty & crowded as any other tourist spot in TN.

Then visited the usual places in and around Kodai - lake, boating, bryant park, Kokkers Walk etc. It was fun.

Then came back home to attend a relatives wedding, did little bit of shopping in chennai silks at Erode, and slept over for a day at home. Then its time to pack the bags again for USA.

• The most advanced cell phones are found and used to the core only in India and every body has atleast 3 different phones and 5 different SIM cards.

• Schools seem to be the lucrative business - there were two international schools in my home town and were about dozen new matriculation schools. There were 3 new engineering colleges & 2 polytechnic colleges since my last visit (a year and half back).

• Job opportunities even in non-IT sectors seem to be abundant. An adult who had just passed 8th std can easily find a job with Rs. 5000 salary in no time ; they were posters everywhere hunting for people. Even govt arts college students studying BSc physics seem to be getting a job in campus interviews!

• People are crazily spending money. All book stores, CD/DVD/electronics stores, restaurants are bubbling with people.

• For very small town like mine, I'm surprised to find 4 stock brokerage firms!

• Chinese foods seem to be very popular too. Almost all decent looking restaurants offer Chinese menu!"

Looks like flight problem was reported in the news as well..
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1164639

Mridangam Legend - Palani Subramania Pillai

2008-05-26T10:22:00.005+10:00

This year is the birth centenary of a mridangam legend, Palani Subramania Pillai. A website has been launched recently by Palani Subramania Pillai Trust. My good friend and music critic Ramachandran Mahadevan (writes under the pen name Lalitha ) requested that this information be made available through my blog.

Ram has penned a book on G. N. Balasubramanian and has also written several reviews on classical music and tamil history which are a must read for connoisseurs of history and music.

For more details on Palani Subramania Pillai, please visit:

http://www.varalaaru.com/Default.asp?articleid=706

My 7 Idols - Composers

2008-04-04T17:17:00.002+11:00

I am an amateur musician with no formal training.

That means all the musicians I enjoy compositions of, are my gurus. However, there are a handful from who I would learn the most, be it indoctrinated listening or a natural affinity to a style that is compatible with my character and ability.

I call these masters my "Idols". In this series I intend to talk about the 7 composing idols that I learn a lot from and have been influenced by in my simple musical exercises. Note that, this page is NOT a verdict on these composers but a sincere attempt to explain how they appeal to me, influence me and the aspects that I look to learn from them.

The 7 idols are:

M. S. Viswanathan (MSV)

Ilaiyaraja (IR)

Raveendran

Vidyasagar (VS)

A. R. Rehman (ARR)

Hrudayanath Mangeshkar (HM)

Sharath

Honorable Mentions : Madanmohan and Salil Choudhary

This article starts with Sharath. Please stay tuned for the series.

Meet with Sindhuja and Family - One of the ROS Friends quartet

2008-03-18T16:48:00.006+11:00

It has been almost 7-8 years since I came across Sindhuja online through TFMpage where I was one of the keenest participants in the Raga of the Song thread. Sindhu, Ram, Sheela and I became very good friends over the net and countless discussions have happened between us over so many years.

Sheela, with her vast knowledge in carnatic, was our consultant for developing our knowledge in songs and her contribution to my understanding of music had been priceless. Sheela and I have been friends much before Ram and Sindhuja joined. Sheela, has now resigned happily to take a back seat from music to see her daughter grow up.

Sindhu was properly trained in carnatic and had a good swara nyaanam or the ability to recognize and codify notes in even the most complicated compositions. However, her rigorous submission to technique was commented upon and she started working on her expressiveness in renditions.

Ram and I started as connoisseurs and ended up learning a lot from all these discussions. It led to Ram becoming a critic of fine proportions, the epitome of whose efforts till now, is the book on G.N.Balasubramaniam or GNB for short.

I started dabbling with composing after I started believing I had some fundamental ideas about songs. Sheela had been the most encouraging and cutting when it came to composing. She helped me recognize that I should dabble more with melody and less with technique. Sindhu always endorsed Sheela's views and till date she keeps telling me that I should concentrate more on ghazal kind of compositions. Ram has always upheld that my singing and compositions tend to favor Bhaavam rich or emotive, expressive songs and that I should do them the most.

All these without I ever meeting any of the other 3.

And after so many years, I met the first of these 3. Sindhu with her family visited Melbourne and I met them in a quick non-musical evening for a chat. The photo here bears testimony to that. It is indeed an irony that off all places we should meet in Melbourne. We had all our discussions when I was in USA and she was in India. We could not meet either in USA or in India (she is moving to USA soon) and we had to meet in Australia as fate would have it. Well, it was a nice evening with her and her parents.

Post Doc at Lawrence Berkeley - CSIRO

2008-01-05T03:27:00.000+11:00

I have been appointed as a joint postdoc at CSIRO (Melbourne) and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley). 2008 has opened promisingly with opportunities to work at the highest level in two different countries. I am going to need a lot of luck and loads of persisitence to end up successful.

I will be leaving for Melbourne on 9th of Jan 2008 and will be back in Berkeley in May 2008 for three months. Following that, I will once again be packing for Melbourne. It is a pain enduring the jet-lags, but why complain if opportunities are great ?!

I thank both my advisors to have kindly allowed to let me work this way to gain invaluable experience.

Bye Columbia and University of South Carolina

2007-12-31T08:17:00.000+11:00

It is indeed daunting to look back and reminisce.

It was August 3, 1998 when I was picked up by CECRI seniors Dandy (Anand Durairajan) and Bend (Venkat Srinivasan) from the Metropolitan airport of Columbia along with Gump (Gomadam Manavala Parthasarathy). As we were driven down the streets the first thing that struck me was the sun shining brightly even at 8:30 pm - a thing unheard in tamilnadu. It may be worthwhile to recap that my first ever flight experience was international, which was not unusual for the Indian bourgeois in 90s. ( The visible resurgence in wealth started in India only after 1999).

Columbia was a small city and the roads were well laid out (which later I understood is just a basic feature of a developed country). From then columbia had become my second home whether I liked it or not.

There had been a lot of good and bad memories associated with this city as the boyish mind of mine grew manly. Circumstances which subjected me to a treatment akin to the heat treatment of iron. But, I guess it was all for good in the end.

I have met some of the most wonderful people in my life here. To name each and everyone and detail their impressive character will take a series of articles (which may not be of interest to many either). I have derived many lessons from various people from various walks of life and I am eternally indebted to all those who have positively influenced my life.

When I leave Columbia, and possibly USA forever, what I take with me is a better chiseled character and invaluable relations (of course financially the stay was hardly rewarding). With the core of my personality shaped by the people in Columbia, I believe I am ready to take the plunge in unknown territories (Melbourne and Berkeley).

Thank you Columbia for giving me the opportunity to learn, both for my professional and personal life.

Visiting San Francisco and Berkeley - 1st Jan 2008 to 8th Jan 2008

2007-12-26T00:51:00.000+11:00

A lot has changed in the past two months in my profession. Will write about it soon. I will be visiting SFO, Berkeley and Bay area before I leave for Melbourne on 9th. Meera has agreed to coordinate a meet with bloggers in the SFO area. Would like to meet as many as possible. Thanks Meera.

Visiting Melbourne - Australia - 5th Dec to 15th Dec

2007-12-03T14:30:00.000+11:00

In what would be my first step towards moving to Australia, to work for the next three years, I will be visiting Melbourne between 5th December 2007 and 15th December 2007. This blog will not find any musical update until I am settled in Melbourne and that would be in February 2008 hopefully.

Any folks in Melbourne who visit this blog and interested in music ?

Download all the Karaoke Tracks I have

2007-11-27T18:58:00.000+11:00

I have been sharing my Karaoke tracks with many friends. But esnips has given me the leverage to expand this further to make it available to all.

Please note that all these tracks were downloaded from the net. I claim no rights except on those I make. Feel free to download and use them

http://www.esnips.com/web/IndianKaraokeTracks

Reckless Ramblings - Out of the world Recipes

2007-11-13T03:12:00.000+11:00

In the early days of discussions in TFM page I masqueraded a bit as Velaiyaththavan just for the sake of fun. This thread was opened in the recipes section - (the boothagi mami avadhaaram was also done for this thread )

puraa lEgiyam and allied recipes

Topic started by Velaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on Fri Sep 15 18:39:04 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

(1) puraavai reNDaa neeLavaakkila airinju athODa kudalai eduthu athil "sappidumpOthu solla mudiyaatha" vatrai neekkavum
(2) suththam senja pin rekkaiayai 2 kaiyaalE piyththu eriyavum. appO puraa kaththinaa, nalla puraannu arhttham.
(3) irakkai pinju kaththk kittu irukkum puraavai thOl neekki aaviyil appadiye vEga viakkavum
(4) eeral kulai ventha pin pallaalE kadiththu masala saamangaLai adaiththu siriththu nEram kaiyaal psisiyavum, raththam uRaiyum varai.
(5) ippOthu pura lEgiyam thayaar. pallaalE kadiththu kObammana paarvaiyOdu saappittal pEi kooda aNdaathu. virunthaaLigaLukku kodukkumpOthu mattum kudalillirunthu neekkappatta special items i thattil thaniyaaga uppu pOttu parimaaravum.

Please subit more.thx

====================================

Responses:

* From: maayaandi (@ ts003d32.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Sat Sep 16 01:51:03 EDT 2000

Intha recipeyai vAsal kathavilE ottivaiththAl pEi, pisAsu, pilli soonyam, marunthu, seivinai, kAththu, karuppu, ooru, uRavu ethuvumE aNdAthu.

* From: maayaandi (@ ts003d32.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Sat Sep 16 01:51:39 EDT 2000

Intha recipeyai vAsal kathavilE ottivaiththAl pEi, pisAsu, pilli soonyam, marunthu, seivinai, kAththu, karuppu, ooru, uRavu ethuvumE aNdAthu.

* From: Velaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Sat Sep 16 16:04:28 EDT 2000

maayandi - do you know any maayaandi vilas recipes ? Please chare your knowledge here.

* From: Velaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Sat Sep 16 16:13:16 EDT 2000

typo chare = char = pagirvathu

* From: maayaandi (@ ts001d18.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Sat Sep 16 19:45:11 EDT 2000

Velaiyaththavan,

maayaandi vilas recipegaLai veLiyil solvathaRkillai. meeRi sonnavan raththam raththamAi kakki sAvAn.

* From: vetti (@ ts005d27.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Tue Sep 19 22:34:47 EDT 2000

Recipe for kaLimaN uruNdai:

Ingredients:
ghee - 1 litre
ElakkAi - 50 gm
vellam - 2 kg
raisins - 100 gm
cashew - 100 gm
pottukkadalai - 250 gm
kOyamuthoor kaLimaN - 1 kg

kaLimaNNai eeram kAya veiyilil ularththavum. kAintha kaLimaNNai hammerAl thatti nallA podi seyyavum. podiththa kaLimaNNai salldaiyal saliththu nice podiyaga edukkavum.

vellaththai hammerAl thatti nallA podi seyyavum.
ElakkAiyai hammerAl thatti nallA podi seyyavum.

kaLimaNNaiyum vellaththayum Elaththaiyum pottukkadalaiyaiyum onRaga kalakkavum. crispAna pottukkadalai pArththu vAnga vENdum. illAvittAl nallA irukkAthu. nilakkadalai kooda vaRuththu pOdalAm. intha kalavaiyudan gheeyil vaRuththa raisinum cashewvum kalanthu pirattavum.

pirattiya kalavaiyil konjam konjamAga ghee urukki ooththi uruNdai pidikkavum. oru kilo kaLimaNNilE sumAr nooRu uruNdaigal seyyamudiyum. ungaL kai perithaga irunthAl sumAr 80 uruNdaithAn pidikka mudiyum.

intha kaLimaNN uruNdaiyai thinamum kAlaiyum mAlaiyum sAppittu vandhaal maNdaiyilE nanRAga mudi muLaikkum.

* From: mooLaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Wed Sep 20 01:40:20 EDT 2000

Will it be helpful for me ?

* From: vetti (@ ts001d22.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Wed Sep 20 13:37:28 EDT 2000

Thans for the enquiry. kaLimaN uruNdai will help mooLai grow. But aRivu will not grow, only mudi will grow. May be my friend Dr.vEthALa moorthi can answer your question.

* From: Velaiyaththavan (@ cache1.infoave.net) on: Thu Sep 21 12:36:37 EDT 2000

some tips:

Instead of sodium cholride, the recent chemical called vector chloride can be added for taste. If you are not very particular about the direction which you should face while eating, you may try scalar chloride.

Also, instead of ghee, castor oil can be used. It helps "clearing" the digestive tract which may be blocked because of the excessive intake of kaLimaN uruNdai. It is probable that a US company will patent this and claim the recipe is indigenious. Please donot restrain yourslef from informing Dr.Mashelkar about it if you find an infringement of such sort.

* From: Velaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Fri Sep 22 17:16:19 EDT 2000

does anybody know how to make raththa soup ? thx.

* From: vetti (@ ts006d34.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Mon Sep 25 00:02:05 EDT 2000

Velaiyaththavan, Thanks for that extra tip about about castor oil. It will also be very helpful to the bulimics who like to purge somehow.

Recipe for Halaal raththa soup:

Crush 5 pounds of plump-as-rambha tomatoes and pour it in a saucepot. The seeds can be removed to make a smooth soup. Leave the seeds to get a crushed bones texture. Add 1 litre of spoiled milk and 1 pound of mouldy parmesan cheese.

Place the saucepot on the stove and bring the liquid to a boil. Stick your finger in to check the temperature. If you are not sure stick another finger. When you have made sure it is boiling dice up a pound of black soggy onions and add to the liquid.

If you wish you can dice up and add any leftover stale and rotten vegetables to the liquid. I personally would prefer adding those vegetables because it adds to the nutritional value of the soup.

Let simmer for 30 minutes.

Now comes the best part, adding the raththam. You can add any raththam you want. It is left to your imagination. But since this is a Halaal recipe you have to pray to your favorite God and add 2 bottles of Shingar Santhu Pottu. Then add salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and let it simmer for another 30 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, boil a few whole ears of corn. Take some really stinky karuvaadu and fry it in oil to bring out the aroma. Remove the saucepot off of the stove and pour it into very large serving bowls. Let a whole corn float on the each bowl of soup. Then top the surface of the soup with the stinky karuvaadu. If corn is not available you can use rat meat. If karuvaadu is not available you can use karappaaan from under your kitchen counter.

This soup is very healthy, very inexpensive to make, very flavorsome and colorful. Being Halaal makes it even better.

* From: Velaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Thu Sep 28 15:29:23 EDT 2000

naakula raththam ooruthuppaa..semai taste !

* From: boothagi maami (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Thu Sep 28 15:40:09 EDT 2000

I think karappaan poochchi chips would make it complete. ahtODa, soupla reNdu palliyai thalai kiLLi pOttu kothikka vittaa varra maNam irukku paarunga..mmm gama gama..

palliyai thalai kiLLip pOda kashtamaa iruntha (vazukkum) lesaa kothikkira venneerla pOtta negiznthu vidum. appuram, oomaththangaai oru thuNdu, paambu (oru pal pOthum), miLagaai pazam ithaiellaam vaichchu ammiyil nandraaga maiyaaga araikkavum. lEsa nakki paarththal pOthumaana kaaram irukkaannu theriyum. ithai soupl pOttu kothikka vidalaam. If you are interested in lady's finger soup, you may ask your maid/gf to provide you with some. This way you will get a free supply of raththam too ! neeLa neeLamaa, muzu viralai vetti pOttu venthaal aahaa...bread crumbs maathiri moru morunnu illainaallum nalla brittle (uLLa elumbu irukkaNum) aaga irukkum.

ithu en anubavaththil kaNDa uNmai.

* From: boothagi maami (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Thu Sep 28 15:45:45 EDT 2000

ooops - oru mukkiyamaana point vittuttEn. virunthaaLikku kodukkumbOthu athula naalu thadavai thuppittu koduppathE naagareegam !

* From: samayal maamikku advice.. (@ host231.marriott.com) on: Thu Sep 28 16:02:54 EDT 2000

en maami, aralivethaiya maranthu poitteLe. soup mela thaaLichi potta maNam innum thookume !!

* From: vetti (@ ts006d09.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Thu Sep 28 23:56:26 EDT 2000

maami,

kAram sariya irukkAnu pArkka ammiyila araichcha masAlai lEsA nakki pArthEnA. adadA enna tastu pOnga. masAlai vazhichu kiNNaththula pOttuttu, ammiyaiyum kuzhaviyaiyum nakki nakkiyE thodachuttEn.

* From: boothagi maami (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Fri Sep 29 09:11:42 EDT 2000

romba nallathaap pOchchu. evLo naaL intha mathiri paNrEL ? ammiyum kuzaviyum thEnju pOi irukkumE ? Madrasla avLo thaNNi kashtamaa ? hmmm..

* From: boothagi maami (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Fri Sep 29 09:12:34 EDT 2000

advice : maNam thookuthO illiyO, piNam thookalaam.

* From: therukkOdi thAdagai (@ ts001d14.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Fri Sep 29 22:33:25 EDT 2000

ha ha ha ha. pOnga maami. ungalukku ellAmE viLayAttuthAn.

* From: mr perfect (@ star.zapsurf.com.sg) on: Thu Oct 5 06:07:53 EDT 2000

don't talkk nonsense

* From: maayaandi (@ ts005d20.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Thu Oct 5 23:24:09 EDT 2000

mr perfect,

do you have the recipe for aamavadai?

* From: Velaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Sun Oct 8 02:34:25 EDT 2000

maayandi, yen thread oomaiyaa irukku ? oomai vadai saapttuttengaLAa ? pEsunga..puthu recipe kodunga.thx.

* From: maayaandi (@ ts006d03.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Fri Oct 20 19:53:10 EDT 2000

Velai,

mr perfect en manasai romba kaAyappaduthittAr. kOzippongu vechchu Ottai ellAm adachchu kONi oosiyAl thaiyal pOttu manasu ARi vara nAL Agivittathu.

innaikku intha threaddai romba arumaiyAi use panneengal. good job. aanaal admin eduthtu vittargal pola irukku.

x-0-x

ithO oru puthu recipe. ellOrum arunthi magizungal.

Recipe for Maayaandi Vilas Digri Kaappi:
----------------------------------------

First we have prepare the water used to make our Digri kAppi.

Fill up a plastic bucket with cold tap water. Use this water to mop your kitchen floor at night before you go to bed. Do NOT sweep the floor before mopping it.

Rinse the mop in the bucket of water and squeeze the excess water back into the bucket. Be careful not to waste even a drop of water. After you have finished mopping, cover the bucket of water with a plate and refrigerate it. If you forget to refrigerate, then the water will ferment overnight.

adhAvathu buckettil irukkum thaNNi puLiththu nurai thatti vidum. sila pErukku puLiththa kAppi pidikkum. avargaL puLikka viaththu kAppi pOttu kudikkalAm.

Next day in the morning boil the prepared water in a steel pot. Depending on the color and consistency of the prepared warer the boiling point may vary. Since the tempearture (in degrees of course) varies every day depending on the water this is called "Digri kAppi" (now you know how it got its name).

Use the boiled water and prepare kAppi with your favorite kAppi podi and sugar. Do not use milk because the moment you add milk to this coffee the milk will split. But if you like it that way you can add milk. This is called "thirinja Digri kAppi".

This makes a a very strong, tasty, thick (even without milk), aromatic (oh yeah) kAppi.

Special tips:

- Use an iron bucket while mopping, this adds irumbu chaththu to your kAppi. This will make you strong as irumbu.
- Use a piththaLai bucket and the kAppi will add polivu to your mEni.
- Reuse the bucket of water for one full week every night and then make kAppi and offer it to your guests, this kAppi will be so strong and tasty your guests will praise you like hell.
- If you make this kAppi in the morning and keep it out in the sun all day and drink it at night, it will act as an aphrodisiac....hubba hubba.

* From: bhoothagi maami (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Fri Oct 20 20:46:27 EDT 2000

maayaandi - that was great pa. oru chinna tip. For extra "flavour" we can add some amount of the water prepared for "vaasal theLikkirathu" - you know what it has - some saththulla substance like...yeah.

you can add kolap podi too. after all, it will not make it worse.

# From: maayaandi (@ ts006d34.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Fri Oct 20 21:43:52 EDT 2000

boothagi maami,

ungaL tip abAram. maNam ippavE mookkai thuLaikkuthu....aahaa !

# From: Velaiyaththavan (@ 129.252.23.185) on: Sat Oct 21 15:00:10 EDT 2000

I will soon be writing about "kazani kanjaamrutham"

# From: KITKAT (@ pm-102-31.tm.net.my) on: Sat Oct 21 20:44:35 EDT 2000

How about OOmatham poo oorugai and AraLi vidhai Alwa?

# From: vetti (@ ts001d27.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Sun Oct 22 22:33:20 EDT 2000

Velai,

Ungal dish peyarai copyright protect ceithuvidungaL. illEnnA S.V.Shekar athai avaraOda atuththa nAtakaththukku title AkkituvAr.

kanjAmrutham seekkiram pisaiyungaL.

# From: JayBee (@ bkj-cache81.jaring.my) on: Mon Oct 23 00:27:23 EDT 2000

KITKAT, if you send your email address, I will post a very interesting anecdote about Oomaththam boo sherbet. Real one, mind you.

# From: KITKAT (@ hlr-81-77.tm.net.my) on: Mon Oct 23 21:18:08 EDT 2000

May be that would be a good chance to get to know you Dr. JB. I am sending you my ID thru NOV.

# From: JayBee (@ bkj-cache81.jaring.my) on: Tue Oct 24 06:04:55 EDT 2000

That 'oomaththam boo sherbet' is to be found in the Agathiyar Forum's archives, in the following URL-

http://www.egroups.com/message/agathiyar/6611

I decided to write a full article on it. Its in Tamil, so you will need Inaimathi TSCII fonts.

# From: maayaandi (@ ts003d17.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Wed Nov 22 20:29:39 EST 2000

Maayaandi Vilas-il irunthu ungaLukku sila thanksgiving recipegaL. samaiththu magiZungaL.

Menu:
Stuffed Turkey
Mashed Potato
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie

- Turkey vAngum pOthu nalla kozuththa turkeyyaaga pArththu vAnga vENdum. seththa turkey koodaathu. seththu romba nAL AgiyirukkalAm. athanAL uyirOdu uLLa turkeyyai paNNaikku pOi vANgavum. paNNaikAran vetti tharuvEn anRu sonnAl vEndAm enRu sollividavum.

- turkeyin kAlgaL reNdaiyum onRaga katti ungaL pickup-truckil pinnAl niRka vaiththu veettukku koNdu varavum. sila samayam athu thOgai virithtukkondu varum. kuzanthaigal pArththu magizvArgaL.

- ungaLidam pickup truck illai enRal ungal car-il backseat-il turkeyyai vaithtu veettukku kooti varalam. AnAL athil oru praccinai uLLathu. turkey pinnAl irunthu koNdu tokku tokku enRu ungaL thalaiyil koththikkonDu varum. pada pada enRu raKKaiyai veRu adikkum. neengal bayanthu pOi ethiril varum vaNdiyil mOthividuveergaL. appuRam ungaL maNdai mashed potato Agividum. ungaL raththam cranberry sauce-Aga Odum. intha praccinaiyai thavirkka turkeyin in beakkai (alagai) kayiRu koNdu kattividavum.

- baththiramAga veedu vanthu sernthathum ungal veettup peNgaLai vittu turkey-yai Arathi etuthtu varavERkavum.

- turkeyyai bathroomukkuL kondu sellavum. Plunger koNdu turkey thalaiyil orE pOdAi pOdavum. turkey prANanai vittuvidum. appadi vidavillai enRal innum reNdu Ongi Podavum. Bathtub-il venneer vittu nirappavum. ungaL veettil bathtub illai enRal agalamAna vAI uLLa venneer aNdA ubayOgikkavum. turkey-yin rakkai ellAm pidungivittu athan udambu muzuvathum manjal podi pOttu thEikkavum. manjaL podi illai enRal Ajax podi kooda pOdalAm. appuRam turkey-yai Bathtub-il venneeril ooRa vaikkavum. nanRaga 10 maNi nEram ooRiyapin turkey-yin uLpuRam muzuvathaiyum kaiyai vittu pidungai eduththu vidavum.

- ippOthu mukkiyamAna paguthi. Stuffing seivathu. ungaLudaiya pazaiya vEshti, banian, pazampudavai ellAvatraiyum thaNNeeril nanaiththu, surutti turkey-kku uLLE stuff seyyavaum. ovvoru kalar pazampudavai stuff seyyumpOthum athaRkEtra jinguchA pAttai ungaL veettu kuzanthaigaLai vittu pAdachchollavum, vElai aluppu theriyAmal irukkum.

- Oven-ai 350 degreekku pre-heat seyyavum. Stuff seitha turkey-yai baking trayil pOttu oven-il thiNikkavum. araimaNikku oru muRai bathtub-il turkey ooRiya neer koNdu baste seyyavum. sumaar 10 maNi nEram oven-il venthathum turkey-yai veLiyil edukkavum. ippozuthu turkey thideer enRu ezunthu Oda ArambiththAL neengaL turkey-yai sariyAga samaikkavillai enRu arththam. appadi athu Oda nErnthAl meeNdum atahi pidiththu Arathi edukkum step-il irunthu repeat seyyavum. AnAl ungaLAl thanksgiving atuththa nALthAn koNdAda mudiyum. appdai athu Odavillai enRAl athanai dining table-in naduvil kAl rendaiyum viriththu mallAkka kidaththavum. kavichi kooraiyai thookkum... AhA! stuffed turkey ready.

- nAn recipiyai ezuthu mudippathaRkuL thanksgiving mudinthuvidum pOl irukkiRathu. athanAl frozen sectionil mashed potato vAngikkoLlavum. Canned sectionil cranberry sauce vAngikkoLLavum.

- Pumpkin pie seivathu eLithu. nalla periya 30 pound pumpkin vAngikkoLLavum. kAmbu pakkam thuLai pOttu uLLe irukkum vithai, nAr Agiyavatrai eduththu vidavum.

sarkkarai 1 kilo
nei reNdu padi
naRukkiya vengAyam 1 kilo
arai kilo pooNdu
arai kilo inji
kAl kilo pacchai miLagAi
100 gm munthiri
100gm raisins
50gm yElakkAi
reNdu thakkALi
oru AzAkku uppu
uruNdai vellam 1 kilo
oru AzAkku miLagAi thooL
reNdu padi kadalai maavu

Agiyavatrai veLiyE etuththa vitahi matrum nArudan kalanthu, kaiyAl nanRAga pisainthu, meeNdum pumkin-ukkuL adaikkavum.

adaiththa pumpkin-ai oven-il vaithtu 375 degree-il 35 minutes bake seyyavum. nalla venGaya maNam vanthathum veLiyE ethuththu table-il vaithtu ARavaiththal pumpkin pie ready.

romba athigamAi samaiyal michcham AgivittAl kavalai vEndAm. maayaandi vilas recipe ethuvum ARu mAsaththiRkku kedAthu.

ellOrukkum Thanksgiving vAzththukaL.

# From: Claire (@ ip9.79.blca.blazenet.net) on: Mon Dec 18 12:27:34 EST 2000

My husband keeps asking for "yaanai thumbikkai chips". Does anyone have a recipe?

Please email that to me.

PS: Onaan Chops and Naay Biriyaani recipes also needed.

# From: therukkOdi thAdagai (@ ts006d16.har-ct.concentric.net) on: Mon Dec 18 19:34:05 EST 2000

Claire,

vAnga vAnga. neengathAn mooNAm number veettukku puthusa kudi vanthirukkeengaLA? recipethAne? boothagi mAmi thAn yAnai recipilE expert.

boothagi mAMi,

Did you go on a vacation or something? namma theruvukku puthusa or ammA vanthirukkAnga. avangaLukkAga you have to post your famous yAnai recipes like "thumbikkai chips" and "yAnai thOl poriyal". seekkiram vANga mAmi. ennOda kuttigaL ellAm ungaLai pArththu romba nAL Achchu. maranthE pOyittEnE. koodavE "lathi rice" recipeyum maRakkAma post paNNunga.

# From: Claire (@ ip9.79.blca.blazenet.net) on: Wed Dec 20 12:43:27 EST 2000

I forgot to add this. I don't speak Tamil. My husb. does.

Could you please send the recipe in English?

Thanks!

# From: therukkOdi thAdagai (@ ) on: Mon May 14 21:03:58

Boothagi Maami,

eppadiyO puliyai vetti kiLiyai vetti aatchiyai pidichuttInga !

# From: yAnaippAgan yEzhumalai (@ h-64-105-35-164.snvacaid.covad.net) on: Fri Mar 29 04:28:20

Claire, here is the recipe for 'yAnai thuthikkai chips'. First of all you need to get hold of an elephant (you may confirm this with your hubby, 'yAnai' is 'elephant' in English). Most importantly, the elephant needs to have a trunk (check this out too). Once you have managed to do this (which is no mean task), kick yourself for getting the idea of 'yAnai thuthikkai chips'.

# From: Skanthavelu Nadarajah (@ edtntnt5-port-184.dial.telus.net) on: Fri May 24 22:33:30

vetti, could you provide me an ankiLam translation of what you said in tamizh?
I am trying to learn tamizh myself, but, still have a ways to go yet. My email address is:
rajneesh@telusplanet.net

# From: Ammani (@ ) on: Sun Mar 7 05:41:23

Hi what is this Oomatham Oorugai. that is interesting. write to me.
Ammani

# From: kuzhambaadavargal (@ cs17022-189.jam.rr.com) on: Sun Mar 7 16:10:41 EST 2004

Anbe,yaar yaar nee yaaro...!!
puriyaadha, theriyaadha makkalai enn veenaaga kuzhappugirai...?
purindhadhaa?
Nandri,

இலக்கிய Rap

2007-10-26T06:59:00.001+10:00

1990 இல் எழுதிய ஒரு இலக்கிய Rap
=================================

கலையினிலேயொரு கலைமயிலே-யவள்
இடையினிலேவரு ஜதிகளிலே
மனதினிலிடையினில் மயங்கிடுமிதயமும்
மருகிடுதேசெய லிழக்கிறதே

தலையினிலேயொரு பூவுடனே-யவள்
வருகையிலேகண் படுகையிலே
தறிகெட்டு நெறிகெட்டு அலைகிறமனமதும்
குவிகிறதேதலை கவிழ்கிறதே

மலையினிலேவரு நதிகளைப்போன்றவள்
குழலினையேபிறர் பார்க்கையிலே
உலையினிலேசுடும் நீரினைப்போலுளம்
வெடிக்கிறதேமிகக் கொதிக்கிறதே

வலையினில்சிக்கிடு மீனினைப்போல்-தினம்
தவிக்கிறதேநிதம் துடிக்கிறதே
வஞ்சியின்நெஞ்சினில் தஞ்சம்புகுந்திட
விழைகிறதேதின முருகிடுதே