Devasabathalam - a stage experience

Song: Devasabathalam
Composer : Ravindran
Singers : KJY, Ravindran (original)
Movie: His highness Abdullah

Performed by:

Singers: Sathish Menon, Murali
Mrudangam : Bharathan
Tabla : Deepak Shenai
Keyboard : Pulikeshi

A composition by Ravindran which will be talked about for decades to come. A compositional master-class where Hindustani meets Carnatic and the beauty of similar ragas in both the genres is brought out by the master composer. A song which will remain etched in memory in spite of the untimely demise. It is a very difficult song for the amateur singers.

In 2004, I conducted a troupe by name thendral in Atlanta. The notes of the song were completely decoded by me and the troupe was coached extensively which took a toll on my health quite a bit. Sathish Menon – an accomplished singer in Atlanta circles, was very eager to sing this song on stage. He has a deep bassy voice backed by carnatic classical training. So before the performance we rehearsed once. It was ironical that I was sounding more ‘carnatic’ than he did. So we agreed that he should do the Hindustani (KJY) part. His bassy voice, as expected, added elegance. With the extra reverb and super-high quality mics, it was kinda hard to hearback what we were singing and I was forced to close one of my ears tight to keep the shruthi. This song is anyday a tight rope walk, and I had not wanted to attempt this without a proper company (Sathish). But he is the best I could ask for.

Towards the end of the song, though originally only KJY was supposed to sing that portion, we decided to sing that jointly. Came out reasonably well, given the parameters we were working with. The extended dhaadi you see is because of shabarimala maala.

Listen/watch to it and let me know.

Audio Post-Swara raaga sudha - From andha 7 NaatkaL

Vocals: Meera, Murali
Film : Andha 7 naatkaL
Composer: MSV

Well after a hiatus. I am putting a song for your kind / unkind scrutiny. This song was featured by me in http://dhool.com/ as the "Song of the day" probably 4 days back. I set a very simple karaoke track devoid of all the interludes. What I have to say about the song can be found below, but I need to say a word about my co-singer - Meera Manohar.

I came to know Meera as a visitor to my blog and when I checked her songs out in her webpage I was mightily impressed. A beautiful voice with a clear diction ! I think she is one of the best singers I have come across and has persuaded to sing some songs (both film and my compositions). We have worked independnetly on the song and hence when I heard her version first, I got goose bumps. I look forward to working with this very talented artist in the coming days

From dhool:
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http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/740.html

Today we feature a song "Swara raaga" - from the Bhagayaraj Classic - Andha 7 naatkaL. I saw this movie when I was young and did not quite understand the intricacies of love at that time (well..I guess the condition is still the same ) All I remember is that I laughed my gut out whenever Kaja sheriff (?) - the sidekick of Bhagyaraj - came in the scene and the way bhagyaraj reacted for some situations rolling his eyes in a comical manner. Also, I remember enjoying all the songs which to this day, IMO, are some of the most beautiful compositions from the one and only master - MSV. To any person, who is unfamiliar with MSV's composing style, I have always suggested "kavidhai arangErum nEram" and "thendraladhu unnidaththil".

(1) "Kavidhai arangerum" has a beautiful cascade like structure where every upcoming line seems like a logical (rather magical) extension of the previous line. It is a song, where it appears, no line can be replaced with a different tune (excluding MSV' here) and be delivered as is - without any extra improvisations.

(2) "Thendraludhu unnidaththil" - must have been analyzed to a great extent in tfmpage earlier. But every time I listen to this song, it makes me wonder how somebody could come up with something as lovely as this. While "Kavidhai arangErum" is a composition which appears like a neat flow of logical music, this song is a maverick composition. In the charanam, every alternating line uses a different gandhaaram. for e.g. -

uLLam engum pongum aasai indru thangaradham ERiyathu - uses G3.
unnai paarththu sollum vaarththai indru gangai ena maaRiyadhu - uses G2

This goes through out the charanam. Unless the composer is a genius, such a composition is impossible.

(3) eNNi irundhadhu eedEra - is a song I have liked but never held in high regard when compared to the other two songs.

I had always thought that this movie had just three songs. I had no clue I will be pleasantly surprised by another classy number, the SOTD, from the master - a number which probably did not attain as much popularity as the other three. "swara raaga" is a beautiful composition sung by Jayachandran and Vani Jairam, which lacks the pomp and grandeur of the other 3 songs in orchestration. But this must never be held against it since the tune is absolutely classy. In the pallavi however I found an odd thing happeneing:

ssa ri,ma mri ri,sa sasarisa sa;;;
anu raga mO hangaL uNarhthtugaiyO

Whereas the harmonium which follows the line and plays the notes sounds :

ssa ri,ma mga ri,sa sasarisa sa;;;

This is a subtle but important difference. The former denotes a prayogam in raga "shudhdha saaveri" and the latter sounds like "aarabhi". These ragas are close and can be confusing for amatuer singers especially. (In fact aarabhi and saama are even closer to confuse you enough that you will quit thinking about carnatic if you are an amateur).

Initially to me it appeared that JC had not really picked up the master's composition since I believe MSV played the harmonium in the song. But, when I listened to VJ, I was convinced that JC had done his job fine. The reason I say this is because, I am a person who believes that VJ is one singer who NEVER goes wrong in the notes. She is like an absolute reference point. Since she sings the line exactly the way JC sings, I came to a conclusion that JC is vindicated.

ok, then what about the harmonium ? I think it was MSV himself who played, but given a master marmonium player that he is, I am compelled to believe that it is his eccentricity that showed up in playing. I remember Sriram Laxman telling me how MSV had played some entirely new chord progressions for his old tunes on his harmonium when both met. I choose to believe that MSV just played the harmonium in a way different from the pallavi tune in jest.

The rest of the song however meanders through so many different swaras that one wonders if this man really required any "raaga" to compose songs. A genius in every sense of the word. Another beauty is the alternating malayalam and tamil lyrics - two languages I die for. CheNda meLam is some thing that has hardly been used in tamil songs. This is another specialty in this song.

Enjoy the SOTD and please let me know when this song is featured in the film.

An experience with USA lottery ticket

Lottery ticket is something I do not believe in. Although I remember getting an absolute zero in the probability exam in my IIT coaching classes, the probability that I would win a lottery ticket, is a thing I am absolutely sure about.

p=0

I would rather spend a dollar for a cup of hot cappucino available in the pantries rather than buy a lottery ticket and wait on it for a month or so to ensure I did not win. But, today as I went to work in the morning and stopped for coffee, I found a person buying a lottery ticket at the pantry. In my 7.5 years in USA, I have never seen a lottery ticket. This made me curious. Of course it would be silly to ask the pantry staff to give me one so that I can look at it and give back. So, I decided to become more stupid.

I bought a lottery ticket - $1.

This was a ticket the result for which I did not have to wait for. It was a "scratch and see" - instant ticket. I was happy that I did not have to wait for a considerable amount of time to make myself sure of being a loser. I need not even contemplate on what I would be able to do if I got a free $1000 (well..I am modest in expectations). So there was the ticket in my hand staring at me..Waiting to be scratched...

There were 9 dots arranged in tic-tac-toe fashion concealing the underlying numbers/figures and 1 more which would tell me the prize. Thus I knew neither the prize nor if would win. Now that makes it doubly complicated. With most of the Indian tickets, you would know the price. Here even the price was unknown. So the actual probability of winning a good or decent prize has gone down further..I told myself.

The condition was that I must get the 3 figures of shrimp on the diagonal or a line of the tic-tac-toe. I scratched them... And to my unbridled excitement, I found my theory "I can never win a lottery" substantiated ! Yes! I did NOT win ! Aaah..Predictable ain't it ? Life is simple in that case !

Now for the prize money had I won the lottery. The big dot was waiting to be scratched. I was wondering if it was really necessary to scratch it since I had not won anyway. But the curious cat in me urged me to scratch that too. And I scratched off..

I could not believe myself ! It was simply incredible ! Guess what the price money was ?!

$1.00

I could not suppress my laughter to know how probability works out in my case ! I spent a dollar and some of my time to sratch 9 buttons to find I am a loser. And one more scratch tells me that the "prize money" would have just made me break-even !

So technically speaking I lost a dollar, and some time in search of a free dollar. There can be only one term to call myself - superloser. Well with the curiosity being suppressed brutally, I have become utterly confident about my chances with such things. I would be better off saving the dollars I earn than go behind some free prize money. A lesson very well learnt !!