December Music season: Fulfilling Evenings At Kalakshetra!

Koothambalam (auditorium)....Old one! (Image source)

The renovated Kooththambalam!

This clip is an elaborate one.  This group, Keremane artists are very famous, I was told. I saw this Yakshagana programme after a very very long time.  When I was a school going kid, I used to watch this program at Kodavooru, my village near Udupi...it was a whole night program.  I used to copy their dance movements like turning the palms upward downward and walking around the stage in circular movements. Swirling around on two knees...which is not easy! You can see all these things in the above video.  The story we watched was 'Kaarthaveeraarjuna Kalaga' by Keremane group.  The yakshagaana stories are mostly from mythology, but in normal coloquial Kannada/tulu languages. Sit on sand in an open maidan and watch from 8/9 pm till 6 am the next day! I am posting this link just to show how women characters are shown in this play.  All are men in women's dress: Women don't participate in Yakshagaana.

I went to the carnatic music  concert of Smt.Ranjani and Smt. Gayatri, the next day.  Pure classical music.  3 hours' non-stop music.  I think they are the best in this season.  The concert hall was too crowded.  Everybody was clapping often whenever a good piece of rendition was there.  They are very good.  We heard raagam taanam pallavi elaborately, which is very rare to be heard in the short duration concerts, here.  Thank god, this was 3 hours' concert and not 2 hour concert, 6 to 9 pm.  Got this in 'you tube', though this is not the one we heard there.

From their wiki:

Ranjani and Gayatri started their musical journey as violinists even before they reached their teens, performing in leading sabhas (music organizations) all over the country and abroad. Besides playing the violin duet, they have also performed along with musicians such as Smt.D.K.Pattammal, Sri M Balamurali Krishna, T.Vishwanathan.

Marathi Abhang!

This one is in raag Chandrakauns+Madhukauns...when I visited 'you tube' for their songs, I came across this beautiful song! The sisters seem to be very good in Hindustani raagaas too! Don't miss it. It is here!

One more song by Ranjani Gayatri sisters in raaga Yaman Kalyani. The rendition is very good. It is here!

An interesting anecdote about the sisters' unique sarees.  Many sisters wear sarees in same colour combination and sometimes similar jewellery too.  These sisters chose sarees like one will wear a pink saree with green border, the other one wear green saree with pink border (same design!).  You can see this in the links in 'you tube':) They don't seem to wear flashy sarees too, which is very nice! Hear their view here!

We heard Pt.Sanjeev Abhyankar's concert the next day.  He is Pt.Jasraj's student.  The raagas we heard at Kalakshetra were very good.  We could notice Pt.Jasraj's touch everywhere in his singing.  Effortless beautiful singing. Hear one song here:

Sanjeev Abhyankar, Hindustani music concert!

We were not supposed to take pictures or videos at the concert.  This was taken before the concert started.  I just wanted to post a picture of the stage arrangement at Kalakshetra.  Simple and beautiful.  It is not air-conditioned but the auditorium was cool with natural breeze throughout.  Neem leaves' smoke was distributed via a bamboo basket taken all over the auditorium; as a result, mosquito bites were not felt even though the doors were kept open.

(We had gone on a tour of Kalakshetra last year or so, and I wrote about it...have a look! Read more about this place here!)

I noticed one more thing in this music season: Normally, before concluding the concert, with mangalam, the artists sing light melodies like bhajans (Kabirdas, Purandara dasa etc.). Nowadays, Marathi abhangs are becoming famous. Most of them sing abhangs which are melodious to the ears. South Indians are opening up for all types of music let alone Carnatic music, nowadays, which is a good sign. You can read my earlier posts about my visit to the concerts here!

Did you go to any concert? If so, pl. mention in the comment section!

Going to Zakir Hussain(tabla) and Niladri's (sitar) concert next week at the Music Academi! Happy times!

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A Soulful, Melodious Evening At The Music Academy, Chennai!

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On 31st January, '18, we had attended a concert at the Music Academy.  The famous Ustaad Zakir Hussain played the tabla and another famous artiste Rahul Sharma played the unique instrument, Santoor.  We had attended Zakir Hussain's concerts 3-4 times earlier and are great fans of him as a person and as a tabla player.  His talent speaks everything here, in this small clip:



Ustaad Zakir Hussain is the son of the very very famous tabla player, Alla Rakha who used to play with Pt.Ravishankar (Sitar) in those days.  He learnt to play the instrument from a very young age and got a Ph.D. degree from the University of Washington too.  We, Chennai audience, love to attend his concerts.  He is a very soft-natured person with great sense of humour.  He always engages the crowd with some funny antics in the tabla or body language too.  People  never get bored in his concerts! Read about the awards these artists had in the highlighted wiki link pl. 

Rahul Sharma...we had attended his father's concert (Pt.Shivkumar Sharma, the famous Santoor player) once, some 4-5 years back along with Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia (Flute).  This concert in Chennai was the first one for Rahul Sharma, it seems.  He played raag Bageshri first and then the famous Kashmiri raag Pahaadi.

This unique instrument, Santoor (the original name is Shatha thantri veena ... veena with 100 strings). Pt.Shivkumar Sharma explains here:

In Ancient Scriptures of India there is mention of Shata tantri Veena which is known today as “Santoor”. This instrument got its present name Santoor with the Persian language influence in our Country. There are Hundred Strings in Santoor. It is a hollow box on top of which there are 25 bridges. Each bridge used to have 4 strings resting on it. To play this instrument, two wooden mallets are used. This instrument had been in use in the Valley of Kashmir for many centuries, in a typical type of Music known as “Sufiana Mausiqi” which means a music connected with Sufi philosophy.

The Journey of Santoor changed in early 1950’s when Pt. Umadutt Sharma, Father of Shivkumar Sharma, who was a very versatile Musician, a performing Vocalist, and Dilruba player but equally well versed in playing Tabla & Harmonium, saw this Instrument in Kashmir and thought of introducing Indian Classical Music on Santoor. He had an intensive training of Music under Pt. Bade Ramdasji a legendary Vocalist of Benaras Gharana. In early 50’s Pt. Umadutt Sharma was Music incharge of Radio Srinagar for a few years. During that period he did an extensive research on Santoor and started teaching his Son, Shivkumar Sharma the intricacies of Santoor.

Pt.Shivkumar Sharma has passed on his family's talent to his son Rahul Sharma. 

The father was a tabla player too and the son is a singer too like his grand father! Multi-talented family! The son is mostly into fusion music nowadays.  World music. He showed the taste of fusion music for some 10-15 mts. at the concert.

Pt.Shivkumar Sharma and Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia had created some good music for Hindi films in the name of Shiv-Hari.  Rahul Sharma played some traces of those songs in this concert.  The songs in 'Silsila' are memorable.  Their favourite raaga was Pahaadi!



I searched for a good link of Rahul Sharma.  Only audio links were available, well, mostly.  This link is interesting.  Father and son with the Kanjeera player, Selva Ganesh (Ghatam player Vikku Vinayakram's son!).  Interesting!



I hear 'Sangeet Saritha', a classical music programme via radio in the morning (I should say the programme involves interviews VIPs in different fields of mostly music).  I had been hearing this for the past 30-40 years! Many music directors, Classical singers discuss about their music/musical journey for 15 mts. a day, for 13 to sometimes 20 episodes.  7.30 to 7.45 am every morning.  I jotted down some points when Pt.Shivkumar Sharma spoke and did a post on it.  You can read it here!

Stress reliever....hear this!

Hope to attend more and more concerts in the years to come and write about them here!

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Now, I Am A Fan Of Ustaad Rashid Khan!

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Ustaad Rashid Khan

We had been attending 'Naad Ninaad' concerts for the past few years now.  The Hindu(news paper) is sponsoring them and it comes in November.  This year too we went to Chennai's famous Music Academy to hear the music. And loved it.  Thanks goes to The Hindu!

We, i.e. our family heard about Rashid Khan (The name is pronounced as Raashid and not Rashid!) in the very old (1998)Saregama, a musical Reality programme anchored by Sonu Nigam. Many stalwarts from Hindi Film music industry and our Hindustani Classical music stalwarts participated as judges.  Many following episodes showed them singing in front of India Gate and other prominent places and we came to know about many famous Hindustani music singers then.  One of them was Ustaad Rashid Khan.  I still remember him singing in that programme.  No, I hadn't heard about him before that.  We, South Indians are involved with Carnatic music than Hindustani music then.  Now, the atmosphere is changing.  Every year we get to hear many Hindustani concerts in our famous Music season, in Chennai, in November and December!  This concert was houseful till the end, i.e. 9.30 pm! Mostly people start leaving the hall by 9 pm! Both Ustaad Shahid Parvez Khan and Ustaad Rashid Khan made us sit glued to our seat till the end! The sitar played by Ustaad Shahid Parvez Khan was divine.  I will write about him also sometime!

Please have a look at this video first.  This is just a sample.  He expanded this song elaborately, with a touch of pure classical in the end at the concert.  This one is mild, ghazal type.  Really, melodious:



Ustaad Rashid Khan (Wiki says), born on 1st July, 1996, belongs to the Rampur Sahaswan Gharana and is the great grandson of the founder Inaayat Hussain Khan.  Every gharana has got unique type of singing Hindustani music.  But Rashid Khan didn't just stick to his gharana, though he got trained in that, adopted many other gharana styles like Amir Khan's and Bhimsen Joshi's.
He is married to Joyeeta Bose, from the family of Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose.  (The comment section in the 'yaad piya ki video gave some details). 

This information is for serious Hindustani music fans:

His renderings stand out for the emotional overtones in his melodic elaboration. He says: "The emotional content may be in the alaap, sometimes while singing the bandish, or while giving expression to the meaning of the lyrics." This brings a touch of modernity to his style, as compared to the older maestros, who tended to place greater emphasis on impressive technique and skillful execution of difficult passages.

Rashid Khan has also experimented with fusing pure Hindustani music with lighter musical genres, e.g. in the Sufi fusion recording Naina Piya Se (songs of Amir Khusro), or in experimental concerts with western instrumentalist Louis Banks.


Rashid Khan gave his first concert at age eleven, and the following year, 1978, he performed at an ITC concert in Delhi. In April 1980, when Nissar Hussain Khan (his maternal grand uncle from who he was learning music) moved to the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Calcutta, Rashid Khan also joined the academy at the age of 14. By 1994, he was acknowledged as a musician (a formal process) at the academy.

Wiki says:  Pandit Bhimsen Joshi once remarked that Rashid Khan was the "assurance for the future of Indian vocal music".He was awarded the Padma Shri as well as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2006.

You can know more about him in his interview programme in Rajya Sabha TV.

Shaksiyat Rajya Sabha programme:




This is his typical classical singing.  He sang this at the concert. Click here: Awesome rendition!

He has got two daughters and a son, who also have started giving concerts.  He has done playback singing in some movies like Jagjit Singh and his voice is melodious and soft in them. This is one:

From the movie 'Jab we met':




I used to hear just Jagjit Singh's ghazals all these days.  Now, Rashid Khan will also become my favourite! Never knew about him this much.  This concert has introduced me to an incredible, unique voice!

The video which is given below shows my favourite Carnatic singer Bombay Jayashree and now my favourite Hindustani singer, Ustaad Rashid Khan in a 'different' type of music, is it fusion...well, I liked it! You too will love this! Over to Coke studio:

Sangeeth Saritha, Radio Programme, Again!

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As I have already written earlier, I am a fan of radio since my childhood days.  We grew up hearing the radio throughout the day, well... until TV took sometime of the day, later.  Even then, the mornings are exclusively for Vividhbharathi programmes.  I don't listen to FM radio because the presenters shout all the time and too many advertisements.  Vividhbharathi gets minimum advertisements and many are govt. sponsored like 'gobar gas', 'road safety', PM Modi's 'swachch bharath' and other reforms (this is the recent addition!).   Other programmes will be heard randomly without much attention but the 7.30 to 7.45 am programme is THE Sangeeth Saritha.  I love to listen the discussions on Hindustani/Carnatic music...many maestros discuss the raagas, how they are used in film music, different types of taals and many more.  Just to influence ordinary people who are not serious classical music lovers (I am not a serious classical music fan...I love all sorts of music!) mostly they include one film song based on the raaga in discussion.  I have written a couple of posts about this programme earlier and here, they are!    And here!

Normally, in this programme, one series about some subject goes for 10-20 episodes.  Now, I am hearing for the past few days, a programme about different music directors, the way they use particular instruments for songs, some famous classical singers who sang for a couple of movies....etc. etc.  The VIP here now, is Pt.Nithyanand Haldipur who is a famous bansuri/flute player.

Today, he was discussing about Shiv-Hari's (famous santoor player, Pt.Shiv Kumar Sharma and famous flute player, Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia) contribution to film music. Today, he was talking about one song from film, 'Tere Mere Sapne'
and the song is given below.  He said, 'In those days, RD Burman, SD Burman's son was becoming famous and was very busy recording songs.  SD Burman got the above movie for directing music.  Singers, Latha Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar were fixed. He had shortage of orchestra players.  At that time he came across Shiv-Hari and got an idea.  He asked just the both of them to play for one song.  With just two instruments, Santoor and flute, he finished recording one beautiful song.  I hear just the tabla sound apart from the two instruments in the background.  My favourite song.  Really, SD Burman is a genius.  Now, hear the song.  The lyrics by Neeraj is superb.



Kishore, Latha's voice, Dev Anand, Mumtaz's acting made the song a hit.  The movie also was a hit.  My parents were not happy about us, young girls, watching this movie (adult theme it was, in those days (1971, I think!).  I and my sister went with my cousins to Rajkumari theatre (a complex is there now!) at Pondy Bazaar, Chennai, to watch this movie.  All the songs were good.  A movie was always a hit in those days, if the songs were good!

I had written about SD Burman and RD Burman's music here!

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Our Favourite Musical Programme Now...Voice India Kids!

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Our week end prime time is exclusively for watching &TV programme, 'Voice India Kids'.  The finale is nearing, so all the kids are in perfect form.  This show has become famous for the talented kids and the most talented coaches and judges, Neeti Mohan, playback singer, Shekar Ravjiani, Singer cum music director, Shaan, Singer.  They are coaching the kids very well, we could see the improvement in the kids' singing, every week. 

Remember, Shreya Ghoshal, Arijit Singh, Ganjawala, Anwesha and many other singers are products of reality shows. 

 I love this girl, Shreya Basu's voice! All are very very young...

This girl Priyanshi Srivastava is a strong contender!

Saanvi Shetty is singing here! What a voice!

Wonder who will win....3-4 voices are very good.   Sometimes the children who come 3rd or 4th in the reality shows, become famous later, with good training and dedication.  Shreya Ghoshal participated in Saregama as a small girl, look, where she is now!  Musical reality shows started then.  Sonu Nigam was young and was the favourite anchor of many households, including ours! I had done a post on this subject, long back, here, it is!



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Lata Mangeshkar, Who Was/is My Favourite Singer Since My Childhood!

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The Great Lata Mangeshkar!

Where shall I start? I had been hearing Lata Mangeshkar's songs from my childhood via radio.  It was 'Aap ki farmaayish' during daytime in those days and even now, though we hear her in 'bhoole bisre geeth' in the morning too, where very old songs are played.  She is 87 years old now!

From my mother, grand mother to my sons, love her songs/voice! My son loves her old songs, though!

Wikipedia gives more details about her here! I think I will write mainly about the precious cassette we had during the late 1970's!

It was the Cassette season then! No CDs.  We used to hear via radio for many years until then.  Then my husband brought home a car stereo.  It was like small box with knobs and a slot for inserting cassettes.  My elder son was around 2 years old.  He grew up hearing music even when he was in my womb! I am crazy about music...mainly film music, a little doze of bhajans too! I used to play the radio, mainly Vividhbharati from early morning bhajan programmes to night's 'aap ki farmaayish'.  You must be knowing that I am a great fan of 'Sangeet Sarita' programme which can be heard even today from 7.30 to 7.45 am.  The result, my sons also became very familiar with music.  (I think this programme has influenced us to appreciate all sorts of music from ghazals to western classical music).  We used to have many cassettes after the tape recorder came home.  One was 'Lata Mangeshkar's 1971 Live concert  at London's Albert Hall'. It was played 3-4 times a day, everyday! I remember my son mimicking the English words which can be heard in the beginning of the cassette! Dilip Kumar speaks in chaste Urdu! I can't follow many words in his speech even now! But it sounds good in his voice! The cassette became useless after it got cut 2-3 times (I had pasted them again and again!).  I couldn't get a new one later.  I had been searching for it for many years now.  Thank god, I got it now, thanks to 'you tube' and Mega Ayub! Her voice during this concert was at its peak! Soft and clear! Each and every song covered here, is a gem!

Here is some notes about this event at the famous 'Albert Hall' in London:

The 103-year-old Royal Albert Hall in London -- Britain's most prestigious auditorium with a seating capacity for 6000 -- witnessed a musical phenomenon unequalled in its hallowed history when the inimitable Lata Mangeshkar made her international "debut" on its august stage with a series of three concerts in the aid of the Nehru Memorial Project in Britain in March 1974.

Seldom, indeed, has the hall been booked for a single recitalist three times in one week. What, however, made the event equally unique was to have the hall packed by an oriental artiste for all three nights -- and something more. For even after the intermission on the final night (March 14), there still were crowds willing to pay double the highest price for admission to the hall!

Inside the hall, Lata, the cynosure of all eyes, received a big ovation as Dilip Kumar -- one of India's top-notch film stars, who was also specially invited by The India League, sponsors of the Memorial Project -- introduced her at every concert as his "little sister" and as "a singer with the voice that defied description and definition".

Tribute after tribute, as also bouquets galore, came to Lata from many eminent personalities of England and India.

Then amid the ideal setting that matched her many-splendoured talent, Lata sang her songs with a seraphic impulse. She could demand and obtain the spontaneous surrender of her 18000and odd listeners -- and sent them home with gladdened hearts and nostalgic memories.

That is at once the singular distinction of the one and only Lata Mangeshkar..."the undisputed melody queen of India"..."the pint-sized bundle of musical genius"... "a singer with a moonlight in her throat"... "a legend in her lifetime"...                                      

I am hearing this now after many years but still can remember the song list clearly!  She is singing even now....for the current famous music director, AR Rahman!

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P.S.: I heard this song just now, from the movie, 'Anand'. Goose bumps! She is unbelievably good!

The Young Man I Admire!

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I heard this song in the afternoon.  Such a melodious song by Shiv-Hari.  Amitabh is reciting some verse in the beginning.  Such a powerful voice.



Music: Shiv-Hari (Sivkumar Sharma & Hariprasad Chaurasia) Lyrics: Javed Akhtar. Movie: Silsila (1981). Actors: Amitabh Bachchan & Rekha.

I watched Amitabh starrer 'Wazir', a 2016 movie, 2 days back. Amitabh is around 74 years old now.  Still his enthusiasm is in tact! And voice too!

Amitabh is singing in the II half of the song!



Music: Rochak Kohli, Lyrics: Deepak Romola, Gurpreet Saini. Actors: Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar.

We were discussing about Amitabh Bachchan while hearing the Silsila song and were admiring him as to how he is still so active in life.  So, this post!

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Happy Happy Holi!

For us, South Indians, holi festival is still new esp.for people who have never stayed outside their state in South India.  Until a few years back, we knew about holi only via books, TV, film songs etc.  We had seen some youngsters, esp. Hindi speaking people, roaming around with colours on their faces, hands and clothes.

I had the first taste of holi, when we were in Hosur.  Hosur is an industrial town (border town of Tamilnadu and Karnataka).  Many industries are there like Ashok Leyland, English Electricals, TVS and many many more.  People from all over India came for working in these companies and had their families in the (mostly) housing board colonies.  We too were like them. So, we had Maharashtrian, Gujarathi, Bengali friends, apart from people from Karanataka, Andhra, Kerala and Tamilnadu. My children too had classmates from different parts of India.  So, we became familiar with different customs and rituals.  Common language was Hindi and English.  I learnt to make Maharashtrian cuisine and Gujarathi cuisine! Am familiar with a few Bengali cuisine too.  We had a Bengali friend who invited us to Durga pooja (during Navarathri festival) prepared pooris fried in GHEE  and channa without onion/garlic! I still remember the taste.

A Maharashtrian friend used to keep a huge Ganesha in her house during Ganesh Chaturthi and their Maharashtrian friends used to come and do bhajan and aarthi in her house.  We used to join them and learnt to sing 'Ganpathi bappa moria' with them!

Learnt to make sweet pickle from a Gujarathi friend! In that way, we are lucky.  If we had stayed in Chennai, we wouldn't have known/or come in contact with so many cultures.  But on second thought, the times are changing and it is not like 20 years back.  Thanks to IT industry, we come across the whole of India in our neighbourhood in Chennai itself plus Japanese and Koreans who work in the automobile industries.  When we were children, after we shifted to Chennai from Udupi, my mother started celebrating Pongal at home, by making sweet pongal on the day of the festival! So, we gradually change according to the surroundings we have.

Well, now let me come back to holi festival.  I joined the holi celebration with my Maharashtrian friend's family.  I went to her house with my usual saree.  As soon as she opened the door, I was covered with colour powders....people were standing inside and throwing colours on me! I was a bit taken aback.  After a few minutes, I was normal and joined them!  Children also had joined.  When I came back home, walking on the road (it was a housing colony and very few people were playing holi there) and entered my house, my husband was shocked to see me full of different colours!  Everything was new to us.  I still remember the way I enjoyed playing like children, throwing colours at others.  Can't imagine doing so at our circle!

I forgot to tell one thing, we used to hear Amitabh singing the holi song at least
5-6 times in the radio, TV etc. on the day of the Holi and do so even now!





 And this song too!



Shahnaz Husain has given some handy tips to enjoy the festival without damaging one's skin and hair in today's 'The Hindu'(click here pl.) newspaper. It should be very useful.

Enjoy the colourful festival! 

Happy Holi!

Holi photo courtesy: Google

A Unique Music Director!

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Ramesh Vinayakam! I had heard some of his songs in radio and knew he is good.  Hearing one of his songs in a reality show and noticing the tune, background music, I thought I should write about him.  I had seen him giving tips to new budding singers in a reality show and they were too good.   Now, hear some of his songs and you will notice his name when you hear a 'sara hatke - different' song hereafter!



Ramesh Vinayakam is the male singer.  Female singer? Soft, melodious song. This movie, 'Nala Damayanthi' was directed by Kamal Haasan.  His influence is there in Madhavan, you can notice in the video!

The next song also is sung by Ramesh Vinayakam...'Different' type:

I was looking out for Ramesh Vinyakam's songs and came across this gem, from the movie 'Ramanujan'. I am hearing this song for the first time. Vani Jayaram's voice is entirely different...unique. I like this voice of hers. Wiki has written this about the song:

'Being a film about a mathematician, the songs were related to mathematical terms as well. Poet Vaali had written a number, "Narayana Narayana", which was said to "incorporate the idea of infinity and nothingness'

This is another song from the same movie, Ramanujan.  I wonder 
why I hadn't noticed this song before! Hear this:



Ramesh Vinayakam and Vinaya (new voice I think and sounds lovely) are singing. Or is it Kaushiki Chakraborty's voice?  Please write in the comments section if you are familiar with this voice! The tune is good.  The background music is soft.  'Different' type of song.  The lyrics are too beautiful.  You can see/read them in the comments section too (in you tube)! Na.Muthukumar is superb here. My impression about the lyricist has gone up now!

Wiki says this about the songs of Ramanujan:

He said that he had to go classical for one part of the film and into European sounds for another segment. No modern instruments, but old world instruments were used in order to bring the period alive, while four orchestral pieces were recorded in Germany, where the composer worked with the Stuttgart-based GermanPops Orchestra that has worked on contemporary and classical styles. Being a film about a mathematician, the songs were related to mathematical terms as well. Poet Vaali had written a number, "Narayana Narayana", which was said to "incorporate the idea of infinity and nothingness", while another number, written by Thirumazhisai Azhwar thousands of years ago, "stresses that numbers are absolute".One of the instrumental tracks, "One to Zero" was described as a "musical metaphor" as it was based on the numbers, with Vinayakam explaining, "One is represented by one note, two by two notes and so on, while zero is represented by a rest.After the initial exposition, at any point of time, three of these layers criss-cross each other from a distance of one beat from each other".

Thirumazhisai Azhwar's song sung by Unnikrishnan is here. It describes about numbers and the music...listen!

This looks like western classical. From the movie, Ramanujan. I am ignorant of this music. But sounds important.  Click  and see! 

This is a fast number, sung by Vinayakam.  Background music is interesting!

He has done many devotional song albums.  He is proficient in Carnatic music, Western music and has a diploma from Trinity college of music, London.  

He is speaking about 'Ramanujan' here. 

Waiting to hear more music from him in the future.

Happy Independence Day To All Of Us, Indians!

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Hear this song and you forget all the draw backs of our country, people and feel proud of ourselves! Whatever it is, we are definitely marching forward every year!

I always get goose bumps when I hear this song and our 'Vande mataram' song.

SWATANTRATA DIWAS KI SHUBH KAAMNAAYEIN!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Edited to add on 16th Aug.'15: Have a look at this beautiful video by beautiful children.

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The Shadows Of His Hands Are Singing 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhaara'!

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I have been watching my friends and relatives making animal images in shadows, since my childhood.  Even I showed my children, shadows with fingers on our wall at home...dogs, fish and birds. Not more than that! But the video which I saw this morning made me dumbfounded. It will make you too!

If you know the song 'Mile sur mera tumhaara' and had seen the video since our Door Darshan time, you will enjoy this, better! Every picture in the video is shown in the shadows! The shadows are lip sinking with the song's lyrics! Amazing! If you are not familiar with the song, watch the video of the song first and then, this video.  It is the second one below this video. Now, let us see the singing shadows first!



The last image of the Four lions, the Emblem of India,  and the flying flag, brought tears in my eyes! Beautiful, aren't they?   The beautiful rabbit, the Goan with a hat, Balamurali Krishna singing with his hands moving, the mridangam artist playing, the Taj Mahal, the peacock, camel, elephants,  people on a boat, North East Indians dancing,  I can go on... The video shows the artist playing with his fingers. Needs 100% concentration for doing this, I am sure.

Now, watch the real song:



You know what I did while writing this post now? I opened two windows in my computer, one with the shadow video and another with the song video and watched both frame by frame! I love this song and am never bored of hearing this.  I had done a post on this earlier too (here).

I looked out for the name of the artist and got it! His name is Prahlad Acharya. (link). He hails from Udupi (Karnataka), MY home town!

He was interested in magic from his childhood and  learnt magic from Uday Jadugar,.  He learnt shadow play and other magics while travelling with him during his shows. The link says:

'Today, the 40-year-old has traveled across the globe, telling stories using shadows. He can perform the Panchatantra tales, Kannada folktales such as the story of Punyakoti, the holy cow who kept her word to a tiger by offering herself to it after she fed her calf.'

I came across another video of this artist,  which is also interesting (link)

Now, I came across the Wiki link of Prahlad Acharya! We can know more about him here.

He comes in my 'People whom I admire' list now!

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Humen Tumse Pyaar Kitna...Har Din Hum Aapko Yaad Karten Hain, Gungunaate Hain, Aapke Gaanen!

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The legend called Kishore Kumar!

Today is the 85th Birth Anniversary of our famous Kishore Kumar, Hindi Film playback singer, actor, director, lyricist, composer, the list goes on...a multi-faceted personality.

As all my friends know, my day begins with MS Subbulakshmi's Vishnu Sahasranaama first and then the radio is switched on.  From Vividh Bharati's Sangeet Sarita programme, I start hearing Kishore, Rafi, Manna Dey, Latha and Asha's songs! They seem to repeat the songs often but I never get bored.  Kishore is the first favourite of all the members in my family.  I have written many times, about how crazy my  elder son was and is, about Kishore Kumar's songs.  My mood lifts up as soon as I hear his voice! We can recognise Latha's voice the decade of the song, since she started singing from a small girl to middle age and now old age...her voice changed slowly (Latha is my favourite singer too!).  But Kishore Kumar's is the same from the mid 40's to the late 80's.  You can know more about him with this wiki link here.

He came to to Bombay with his brother, Ashok Kumar, who was a famous actor then,  to do playback singing.  But became famous by singing along with acting, in movies.  At some period, he was so busy acting in films that Rafi sang some songs for Kishore Kumar in some movies! He was a good actor playing serious roles plus a great comedian.  But all of us remember him for his eternal songs in Hindi films.  He had sung all types of songs from classical, semi classical to masti bhari songs! All the music directors were after him.  His tantrums were legendary.  An example is here via an interview he gave to Pritish Nandy, the famous journalist for the then famous magazine,  Illustrated weekly:

Pritish Nandy: I understand you are quitting Bombay and going away to Khandwa...
Kishore Kumar: Who can live in this stupid, friendless city where everyone seeks to exploit you every moment of the day? Can you trust anyone out here? Is anyone trustworthy? Is anyone a friend you can count on? I am determined to get out of this futile rat race and live as I've always wanted to. In my native Khandwa, the land of my forefathers. Who wants to die in this ugly city?                                                                                                                                                                PN: If you didn't like Bombay, why did you stay back? For fame? For money?
KK: I was conned into it. I only wanted to sing. Never to act. But somehow, thanks to peculiar circumstances, I was persuaded to act in the movies. I hated every moment of it and tried virtually every trick to get out of it. I muffed my lines, pretended to be crazy, shaved my head off, played difficult, began yodelling in the midst of tragic scenes, told Meena Kumari what I was supposed to tell Bina Rai in some other film - but they still wouldn't let me go. I screamed, ranted, went cuckoo. But who cared? They were just determined to make me a star.                                                                                                                                         PN: But you succeeded, after your fashion...
KK: Of course I did. I was the biggest draw after Dilip Kumar. There were so many films I was doing in those days that I had to run from one set to the other, changing on the way. Imagine me. My shirts flying off, my trousers falling off, my wig coming off while I'm running from one set to the other. Very often I would mix up my lines and look angry in a romantic scene or romantic in the midst of a fierce battle. It was terrible and I hated it. It evoked nightmares of school. Directors were like schoolteachers. Do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. I dreaded it. That's why I would often escape.                                                                                                                                                                                                    PN: Is that why you prefer to be a loner?
  KK: Look, I don't smoke, drink or socialise. I never go to parties. If that makes me a loner, fine. I am happy this way. I go to work and I come back straight home. To watch my horror movies, play with my spooks, talk to my trees, sing. In this avaricious world, every creative person is bound to be lonely. How can you deny me that right?                                                                                                           He was acting as if he was crazy, but was very very intelligent, eccentric, you can say.                                                                                                                                      Both Latha and Asha used to say in some interviews that he used to cut jokes all the time and their voice used to get 'kharaash' with all the laughing, before recording the songs.  So they tried not to laugh, but Kishore would not let them stay sober!  Everybody who came across him loved him.  You can read more about him in the link and get alarmed or just laugh!  I feel like copy-pasting the whole interview but pushed myself to stop! I regret that he died very early in his life...he was just 58.                                                                                                                                   You can read about his career and other information in the wiki link I quoted in the beginning.  Now, let me write about my favourite songs of Kishore!                                                                                                                                     He is a good comedian, I said.  Have a look here in this song.  Suni Dutt also is here who was a famous hero of those days, but here, he is not 'visible' at all:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          He sang for Dev Anand in many movies.                                                                     Both Latha and Kishore's voices are superb here.                                                                                                                                                  and here!                                                                                                                                      He sang for Sanjay Dutt here                                                                                                                                    This is my favourite song.  Kishore is singing for his brother Ashok Kumar.  You can see Tanuja also (Kajol's mother!).  Music director is Kishore Kumar. I think he produced this movie. Here is the song.                                                                                                                                    This song is from 'Amar Prem'.   Rajesh Khanna's famous movie.  All the songs in this movie are good.  One sample is here:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          'Aradhana' was a hit movie of those days.  All the songs by music director, SD Burman in this movie, were famous.  One is here.                                                                                                                                    Kishore is singing for Amitabh here.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         This song is from the famous movie, 'Julie'.  I love this song.                                                                                                                                                                               Kishore is singing for Amitabh in Shiv-Hari's music, for the film, 'Silsila'.  My favourite song. Again all the songs in this movie are hits.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Only Kishore and Amitabh can do justice to this song, 'paan banaras wala'!                                                                                                                                      Another masti song of Kishore, picturised on Randhir Kapoor and his wife Babita (Ranbir Kapoor's parents!) is here.  Lovely song.                                                                                                                                       This is a sad song, but a very good song.                                                                                                                                                                                                        This is  my most favourite song picturized on Amitabh. Kishore's voice is at its best! Such a deeeeep voice! Music is by Bappi Lahiri! Here it is!                                                                                                                        Let me conclude this post, reluctantly, with a happy song! Still so many of my favourite songs are there.  I might make another post with them.  He was not classically trained, but he was able to sing any type of songs.  He was a gifted person.  He is going to live in the hearts of all music lovers forever.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           P.S.: Please mention your favourites in the comment section!                                                                           How did I forget to add the songs of this movie, Aandhi?! All the songs are good.  It is here                                                   Another favourite song which should not have been left out! Enjoy this!