While driving to Sequoia NP, Dilip played this telugu song. The "simplicity" of the music piece takes it to totally different level.. I am just hooked onto it.. Hats off to Mickey Meyer !!
"Simplicity".. hmmm... reminds me of somebody.. Oh My Friend, this is for you :) !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRRQMCrn9Us
Yesterday, while driving home from work, happened to play Rashid Khan Raga Puriya Dhanashri.. unexpectedly, the drut bandish words indeed filled the blanks.. :)
Saiyan Mhora Pardes Gayal Wa..
Kin Sotan Bin Mahe Rahu, Sudh Bisarayi..
Saiyan Mhora Pardes Gayal Wa..
Jab Se Piya Pardes Sidhare..
Sudh Huna Milee Aaban Ki, Jab Se Piyaan Nahi Aaye Hamaroo..
Saiyan Mhora Pardes Gayal Wa..
Listen here. Switch to last few minutes of the song for drut bandish..
These words woven in Puriya Dhanashri raga go way too deep :( !!
San-diego weather is excellent these days.. summer time.. but occasionally going thru May gray.. June bloom period..
Any way, during my last india trip, 4 months back, I bought bunch of Indian classical records, but I didn't get a chance to listen to them all.. Yesterday I opened Sanjeev Abhyankar's Miyan Malhar.. ...and guess what... despite the clear sunny weather since last 3 days, it rained today.. heavily !! It didn't rain since last 3 moths and suddenly it poured today..
Its surprising.. possibly coincidental.. probably foolish to say, but... Malhar indeed brings rain :) !!
"Umad Ghumad Garaj Garaj Barsan Ko Aayo Meha"
One of the masterpieces by Salil Kulkarni and Sandeep Khare॥ The poem does magic with simple words.. music is fabulous.. and Salil's voice is indeed touching !!
Listen here..
Into the wild.. The movie..story of Chris McCandeless indeed appeals to me.. not literally, but philosophically.. A wild landscape without traces of civilization are spiritually necessary, but Happiness is only real when shared.. so there should be balance of both isolation and society/relationships in human life..
I want to experience this "wilderness" by myself.. philosophically.. but I guess I am too weak to start my search.. Someday I will !!
Eddie Vedder's music & words precisely reflects this philosophy in the soundtrack..
"Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you..."
Checkout the complete lyrics..
Also checkout the soundtrack.. Guitar piece is simply too good to touch your heart.. It won the Grammy !!
NY times review and "Chris's" character analysis is indeed thought provoking..
Attended an Indian classical concert by Pt Vishwa-Mohan Bhat today.. He played for almost 3.5 hrs. A great feast after a long time... To my surprise, Pt Ravi Shankar ji showed up for the concert, probably being native San Diegan. As per his request, Pt Vishwa-Mohan ji played a composition in Raga "Tilak Shyam".
"Jaane Kaise Sapanon Mein Kho Gaee Aakhiyaan
Mai To Hoo Jaagee, Moree So Gaee Aakhiyaan"
He mentioned that the piece is composed by Pt Ravi Shankar himself and whenever he played that tune, he always cried. I didn't understand what he meant by that... Initially, he sang for couple of minutes and then he played the whole composition for a while. But, at the end of it, Pt Vishwa-Mohan ji literally cried. I was really shocked by what I was witnessing.. I have attended so many concerts, I have seen/heard/read, artist describing the philosophy and emotions in a composition.. but this is first time I witnessed a big-shot being so heartfelt. Probably, Panditji must have plucked few notes deep in his heart, Old memories must have popped up in his mind and he just wasn't able to control himself in the end !!
It was truly one of the best concerts, I have ever attended in my life. I guess, "Tilak Shyam" is now imprinted on my brain for lifetime now..
> The "Tilak Shyam" song originally composed for movie Anuradha, sung by Lata: Here on YouTube
> The "Tilak Shyam" composition played by Pt Ravi Shankar: Here on MusicIndiaOnline.
At the end of the concert, I got a chance to look at his "Mohan Veena", slide guitar.. I never got a chance to look at it so closely.. I knew that it has 20 strings, unlike regular guitar of 6 strings, but I was unaware abt the complexity of the instrument itself. These strings are not just parallel but in mesh format. Out of twenty, 7 strings are in parallel (like regular guitar), while remaining 13 strings are tiny in length and in a mesh format running diagonally, to upper 3 strings. All these 13 strings have a small stone woven in it, which can slide on it. It must be really heard to control these stones to play notes on that string... With an impulse, I really wanted to touch panditji's guitar, but... :) !!
Along with "Tilak Shyam", he played "Maru Bihag" at length, a composition in "Des", piece from his Grammy award winning album "A meeting by the River", and one of his latest composition recorded in LA.
We "Swarnim Rythms" performed for Federation of India Association on 26th August 06 @ San Diego Neuro-Science. Here are the videos... Again, better late than never. Poor audio quality..
Sholay - Introduction Music
Parineeta - Piyu bole (Namita and Rishi)
Kalyug - Jiya dhadak (Rishi)
Anjaam - Badi Mushkil Hai (Pravin Tiwari)
Kashmir Ki Kali - Diwana Hua Badal (Namita and Rishi)
Harmonica and Tabla - Me
Keyboardist - Kamal
Guitarist - Hitesh and Ravi
Bongo - Pravin
Intro with Sholay - Me on Harmonica... intro @ 3:00
Badi Mushkil Hey - My Tabla @ 4:00
Jiya Dhadak Dhadak
Diwana Hua Baadal - Listen to Hitash bhai's guitar @ 0:30, 1:32 and 2:40
Piyu Bole - Totally crappy song... This was the first song of the show.. mike setting were not proper.. Instruments playing louder than singers and Bongo sound just ate up my tabla.. damn it !!
We performed for "Rang Tarang", Indian cultural show, in Qualcomm on May 06
Here is the video... I am uploading it way late, but still.. better late than never... I am not sure who has recorded this video, but it gives highlights of the whole Rang Tarang Show..
In the video, music group is from 1:24 to 6:48. The audio mixer got lil bit messed up, so drums didn't get recorded properly..so most of the songs sound empty..
My Tabla @ 2:36 @ 3:12 @ 4:10 (just missed) @ 6:36
Last week, San diego symphony summerpops showcased "The Romeros family"...
Romero family is amazing.. They are playing spanish classical guitar since last 4-5 generations.. and best part is every musician in the family plays great... This is the only family in whole world that has such a long history... also they are not only the musicians.. but they manufacture their guitar themselves... Infact they used to have a huge guitar store...
Here are some youTube links.. When you watch these videos, look at their right hand fingers.. the way all five fingers move on guitar is simply fabulous..
- first one
- second one
- third one , same flavor , once again
In the summerpops, they played the third song... Infact I witnessed 3 generations on stage... It was an awesome experience..
Also here is a small documentory about them...
KT... I am falling in love with her.. she is fabulous.. simply amazing... she is one-man (one-woman) team, playing whole orchestra by herself.. just unbelievable..
My music buddy Hitesh is in the same hyperstate as me.. Being guitarist, I think he understands KT better than me.... so what :) ?? Woo hooo !!!
Listen to her "Black horse and cherry tree" song. The original version is here ..it sounds okay.. not bad.. neither really impressive... right :) ? But... I like her not only because of her tunes, composition or voice... but.. she is great performer.. This is what I mean.. check her "One man (one-woman) performance" .. or.. "this one" ....damn.. she is gifted !!
"Her public debut".. I love the ending on this one !!
"Same one with plain guitar".. Woo hoo !!
..and same is the case with "Suddenly I see", "Michael Jackson's I want you back", "Heal over".. !!
Hitesh bhai.. when can I stop by for some guitar lessons :) ?
Finally it happened..
We "Aarohi" group performed for San Diego Marathi community. We had 18 songs... Show went on for almost 3 hrs.. Infact whole audience was present till end of the show... That's an achievement in itself :) !! Out of 18 songs, we received the request for replay of 3 songs.. not bad !!
The show was almost houseful. Almost 220 people showed up.. Actually the reason for that might be bcause we were playing all bollywood songs. If it would have been all marahti songs, then i believe attendance would have gone down.
My tabla, bongo, keyboard and flute came out well and was surely audible..
Infact during the show I realized that playing for 3 hrs is not a joke... infact you dont get time to think abt anything.. My mindset was so busy in logistics, that I didnt realize what I was playing.. It was like an auto-pilot.. becasue of so many music practices, the hand was moving on tabla just automatically.. and thats indeed great... means I was thinking so much about the sound system setup that I didnt get much time to think abt what I was playing.. any way.. being an auto-pilot is always good.. no need of improvisation at last moment :) at my level :) !!
As usual, sound system got messed up during the show. the second half was really disappointing. There was feedback from vocal mikes everywhere.. Man... We have put up so much time and effort in practicing all 18 songs and at the end of it show doesnt reach to the peak because of SDMM budget restrictions.. feels really bad... any way better luck next time...
As usual, video recording also didn't turn out well. With a camcorder setup, childern running all over the place, audience cheering/talking.. obviously the audio recording quality got messed up.. I guess the video is just good enough as a remebrance.
But... the audio recording directly from the mixer is amazing.. Its like studio recording.. we weren't able to believe ourselves that quality can be so good... btw, I am talking abt recording quality not the content of the recording :) !!
Any way, I will upload the photos and video-audio recordings soon...
So now.. show is over.. relaxed from the tiring music practices.. but now my evenings have become so empty.. Feels bad... time to kick off something new !!
These days I have become <PuLa> "Naraayan" </PuLa>.. Handy man.. for my music group !!
We have music show on 23rd June for marathi community, here in SD. We are performing 13 to 17 songs. So these days, music practices are part of daily life.. really hectic schedule.. I am playing Tabla in 5 songs and flute in one. We have couple of really good percussionist in our group, so I am just assisting them with my Tabla.
Now, here is the interesting part..
Last week, the group asked me to play "Bongo" for "MungaLaa".. Now I never played Bongo before.. but song is really "empty", so to add some fillers, I am required to play Bongo.
Again, in yesterday's practice, they asked me to play "Ghungaru" in two folk songs, just to add some more fillers in the song.
In today's practice, our keyboardist asked to me to assist him on the keyboard for "Crazy Kiya Re".. and I was totally in a shock... means.. being Tabla player, playing new percussion instrument like "Bongo" is not a big deal.. playing "Ghungaru" is okay too... but playing "Keyboard" is not a joke.. hshhhh... I have played Harmonium before, but surely not a Keyboard.. so I was really skeptical, but "Crazy Kiya Re" song itself is not that difficult.. I picked it up quickly.. still needs plenty of practice on keyboard.. but still.. not doing bad !! Infact, we have only one keyboardist in the group and he has to play in all the songs.. so again.. I am "required" to help him :) !!
Any way, so now I am playing "Tabla", "Flute", "Bongo", "Ghungaru" and "Keyboard" for this show... so any thing else? lets see if our "Guitarist", "Drummer" or "Singers" need any help too...
..Surely.. I am "Narayan" of my music group :) !!!
I talked with Pandit Ravi Shankar today... It wasn't just "meeting" him, but "talking" with him. Uptill now, I have seen some great Indian classical musicians really closely.. like Zakir, Rashid, Bhimsenji, Jasaraj, Hariprasad and Shivkumar.. I have seen them face to face, I have touched their feet.. but I never got a chance to talk with them. But this time, for Ravi Shankar, I made it.. I talked with him.. Hurraaay !!!
Ravi Shankar himself and Anushka were playing in SD after a long time. SD is their home town, thus I have seen Ravi Shankar multiple times at different concerts. Since last one year, he had some shoulder injury so wasn't able to perform, but now he has started his musical journey again.
So me and my music group buddy went for the concert. When concert was over I thought abt meeting Panditji... My friend initially thought that "I am crazy" :), but when I told him how I have seen Hariprasad, Bhimsen, Shivkumar in pune.. face to face.. he also got enthu...
There were almost 100 people waiting outside greenroom... We weren't on the guest list either.. Only family and friends were allowed to visit.. I was the "back-stage crasher".. as usual.. so obviously we were at the tail end..
..but at last.. the moment appeared.. When we entered the greenroom, I saw Anushka talking with her american friends, but my eyes were looking for Panditji .. and there he was.. sitting on a sofa, talking with a american couple... Panditji looked at me.. and I guess he got little bit confused... probably he was thinking "who the hell is this young fat guy".. so he invited me and asked my name... I touched his feet and told abt myself.. immediately he identified me as "Marathi".. asked me about my liking towards music.. details abt my tabla.. Gharana... how long I have been playing.. What I am doing in San diego.. and at the end.. he said "surely meet me again"... hshhhhh.. while leaving the green room, I said hello to Anushka also !!
When my friend was introducing himself.. I was observing Panditji... nobody can believe that he is 87 years old.. His age is hard to determine from his cheerful face. He still has his legendary aura with him.. he was cheerful, bubbly and in an excited mood.. distinctive similarity with Pt Bhimsen ji.. I guess age or physical strength is never the issue with these legends. I am sure that its damn difficult for a 87 year old person to move his fingers on the sitar as smoothly as his young blood... but his brain and heart surely puts him in trance, inspires his fingers to move and his complex compositions comes to reality on sitar.. When you listen to him, you definitely get the feeling of a great composer, artist.. a complete musician... a legend..
Whenever these legends perform on stage, I always think that "what must be going in his mind.. what is he thinking abt while playing?" "Would he be worried abt his fingers not moving as fast as before".. or "he just enjoys the music and goes in trance".. you never know...
Any way, felt good after meeting & talking with him... a life time moment to cherish.. Infact my friend went crazy after meeting Ravi Shankar.. it was first time in his life he was visiting a great musician so closely and it turned out to be a chance to "talk" with him !!
In the concert, Anushka played "Puriya Dhanashri".. it was "so-so"... somewhat noisy :).. her "Kirwani" was good though... Infact a fellow flute artist "Ravi Kulur" was strikingly noticeable.. and finally Panditji rendered a marvelous raga "Jan-Samohini"..
..I hope I will get a chance to listen to him again...
