Music of all Moods

Technology is a great catalyst in art and culture. It's not that I realized this only now. I knew it and have been a great proponent of this since long. I enter into long debates with people of the previous generation that science and technology indeed have helped to propagate and enhance music. I rediscovered the same just yesterday.

I never knew that MS Windows Media Player meticulously kept a track of the all the songs that I download and play in it. Accidentally I bumped on the history of the songs that I have heard in the past one year. I generally download or make a copy of only those songs which I like very much and want to play a number of times in my laptop. So the history of all such songs should simple mean a collection of all songs that I loved and listened innumerable times in the last one year. When I browsed through the list I was stunned to find the diversity of the styles, genres, age and languages of the songs or the music. I couldn't recall when and where I'd heard many of the English songs. But when I again heard all those today I did find out that they are indeed very unique songs and I'd like them anyway wherever I'd hear. Another important thing that showed up through this collection is the various moods that I'd have had while I listened them. I rarely listen to rock or hip-hop but still the list contains quite a few good rock numbers. Off course I've my diet of Hindi classics, Western Classical pieces, Hemanta, Salil Chowdhury, Lata, Gulzar, R D Burman, Khaiyyam, Shreya Ghoshal & Sunidhi Chauhan. I thought it's worth listing some of the songs from the collection (Most of the international albums are available in youtube and you can find about the artistes and the albums in wiki):

• Jazz Piano number "OAM Blues" by Aaron Goldber from the 2006 album "Worlds"
• Jazz numbers Despertar & Amanda from the album "Quiet Songs" by the Aisha Duo - some awesome percussions & cello
• The winner of Grammy in Contemporary World Music category, the 2001 album "Djin Djin" (refers to the sound of a bell in Africa that greets each new day) by Angélique Kidjo, a Grammy Award-winning Beninoise singer-songwriter, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos
• The number "Connections are more dangerous than lies" from the 2007 album "Welcome the Night" by the pop punk band "The Ataris"
• "Get your head straight" from the 2007 album "Boys not Out" by the rock band of the same name
• "Lemonade" from the 2007 album "What a Heart is beating for" by the contemporary Christian and folk musician Chris Rice
• Beethoven's Symphony No 7, all 4 movements
• Beethoven's Symphony no 3, all 4 movements
• Bach's Masses in B minor
• Mozart's Symphony No 9, all 4 movements
• Mozart's 1st composition (K1) at the age of 4
• Dvorak's Symphony No 9, all 4 movements
• Few Western Classical instrumental in guitar and piano
• "Sam's Song" from 2006 album "Talk is Cheap" by the 22 year old Dave Melillo - a mellow blend of acoustic guitar driven acoustic rock and piano accented power pop
• Tagore's poem "Pran", adapted from the poem "Stream of Life" from Gitanjali, set to tune by American composer Garry Schyman for Matt Harding's Dancing 2008 video
• 2 songs from the 1995 album "Muso Ko" by West African singer and musician Habib Koite & Bamada
• "Don't Give up on me" from the 2006 chartbuster album Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! by the power pop band Hellogoodbye
• "Ava Adele" from 2007 album "This is it" by country singer Jack Ingram
• "We Are One" from 22 year old Kelly Sweet's debut album of the same name in 2007 - classical and jazz music style
• 2005 album "Duos II" by Brazilian jazz singer and composer Luciana Souza
• 2007 album "Nu Monda" by the Capeverdan singer Tcheka
• August from "Water's Edge" by the contemporary American composer Tim Janis
• "I'm gonna change everything that holds memory of you" by Jim Reeves - my favourite English singer
• Harry Belafonte's Jamaica Farewell - any introduction needed for this song?
• Rehman's "Sun Ri Sakhi", "Dil Hai Chotasa" (Roja, original and my performance on violin), "Aye Hairat-eAshiqie" (Guru), "Tu Hi Re" (Bombay), "Barso Re" (Guru)
• Hemanta's "Ferano Jabe Aar", "Poth Harabo Bolei Ebar", "Jhorer Kache Rekhe Gelam", "Shono Kono Ek Din", "Dhitang Dhitang Bole"
• Few of Khaiyyam's all time memorable ghazals from Umrao Jaan, Baazar, Akhri Khat, Kabhi Kabhi and others
• Few of Gulzar-RD Burman's compositions like "Aanewala Pal", "O Majhi Re", "Is Mod Se Jatein Hain", "Musafir Hoon Yaroon" and others
• Few of Geeta Dutt's last songs ("Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota", "Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho Meri Jaan", "Koi Chupke Se Aake) - all written by Gulzar way back in early seventies, some of Gulzar's earliest lyrics - wonderful pathos in the voice that ceased to emanate music soon after the songs were made
• Some of Shreya Ghoshal's best: Antaheen (2010 National Award winning "Pherari Mon"), Piu Bole (Parinita), Bairi Piya (Devdas), Urzu Dur Kut (Yahaan), Pal Pal (Lage Raho Munnabhai) etc
• Some of Sunidhi Chauhan's unusual songs like "Mere Zindagi Mein Aaye Ho", "Mere Sang", "Yeh Aaj Kya Ho Gaya", "Ye Lamha" etc
• Ajeeb Dastan: Lata's original & my performance in 2009
• Few of my other performances like "Na Jaane Kyun", a few Rabindra Sangeet like "Fule Fule", "Sokhi Bhabona Kahare Kohe", "Amar Nishitho Rater Badol Dhara" and others
• Few of Lopamudra and Antara Chowdhury's live recordings from their last year's performances at the Durga Puja organized by Sarathi in Bangalore
• Few of Suman's new age Bengali songs like "Tomake Chai" & "Sohosa Ele KI", both from our (Kohal) last year's (2009) performance in Koramangala, Bangalore during Durga Puja

There were a total of around 200 songs out of which I could fit around 150 into one CD. When I was listening to the CD I was really amazed to find that though the songs were chosen at random across a year still they do reflect my choice, my moods, my emotions and many things about me. The thread that might be connecting each of these discreet pieces of music is a theme of underlying love - love for human, love for the nature, love for culture and tradition, love for everything. Most of the Hindi songs are actually some of the best love songs ever made in recent times in India. The Tagore songs are also songs of love or life - anyway both are same, isn't it? The Western Classical pieces can't evoke anything other than love and peace and tranquility and serenity. The other contemporary western music are from various parts of the world - from the Africas to Brazil to Native Americans (Dvorak's symphony is said to be inspired by the music of the native Americans). I don't see anything else than love in all these various forms of world music. If I've to present anything to anyone on the Valentine's Day I can choose most of these songs. Perhaps that's the essence of the songs that I've randomly listened to over the last one year and would listen to years to come.

IIT F5

You all would accept that one of the most important things to make our country a superpower of the future is to make our children literate, aware and enlightened. Not all children are lucky enough to go to schools and read books and open up their minds. Today's children are the power of future. Let's all participate in enkindling the spark in today's children and sow the seeds of tomorrow's power.

The IIT alumni associations have joined hands with Hippocampus to raise some funds for their endeavour in inspiring the disadvantaged children of India to read books. For this purpose they have organized a musical show by the 11th Hour Band on 30th January, 2010 at the Taj Residency, 7pm onwards. All the proceeds from this show would go towards aiding Hippocampus.

Passes for this event can be purchased at this link. Please come forward and participate in making our country a nation with all enlightened children.

Please pass this on to all your friends and colleagues.

Bonjour India Festivals: Bangalore

http://paniit-band.blogspot.com/2009/12/bonjour-india-festivals.html

Best Thing for a Father on Father's Day & World Music Day - 21st June, 2009

Today was Father's Day and also World Music Day. Many of us are parent and all of us love music. I won't find a more apt moment than today to share this piece of music.

All of us would perhaps like our kids to learn some music. The first time our kids perform at school, the first time they learn something to sing or play, the first time they win any music competition at school - all these are among the most memorable days for us. To capture these moments we take camcorders and cameras with us, upload the recordings in youtube for their grandparents to watch and we keep on telling everyone about them. I just wonder, how this father called Leopold would have felt when his 5-6 years old kid composed this piece of music.

Well, no points for guessing the kid - I haven't heard of any kind other than Mozart to compose at such young age.

I just came across the sound track and notation, recently in web, of this piece, accepted widely as Mozart's first composition. It's enumerated as K.1 and called 'Minuet for Harpsichord'. It was recovered from his elder sister's notebook. His sister Nannerl, then 10/11 years old wrote it down in her notebook when her little borther suddenly started playing something on piano which they were not taught by their father. Though very rarely this piece features in Mozart's best compositions, but for any music loving parent, there can't be a better composition than this one. It would be the dream for any father to have a prodigal child like who can compose such good music at an age of 6. Also there's something in this composition which any kid would like. My 6 years old kid Hrishav, who has just started learning western classical music in keyboards, has been listening to it every now and then ever since I've downloaded it. After all who else, than a kid himself, would know better what kids love?

Happy Father's Day to the fathers and Happy World Music Day to all.

Jai Ho

Gulzarism is again at it's best. Even before the Oscar, the song "Jai Ho", though not at the top of the chart busters, was a trend setter in its own way. Gulzar has always brought out new dimensions in words of a song. The poetry in his song is often sublime - the hard reality evaporates into a world of fantasy created by his mesmerizing words. He chooses the words in such a way that they were never heard of exactly in that form ever before. The same simple and mundane words when arranged in the Gulzar-way creates an aura and ambiance that transcends the literal meanings of the individual words. 

Many have criticized Gulzar for using expressions like "humne dekhi hai in aankhon ki mahekti hui khusboo" - which translates to "I've seen the emanating fragrance of her eyes". Some people have found this quite weird and an extreme exploitation of poetic license. Let's consider another lyrics written by someone else. It goes like this - "My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration". 'Adornments of song' might sound as weird as the 'fragrance of eyes'. Let me remind that the 'adornments of song' is actually a song from Gitanjali written by Tagore. It's true that Tagore himself could not bring out the magic of his original Bengali words in English. But whatever he could bring out was indeed enough to mesmerize the world with something which I would call 'fantasy of words'. I believe that's a part of any good piece of poetry. 

If the words speak the same language as when I speak them, then what's the difference between me and a poet? There are so many other nuances that I fail to bring out through the same words when spoken casually by me. A poet or a novelist is actually a 'Kathaa Shilpi', a word-artist. When I use a canvas and a brush I can't paint the first rays of a morning Sun. But an artist does it so easily with the same brush and the same canvas. Gulzar is not a simple poet, but a 'Kathaa Shilpi'. If I'm allowed, I'd even take the liberty to call him 'Labzon ka Saudawi' - stealing from his own expression 'rang roop ka saudawi'. Ever since I started understanding the lyrics of Gulzar properly I felt that he plays with words in a very similar way as Tagore did in Bengali. I've learnt that Gulzar was highly influenced by Tagore's and other Bengali writings and it might not be just a coincidence that I find traces of Tagore in Gulzar in many places.

The biggest asset of Gulzar is the simplicity with which he sees everything. We often fail to be so simplistic and hence we have a much complex perception of a simple thing. Let's take the example of his latest song 'Jai Ho', making waves world-wide as the first Indian song to win an Oscar. The omnipresent essence of the entire movie is caught in just two words - Jai Ho. Perhaps the popularity of the movie is due to the fact that it speaks of the immense optimism, the hope against all hopes, the aspirations of a slum dog and finally the victory against all odds - everything captured just in two simple words - Jai Ho. It speaks of the life of someone who spends night on foot paths under the sky, someone who has to stay in filth and darkness. But in spite of whatever life has in store for him, he is always happy, and most importantly he never forgets to dream. So brilliantly Gulzar has expressed this in just a few lines - C'mon my life, come under the canopy - the canopy of the blue sky ornamented with stars. In bits and pieces I've spent my life under this sky, I've danced on the coal, I blew off the slumber from my eyes and counted the stars with my fingers till I burnt them. C'mon, drink this night - it's honey, it's like a heart that can endure anything. 

A very favorite expression of mine is 'gin gin taare maine ungli jwalaawi hai'. If I've to count million stars by tapping my finger million times I'd surely hurt my fingers.... Instead of saying 'I've counted million stars', he has used a very simple expression - that's what is Gulzar all about - simple things said in simple way. But then, in Tagore's words, simple things are not that simple to say!!

Here is the complete lyrics of Jai Ho and the English translation.

Credit: http://inkspillz.blogspot.com/2009/01/slumdog-millionaire-jai-ho-lyrics.html

Jai Ho!

aajaa aajaa jind shaamiyaane ke taley

aajaa zaari-waale neele aasmaane ke taley

Jai Ho! 

ratti ratti sachchi maine jaan gawayi hai

nach nach koylon pe raat bitaayi hai

aankhiyon ki neend maine phoonkon se udaa di

gin gin taarey maine ungli jwalaayi hai

aajaa aajaa jind shaamiyaane ke taley

aajaa zari-waale neele aasmaane ke taley

Baila! Baila!
(Dance! Dance!)

Ahora conmigo, tu baila para hoy
(Now with me, you dance for today)

Por nuestro dia de movidas,
(For our day of moves,)

los problemas los que sean
(whatever problems may be)

Salud!
(Cheers!)

Baila! Baila!
(Dance! Dance!)

Jai Ho!

chakh le, haan chakh le, yeh raat shahed hai

chakh le, haan rakh le, dil hai, dil aakhri hadd hai!!

kaalaa kaalaa kaajal tera koi kaala jaadu hai na?

aajaa aajaa jind shaamiyaane ke taley

aajaa zari-waale neele aasmaane ke taley

Jai Ho! 

kab se haan kab se jo lab pe ruki hai

keh de, keh de, haan keh dea ab aankh jhuki hai

aisi aisi roshan aankhein roshan dono heerey hain kya?

aajaa aajaa jind shaamiyaane ke taley

aaja zari-waale neele aasmaane ke taley

Jai Ho! 

Let victory come.... Jai Ho

Come, come my Life, under the canopy,

Come under the blue brocade sky!

Really, iota by iota, I have spent my life,

I’ve passed this night dancing on coals,

I blew away the sleep that was in my eyes,

I counted the stars till my finger burned.

Come, come my Life, under the canopy

Come under the blue brocade sky!

Taste it, taste it, this night is honey -

Taste it, and keep it - it’s a heart, that's the final limit.

You dark black kohl - it’s some black magic, isn’t it?

Come, come my Life, under the canopy

Come under the blue brocade sky!

For how long, how very long it’s been on your lips?

Say it, now say it, the eye is downcast -

Such bright eyes, are they two bright dimaonds?

Come, come my Life, under the canopy

Come under the blue brocade sky!

Rahman's attempt in creating Symphony for Indian Music

I don't know how many of you have listened to the music of the recent movie Yuvaraj, composed by Rahman. Though the movie didn't create much of a mark, neither did the songs become chart busters. But there's indeed some thing very special about the songs composed by Rahman. I feel this is the first time that a proper Western Classical Symphonic orchestration, arangement and composition has been used in Hindi movie.

Use of Western Classical Music is quite insignificant even in the Hollywood movies or Western music albums. I feel in Hollywood it is restricted mainly to the background scores or opera based songs in period movies. But quite interstingly Bollywood has quite a few instances of using Western Classical music - works of various composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi etc in songs. Perhaps the extensive use of songs in Indian movies provide more scope to incorporate Western Classical Music than Hollywood. Even then, the proper use of Symphonic orchestra and symphonic style of compositions in Hindi movies was perhaps never attempted before Rahman.

I should acknowledge that there have been some significant efforts in the past in bringing Western Classical Music in mainstream Indian music by people like Anada Shankar (son of legendary dancer Uday Shankar and nephew of Ravi Shankar and perhaps the first Indian to attempt fusion music successfully) and Ilyaraja (the first Indian to compose for Philharmonic Orchestra London), but still Western Classical Music has always been a niche and elite thing, not quite within the reach of the mass. Over the years the Indian Classical Music has been able to penetrate more into mass listeners, to a great extent due to movies using various forms of classical and semi classical music in songs and also due to the glamour and aura created by many leading performers like Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Amzad Ali Khan, Zakir Hussain, L Subramaniam - to name a few - all of whom have also created a significant market for Eastern Classical Music in the West. In this context, Rahman's effort is really commendable. In India movies play a great role in popularizing any form of music. I'm sure the present popularity of Ghazal, Sufi music or folk forms like Bhangra won't have been possible without significant patronage from movies.

Bollywood has always attracted the best of the talents from all over India. This has created a very cosmopolitan and enriched form of popular music. Many regional flavors amalgamated into a pan Indian form. In the earlier days Bollyood was mainly driven by people from Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra thus bringing in rich elements of literature, culture, folk, devotional, traditional, classical and semi-classical forms of music from all these regions into Bollywood. During the earliest phase of Hindi movie production in Calcutta in 30-40s under New Theatres, Bombay Talkies' Devika Rani, Himanshu Rai, Ashok Kumar, Filmistan's Shashadhar Mukherjee and music composers like Anil Biswas, Timir Baran, Pankaj Mallik and K C Dey, Rabindranath Tagore was still alive and his influence in any form or art and culture was really unavoidable. Interestingly till date the format of any movie song in any language in India still follows the format of a Rabindra Sangeet with the duration of 3-4 minutes and consisting of sections like Mukhra, Antara and Sanchari. Rabindra Sangeet itself has many ingredients of an Opera. The later Bengali composers like Salil Chowdhury, S D Burman, Hemant Kumar also used folk elements of Bengal and Assam like Baul, Bhatiyali, Kirtan and Bihu widely in Hindi movies. The trio Raj Kapoor-Dilip Kumar-Dev Anand along with composers like O P Nayyar, Roshan, Madan Mohan, Khayyam, Shankar (of Shankar Jaikishan duo) and above all the most famous singer of the time Mohd. Rafi brought in Punjabi elements in music and movies. C Ramachandra and off course the Mangeshkar sisters Lata and Asha, with genes deeply rooted in Marathi Natya Sangeet brought another dimension to Hindi movies. Naushad brought elements of Uttar Pradesh. Apart from the regional flavors in Bollywwod the undercurrent of classical and semi classical music was also quite predominant because most of the composers had deep roots in Indian Classical Music. But throughout the Western Classical Music was always little ignored in Bollywood. Even the usage of Western Classical instruments like Cello and Viola reduced considerably after the 60's. Who can forget the Cello in "Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam" and "Woh Shaam Kuchh Ajeeb Thi"? That's why Rahman's experiment in Yuvaraj is really a great thing for Indian Music.

Just listen to the song "Dil Ka Rishta" from Yuvaraj. Apart from the incredible background score with pure symphonic or philharmonic style, there's also a fast Jhala style fusion of vocals, rendered by Rahman himself, and the orchestra. Though Rahman seems to go off tune at times, still the effect is quite good. Rahman has recently started the KK Symphony Orchestra, the first full fledged philharmonic orchestra in India. It's really a great effort to bring Western Classical Music to India in a big and far reaching way.

Also listen to the other song "Tu Muskura" from Yuvaraj. The female portion, sung by Alka Yagnik, is very much like a vocal rendition of a symphony. I personally liked the music, more because of the effort that Rahman is putting in creating a new style in our music. I hope that he can really popularize styles of Western Classical Music for Indian mass listeners.

Rahman has always brought new styles in any music he has composed be it the highly classical "Hai Rama Yeh Kya Hua" from Rangeela and "Tu Hi Re" from Bombay or the peppy "Pappu Can't Dance Saala" from Jane Tu Ya Jane Na and "Humma Humma" from Bombay. He brought a totally different dimension in Sufi and Qawal styles when he composed "Haji Ali" for Fizaa or "Khwaja Mere Khwaja" for Jodha Akbar. He even used Qawal style of composition for "Mehendi Hai Rachne Waali" in Zubeidaa in the backdrop of a Royal Rajasthani Hindu Marriage or the "Tere Bina" number in Guru in the background during potrayal of a very important phase of life of a Guajarati couple. He has elevated an Islamic devotional form of music to a level which was never heard of. Not for a moment did these Qawal numbers seem to be misfit in a totally different type of sequence in the movies. His use of folk elements of Bengal in "Kabhi Neem Neem" in Yuva, typical Central Indian village style "Mitwa" in Lagaan and off course the unforgettable Bhangra style "Rang De Basanti" in Rang De Basanti sung by Daler Mehendi and himself are just incredible. He has the capability to put his own unique stamp in whatever he composes and at the end of the day reach to the mass. Almost all his compositions are chart busters. One of his first compositions, "Dil Hai Chhota Sa" from Roja is my Rahman's favorite. I still can't forget my excitement and enthralment when I first heard the song in 1992. It has a totaly fresh set of sounds which created Rahman's signature for ever.

In this context it might be interesting to know about K M Music Conservatory founded by Rahman with a mission to provide students with a strong artistic, intellectual, and technical foundation for pursuing professional careers in music which will be facilitated by creating a learning environment that will provide the highest order of education in all major aspects of music and music technology, offer programs/courses that are contemporarily designed and foster a cultural exchange between students from different parts of the world.

Rahman Favorites