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Get on your boots, U2′s latest video!!
Get on your boot’s is the lead single from U2′s new album “No Line on the Horizon”. The video is co-directed by Alex Courtes, who previously co-directed the music videos for “Vertigo” and “City of Blinding Lights”
Sivamani’s Journey Through Life – Mahaleela!!
This review is of an album that released a couple of months back. The reason I write this review despite the above fact is that I don’t want any music follower to have missed out this album. I have not been a big fan of Sivamani’s previous album with James Asher, Drums on Fire, mainly because it was a predominantly percussion-oriented album with pretty much nothing else. Although it excellently showcased Sivamani’s mastery over the field, I found it lacking in diversity. However Mahaleela has completely floored me, as it has a lot more elements than just percussion. The list of people who have teamed up with Sivamani for this album, which includes almost all of his fusion buddies from India and some from outside, is itself more than enough to give the listener a pretty good idea of what to expect. Enough intro I suppose. Here goes the review.
Dancing on the Moon
The track starts off with a rendition of Sarva Mangala Mangalye by the Bosnian singer Alma Ferovic. Alma Ferovic is a singer/lyricist who has been closely associated with A R Rahman, singing his theme for the Chennai-based NGO Banyan and working with him on his LoTR soundtrack. You might want to visit her myspace page and I assure guys that you won’t be disappointed! Alma has got excellent looks to match her singing skills!Along with Alma this song sees Tanvi with supporting vocals, A Premkumar doing the rhythm programming and of course Sivamani on the percussions.
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Kriya
This song has Louiz Banks on the keys supported by Steven(I wonder if this is the keyboard prodigy from Kerala, Stephen Devassy), Sitar by Niladri Kumar and Naveen on flute. The Sitar is evidently an electric one and could easily pass off for an electric guitar in many places. A lounge/spiritual song a la Prem Joshua, this song is a good choice if you are looking for a meditative sort of ambience.
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Abbaji
Dedicated to all the masters of percussion, this song has Zakir Hussain and Sivamani engaging in a bout of Konnakol. The start of the track I believe is a pre-recorded Konnakol session by the late Tabla maestro Ustad Allah Rakha, as he is also seen in the credits list. The song sees Naveen at his best on the flute, excellently complementing the vocals. Krishna Chetan on the keyboard. The raga I believe is Abheri or Shuddha Dhanyasi, though I could be wrong.
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Infinity
This lullaby starts with a discourse by Osho. The Tamil folk rendition by Pandaram Selvam has been brilliant, and the blending of the Sarangi by Liyakath Ali Khan in to this South Indian-ish song has been simply superb! Wonder why the regular Sarangi maestro, Ustad Sultan Khan was not chosen for this one, but that by no means takes any credit off Liyakath Ali Khan who has been astounding in the song. The backing vocals by Subhangi Bose and Kavitha and Group also deserve a mention at this point.
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Santushti
This is the only pure-percussion track in the entire album and I must say Sivamani makes the most of the opportunity, bringing in an entire array of percussion instruments into play starting from drumming on water to Chendamelam from Kerala to Japanese taiko drums. The taiko drum section in the end however resembles the taiko drum sequence in Dacoit Duel by A R Rahman in the Mandarin movie Warriors of Heaven and Earth.
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Basin Bridge
To hear Mandolin Srinivas in action is always a very pleasant experience and it is no difference in this song either. Add to that some splendid percussion and this song becomes a mesmerizing experience. The Kuthu style Tamil folk beats are something Sivamani invariably includes in all of his performances, and in this album he chooses to put them at the end of this song. The English vocals by Sonia however could have been done without.
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Mother’s Land
Naveen in action yet again, this time alongside the next two veterans, R Parthasarathy on Veena and Vikku Vinayakram on Ghatam. The flute bit could be in raga Kanada or Darbari Kanada. The folksy rendition by Rangbir has a thottam song feel to it. On the whole the song could easily pass of for a Tamil or a Malayalam movie song!
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Vasi Vasi
Shankar Mahadevan joins the party with this song, and what a song indeed! Shankar eases through the high notes with his characteristic improvisations, accompanied by Nomojin. One can hear percussion resembling kitchen utensils in between. The incorporation of a bagpipe-like sound sequence in between has been beautiful.
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S M Anandan
A tribute to Sivamani’s father, this song is a bit complex and with dark overtones. The song starts with song aggressive Kanjira by Selvaganesh Vinayakram, and then goes through a rollercoaster ride of a lot of other percussion instruments. Although Janette Harris is credited to the usage of saxophone in this song, I couldn’t recognize a sax sound anywhere. Wonder if the kombu sound or shell sound heard in between is a prepared usage of the sax.
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Aadhaar
Niladri Kumar returns to deliver a classical piece on the Sitar, and proves again why he is one of the most respected sitarists in India today. The raga seems to be Hamsaanandi.
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Jam Packed
This song sees a duel of sorts between Hariharan, who starts with a ghazal, and Raja and Tala on the sax. The song is the best song in the pack from the fusion point of view, touching on Hindustani, Carnatic and Jazz. Zakir Hussain is on tabla and Harmith on the keyboard, apart from Sivamani as usual on drums and percussion.
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Thank You
Sivamani chooses to thank all the people who made a difference to his life and those who worked on this album, through a song, thus making up the 12th track of the album. This one has Sivamani going through his vote-of-thanks while Blaaze raps on in the background. Towards the end of the song there is also some good Carnatic sax by Janardhanan.
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What a way to come out with a debut solo album. Listening to this album, one wonders what Sivamani the composer was doing all this while! If you are a world/fusion music follower, then this soundtrack ought to be lying in your CD rack.
..and its a triple whammy for India at the Oscars!!!
It was a golden day for India at the Oscars, with A R Rahman picking up not one but two Oscars, the Best Original Score and the Best Song, both for his work in Slumdog Millionaire. This also makes Rahman the first Indian to bag two Oscars. The third Oscar came in the Sound Mixing category with Resul Pookutty sharing the honours with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke. Though only in three categories, technically India has won four Oscars, as the veteran lyricist Gulzar also won the Oscar alongside Rahman for the Best Song for the lyrics of the song Jai Ho which won the Best Song. Slumdog Millionaire incidentally won five other Oscars including Best Direction and Best Picture, taking the totally tally to eight. Jai Ho according to Rahman in an interview, is a dedication to Satyameva Jayate, the national motto of India. Indians can be proud that the song glorifying the national motto won the Oscar for the Best Song.
Rahman receiving the Oscar for Best Original Score
Rahman receiving the Oscar for Best Song.
Rahman on the Thank You Cam after receiving the two Oscars
Resul Pookutty along with Tapp and Pryke on the Thank You Cam after receiving the award.
Will he or won’t he?
A. R. Rahman has created history, is creating history and will continue to do so, there is no doubt about that! But tonight, if Murphy’s law doesn’t hold good for the Oscar ceremony, the Mozart of Madras will walk away with at least one of of those golden statuettes. And that will herald a new era in the history of Indian film music. Indian “filmi” music is several decades old and never before it has garnered so much international attention. And the fact that it has happened through A.R. Rahman is no mere coincidence as for years he has symbolized excellence, innovation and originality.
Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire was chosen by A.R. Rahman over Ashutosh Gowariker’s new movie, “What’s your rashee?” I am not sure, if that was a gamble, but still the move paid off. Recognitions are not new for A.R. Rahman but this one going by the interest it can generate is huge, historic. With the rumors of the existence of a leaked Oscar winners list without Rahman’s name, lets keep our fingers crossed and wish that tonight at least one of those golden men with the dagger will find a new home in Madras.
Aa Dekhen Zara – Music Review
Although Pritam is widely criticized for his plagiaristic ventures, one has to admit that he has good taste even when it comes to lifting! Unlike Anu Malik, this man lifts some of the most exotic songs from around the world and most of those lifted tunes have become big time chartbusters. Though I do not approve of plagiarism, I do admire Pritam for the wide range of world music that he listens to, being a world music aficionado myself. His sense of instrumentation has also been quite impressive. And hence it was with great hopes that I started off with the playlist of the movie Aa Dekhen Zara, composed by Pritam and Gourav Dasgupta. And here is what I found.
Mohabbat Aapse
A brilliant number from Pritam, and easily the best song in the soundtrack. The song starts with a haunting melody on the flute and progresses towards an excellent rendition by Akriti Kakkar. This female has been impressive right from her first big hit that was the title song of Johnny Gaddar. The instrumentation on the whole has been spot on. However if you listen to this track first and then build up your expectations about the rest of the album, you are in for a big letdown coz the other songs hardly match up to this standard.
Gazab
Gazab is the second and last song by Pritam in this album, and is just the regular item number stuff, sung by the regular item number girl, Sunidhi Chauhan, and Shaan. Barring one or two sections that are worth notice, the song as such is rather uninteresting. Nevertheless this song is boundto get some feet tapping in parties. Wonder why the lyricist Irshad Kamil chose to include the lines from the legendary 1961 hit Do Hanson Ka Joda (Gazab Bhayo Rama Zulam Bhayo Re) of the movie Ganga Jamuna in this song. The tune of that section is also quite similar to the 1961 version, just a slight tweaking of a couple of notes. One good thing that can be said about this song is that it is way better than its remix that is done by DJ Sanj!! He has only succeeded in including a lot of unnecessary instrumentation adding to the noise factor of the song.
Aa Dekhen Zara
Aa Dekhen Zara sees Neil Nitin Mukesh take up the mantle of his father and grandfather, and I must say he has done a decent job of it. But barring this fact, there is nothing very remarkable about the song. The song doesn’t come anywhere near the 1981 classic by R D Burman. At many places it seemed like the actual song was being played in the background as a voice that sounded like Kishore Kumar’s was discernible apart from Neil’s voice. The dialogues by Sunaina in the second interlude sounded rather irritating. On the whole a safely avoidable song. The composer Gourav Dasgupta has done a more creative job with the lounge mix which is sung by Dibyendu Mukherjee and Shweta Vijay. However, a lounge version is not something that you would associate with a song like Aa Dekhen Zara which has for years been perceived as a high energy song. Hence, to cut a long story short, this song too disappoints.
Rock the Party
This is the best work of Gourav in this album, though that is not to say this is an exceptional song. Sunidhi delivers the song in style accompanied by Shweta Vijay. This song does remind one of many other disco songs in the past (It’s the Time to Disco for one), but the instrumentation in this song and the lounge version of Aa Dekhen Zara do say that Gourav Dasgupta is not without talent. The wailing at the start of the song and the synthesized voice in the second interlude could have been avoided.
Power
Dibyendu sounds better singing the rock-ish Power than the previous one. But he could have done better without the attempted growls in between. The album hits rock bottom with this song and I didn’t feel in the mood to listen to the Club mix as I assumed it couldn’t have been much better than its original.
To sum up, when compared with the soundtrack of Neil Nitin Mukesh’s previous outing that was Johnny Gaddaar, this album falls way below expectations, considering the fact that this movie also falls under the same genre. Hope the movie at least doesn’t follow suit.
Instruments of the World – The Shakti Guitar
The name John McLaughlin needs no introduction to music followers we believe, especially jazz and fusion followers. In case he does, a pretty detailed one shall be given in our Gods of Guitar section soon enough and we don’t want to kill the suspense right away! This article would rather deal with an instrument made specially to his specifications, an experimental guitar which he christened the Shakti Guitar.
The idea for the Shakti Guitar struck McLaughlin early 1971 after he started learning Veena, a South-Indian stringed musical instrument, under Dr. S. Ramanathan, then a teacher of South Indian music at the University of Connecticut. When McLaughlin formed the fusion band Shakti with Zakir Hussain, L. Shankar and Vikku Vinayakram, he started looking for a Veena-like articulation in his guitar which led him to Abraham Wechter, a consulting luthier for Gibson guitars. In collaboration with the Gibson R&D team and helped by the ideas from the Sarod(a North-Indian stringed musical instrument) maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, McLaughlin took his first Shakti guitar to stage for the Shakti concerts in the 1975-1976 timeframe.
Coming to what a Shakti guitar is all about, it mainly differs from the normal guitar in terms of its 13 strings, made up of seven drone strings in addition to the standard six. The seven sympathetic drone strings are placed beneath and diagonal to the standard ones. Another innovation was the scalloped fingerboard, ie, the area between the frets were shaped concavely similar to that of a Veena. This ensured that the fingertips didn’t touch the fretboard while playing, and also enabled pushing down
The scalloped fingerboard of a Veena
and pulling of strings across frets. What resulted from all this was a radically new sound that had never before been heard from a guitar.
The Shakti guitar was used extensively by McLaughlin during his Shakti concerts till late 1970s. In 1978 however the band got broken due to various reasons, and that unfortunately was the last that was seen of the Shakti guitar. In 1997 when the band was reincarnated as Remember Shakti, he could not use the Shakti guitar as it had been previously lent to a musician and was returned in a totally unusable condition. McLaughlin instead went for Gibson Johnny Smith, a hollow bodied acoustic-electric guitar that he had been playing in between. The Shakti guitar was not seen to return even in the subsequent concerts of Remember Shakti, the last one being in 2007. Here is hoping that John McLaughlin decides to use the great instrument in the near future so that the current generation gets to see it live in action.
John McLaughlin playing his Shakti guitar at Shakti’s Montreal concert in 1976
Will Mia perform at the Oscars?
The British born rapper MIA is widely expected to perform her songs from Slumdog Millionaire, at the Oscars ceremony on coming Sunday. Earlier this month she had given birth to a baby boy shortly after her performance at the Grammy’s. Even though speculations are ripe, nothing is known for sure. The organizers are so keen on having her performance, that they have even gone to the extent of offering her a bed on the stage! Meanwhile Peter Gabriel, reportedly declined to perform his Oscar-nominated song “Down to Earth” from “Wall-E” owing to some difference of opinions with telecast producers.
Virtuosity, Thy Name Vai
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Winner of the Best Instrumental Rock Performance GRAMMY for “Zappa Plays Zappaâ€, which features him along with Napoleon Murphy Brock, at the 51st GRAMMY Awards this year, Steve Vai with his highly advanced technique and deep knowledge of music theory is rightly described as the Virtuoso in the world of guitar music.Â
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Vai has trained under Joe Satriani and at The Berklee College of music and acknowledges the influence of many guitarists including Jeff Beck and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Hired initially as a transcriber by Frank Zappa, joined the band and toured extensively with them. Vai has done acts with Alcatrazz(replacing Yngwee Malmsteen), G3, Billy Sheehan and Ozzy Osbourne and has been associated with David Lee Roth and Whitesnake.Â
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While many musicians fit easily into a single category, Steve Vai’s unique musical vision remains unclassifiable. After more than 20 years, Vai continues to use unbridled guitar virtuosity and soulful artistry to explore the spectrum of human emotion. Though Vai first stepped into the spotlight in 1980 as a guitarist in Frank Zappa’s band, his contribution to music came during his solo career starting with “Flex-Ableâ€, which set stage for “Passion and Warfareâ€, which expanded the lexicon of rock guitar. Ironically, two record labels dropped Vai while he recorded the breakthrough album!!
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Not only did Vai’s music have a huge on influence contemporary hard rock,including James “Munky” Shaffer of Korn, Mike Eizinger of Incubus and Tom Morello of Audioslave so did his guitar. In 1987, Vai helped guitar-maker Ibanez design the JEM, and then in 1989, the Universe 7-String guitar, which provided the low-end rumble many guitarists were craving. Vai continues to work with Ibanez, and literally put himself into a recent collaboration dubbed the JEM VAI2K DNA guitar – a limited-edition release of the JEM.
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Going forward, one of his major aspiration is to record the quintessential solo guitar record while he still has the dexterity to pull it off and then to become a composer. We can definitely look forward to some brilliant music from the Virtuoso.
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The “Bombay Boy” – Dhruv Ghanekar
Dhruv Ghanekar has released his debut solo album titled Distance. For those who must wondering who this guy is, here is a brief history of Dhruv.
Exposed to classical music from the age of 9, Dhruv had the fortune of receiving tutelage from the great Sarangi exponent Ustad Sultan Khan. His interest towards jazz led him to Berkley School of Music. In between he formed a rock band named Chakraview, and later teamed up with Ashutosh Pathak to form Smoke Studios, composing music for ads and alternative movies which included small-time movies like Bombay Boys, White Noise etc. He also released an album called Smoke with Ashutosh Phatak which received considerable airplay on MTV and Channel V. Dhruv then went solo into music composition and grabbed the spotlight when he composed some memorable music for the utterly forgettable movie, Drona. Dhruv also runs an establishment called Blue Frog, which is a studio, a performance club and a production house all rolled into one.
Dhruv’s command over both jazz music and classical music makes his fusion songs a delectable experience for aficionados. The same can be said about Distance, which is a world/fusion music disc with jazz and Indian classical overtones. The songs grab one’s attention through some slick guitar work. You can hear snippets of the tracks at his Myspace page. You can also listen to bits of other works of Dhruv on his second myspace page. It will be interesting to see how far this man traverses along the path of Indo-jazz fusion trodden by greats like John McLaughlin and Louiz Banks.
13B – The Lyrics
Director: Vikram Kumar
Music Composers: Shankar Mahadevan
Ehsaan Noorani
Loy Mendonsa
Background Music and Instrumental Theme:Â Indrajit “Tubby” Sharma
Parikshit “Parik” Sharma
Lyrics: Neelesh Misra
Music Label: Big Music
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