We at Music Aloud are proud to announce our very first anniversary! Today also happens to be the day when we touched the magic figure of 1 lac visitors. The entire Music Aloud team thanks our readers for their continued support in the form of comments, participation in our quizzes and article contributions.

On this day we would also like to set the tone for our future activities. While we have been slightly expansive in our articles the past year covering a wide range of topics, this year we shall be narrowing down the ambit, and focussing more on our vision – that of becoming a platform for emerging musicians who in spite of their talent don’t get the attention they deserve from the mainstream media. We shall be launching our interview series pretty soon. We welcome all contributions from our readers on this front. Kindly share with us the contact details of good musicians and bands that you might know of, who would like their music to be showcased on Music Aloud and we would only be too happy to oblige.

We look forward to hearing from you.

The Maestro has made us proud again. After last year’s success at the Academy awards, A. R. Rahman continued his international award winning streak by grabbing 2 Grammy awards for Slumdog Millionaire – One for best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture and another for best motion picture song (Jai Ho). Rahman beat biggies like Steve Jordan (Cadillac Records) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) to bag the award in the best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture category. In the Best Song category, Rahman’s rivals included Bruce Springsteen for his song The Wrestler, from the Oscar-nominated movie of the same name.

Other Indians who were in the run for the Grammy, Zakir Hussain (Best Classical Crossover Album) and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (Best Traditional World Music Album) unfortunately lost out. Two other people who shared the best motion picture song Grammy with Rahman were Gulzar and Tanvi Shah, who respectively penned the Hindi and Spanish lyrics for Jai Ho. This win takes Rahman into the elite league of the precious few Indians to have won the Grammy, some of the others being Pt. Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain,  Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Vikku Vinayakram, L Shankar and the half-Indian who is Norah Jones.  “This is insane, God is great again,” Rahman said as he accepted his second award before a VIP audience. Admitting that he had ‘never even dreamt about winning all these awards..’, Rahman thanked his well wishers for inspiring him to greater success. “And all my well wishers from the world who keep me going… Jai ho India…!”

The Star Screen Awards unfolded today with some unpleasant surprises, atleast in some of the music categories

The best Music Director Award went to A R Rahman for Delhi 6, a clear and distinctive winner by far, considering that Amit Trivedi for Dev D, which could have compared to Delhi 6 was not even nominated. However, Delhi 6 clearly deserved to win in 2009, with its wonderful lineup.

Kavitha Seth won the best Female Play back Singer for Iktara from Wake Up Sid, an amazing composition by Amit Trivedi, who won the best Back ground Score for Dev D, both  deserving winners.

Rahat  Fateh Ali Khan won the best Male Playback Singer for  Aaj Din Chaddeya from Love Aaj Kal, which was surprising. Neither was the song a winner nor was the rendition outstanding, notwithstanding Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s superior capabilities.

The best Lyricist award was another surprise. To start with, Gulzar was not even nominated for this award, for his work in Kaminey. Further, Irshad Kamil For Chor Bazari ( Love Aaj Kal), definitely did not deserve to win over the impactful lyrics by Piyush Mishra for Gulaal; Disappointing to say the least.

Our friend Anusha joins us today in wishing A R Rahman a very happy birthday!

I asked my friend when it was that he started recognising Rahman. He said that he started his search for him after he heard the violin interlude in ‘Veerapandi Kotaiyile’ from ‘Thiruda Thiruda’. For me it was ‘Minnale’ from ‘May Maadham’. For many others it must have been ‘Roja’ itself. Whatever the song, Rahman has grown a lot from thence. For music, it’s age no bar. That’s why, the Isai Puyal(“Musical Storm”) like his fans (or fanatics call him!!!) still celebrates music like a child. From National awards to Oscars and in the year 2010, the Grammies (All the best!!), ARR is going to decorate his house with every possible sculpture available in the world of music. He has made writers rephrase the following line: ‘His music has created waves throughout India’ to ‘His music has created floods throughout the world!!!’.With Slumdog millionaire, the whole world took note of him as a creator with a different essence of music. He is spreading music now amongst the talented with his KMMC (started last year).

On his birthday, we humbly wish this maestro and just want to say the words which have always been told to him in different forums, but are indeed true, ‘We are proud to say we live with you, to see you, to hear you!!!’

Happy birthday Rahman!!!!

The wait is finally looking to get over! One of the biggest albums that music fans down south have been looking forward to since the fag end of last year was the A R Rahman-Gautam Menon romantic flick Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya. And the appetizers to the musical treat are out for the taking with one song from the movie, Hosanna, already doing the rounds on the internet. The song is an absolute beauty, a breezy pop-ish melody sung by Vijay Prakash and Suzanne D’Mello, spruced up with Blaaze’s rap. It was promo’ed on BBC World early last week alongside an interview with Rahman about his post-Oscar days. Gautam has done a fab job of the picturization as well (at least in the 30 seconds that were shown on TV), Trisha especially looking ravishing.

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya’s lineup consists of seven tracks in all, two of them featuring Malayalam lyrics. This is the first time Rahman is composing for Gautam, the director so far having stuck to Harris Jayaraj. And if Hosanna is any indication, I doubt if Gautam will revert from Rahman after this! You may listen to the song online on youtube, but kindly buy the original CD once the album releases.

Coming Tuesday, Norah Jones will release her fourth studio album, The Fall. I got to hear a couple of songs from the NPR radio.
The songs are slightly different from what Norah Jones has offered so far. This change in direction might have been deliberate as she has collaborated with Jaquire King, the producer/engineer who has Kings of Leon and Modest Mouse among his clients. King  has also roped in Joey Waronker REM’s drummer and guitarists like Marc Ribot (Tom Waits and Elvis Costello) to name few session musicians. The net result is a very indie sounding album, but still like her older works Jones’ voice remain the most prominent sound you can hear. This is a carefully done set of songs, not departing far from her roots as a jazz singer and yet charting a new course in musical style.
A single from this album was released last month , “Chasing Pirates” and it has video too. It shows a cute Jones commandeering a building with sails and a Jolly Roger atop, through the Manhattan streets. Watch Norah performing the number at the Late Show with David Letterman.

After the great Bob Dylan decided to release an album of Christmas carols, another stalwart, our very own A.R. Rahman is exploring new vistas. In his latest project he is giving new tunes to nursery rhymes such as “Jack and Jill” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. Yes, you can now hear the melodies of your school-years in the tunes of the Mozart of Madras.

And the treat doesn’t end here; bollywood’s barbie girl – Katrina Kaif, who is currently enjoying success in a lot of her movies, will be starring in the videos. While the students of KM music Conservatory, a music college run by Rahman would also be a part of composing this album, Katrina will be dancing and lip syncing with other children on screen.

Experimenting with new ideas is a fundamental characteristic of a genius. We hope that this new experimtn of Rahman will be enjoyed by not only children but by music lovers all across the world!

There is this band from Kerala, they are named after a vegetarian dish eaten with rice and they sing in Malayalam, the most incomprehensible of Indian tongues. Despite these shortcomings these guys have managed  to cut a niche in Indian music space. It really doesn’t really matter what language your music is written, for instance I remember one of my friends blogging about Rammstein’s growing fan base in Kerala. The thing is, if it sounds good that’s good enough. I am not downplaying the importance of lyrics or anything but just stating a fact.

The band is Avial.  Avial exploded into our consciousness four years ago through a video called Nada Nada,basically it means “walk walk”. With their angry lyrics, turn table heroics and frantic head banging I thought these guys were just aping Linkin Park (which proved to be grossly wrong). But even then, one couldn’t help but notice the sheer audacity of singing in a vernacular of a populace which despite having a long tradition of loud music and loud sounds had somehow learned to despise rock music as noise. The hatred for rock and roll may be attributed to the Malayali resistance to imperialist designs. Even though Avial sings in Malayalam and borrows the folk songs for lyrical content the way they package their music is so ingenious, that the end product is so universal.

Avial sound is truly global, it has shades of electronica, influences of various world music genres and all these influences are built around a tight arrangement of guitars and drums. They are loud, the rhythm section is power packed, the bass lines are very expressive; all the hallmark of a great rock band. What really differentiates Avial from others is that their music is designed with lots of thought, when Nada Nada was released it was much more raw and heavy and then they released with a newer version; a kind of remastered version but in fact there was more to it than that. The Avial sound had evolved meanwhile and had become intricate and interesting, the rhythm patterns became complicated, the lead strings came to the foreground. Avial uses lots of programmed music and their mixing is world class.

Avial has created a sub genre of alternative rock, the malayalam alt rock, I hope this is just a beginning and more bands will follow the trail blazed by these pioneer rockers. The Avial’s current line-up comprises of Tony John, the vocalist and turn table specialist, Rex Vijayan, the lead guitarist, Benny Isaac and Mithun Puthenveetil. Rex Vijayan was part of Motherjane during the 90’s. He is also part of a fusion outfit called  (Karnatriix is a fusion delight, check them out). He is a master guitarist and a man to watch out for.

Avial is currently working on a new album and is all set to go global. A Malayali alt rock band singing in Malayalam in itself is so heartening for the Malayali in me, I just wish for a little more, may these guys win a Grammy

Note: The place I went to watch Avial’s performance has a bar, they had a special cocktail created for the evening. It was drink mixed with a coconut water and was served in the coconut itself.  They had named it, son of a beach, lol!

A.R. Rahman is joining the likes of U2, Shakira and Peter Gabriel to spread awareness about water. The event is called Moving Stars and Earth for Water, it is an artistic happening broadcast online. It is organized on the occasion of the Poetic Social Mission seeking to raise everyone’s awareness of water-related issues. The Mission is carried out from space by Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil and President of the ONE DROP Foundation.

Moving Stars and Earth for Water will be a special two-hour program. It’s basically a tale written by Yann Martel (Life of Pi) and will be staged across 14 cities, the Indian episode will be aired from Mumbai and will feature activist Vandana Shiva and A.R. Rahman. Rahman has chosen one of his most beautiful compositions for this event, the song called Vellai Pookal (literally meaning White Flowers) from the Mani Rathnam movie Kannathil Muthamittaal. The song remains majorly unaltered but is packaged in a beautifully shot video featuring the two of them, which does perfect justice to the brilliant composition. And it is really heart-warming to see Rahman start off with “This is A R Rahman from India”. A proud moment for us indeed. Take a look at the video.

Prior to the untimely death of pop legend Michael Jackson, he had planned a concert tour comprising of 50 concerts called “This is it”. He was also planning to release an album called “This is it” which had a single by the same name. The single, however, has run into a controversy which has cost his successors a lot. Just hours after the single was released, it was noted that the tune was originally composed by an obscure Puerto Rican Singer Sa Fire in 1991. Moreover, the co-writer of the song Paul Anka, famous for writing the Frank Sinatra hit “My Way”, threatened to sue Jackson’s estate for proper credits and share of royalties. The matter was settled by giving Anka fifty percent of the royalties from the song. The royalty is bound to fetch Paul Anka a lot of money considering the hype created around the song.

The song was actually written in 1983 by Jackson and Paul Anka for an album that Anka was working on but the two split and the song was never released. In 1991, the Puerto Rican singer Sa Fire recorded a version of the song titled “I never heard”.  Jackson had recently recorded the song for his album/concert and it was released on Monday without giving due credits to Anka. The song is available for free listening on MJ’s website.

The recordings of the preparation and rehearsals for the concert are being released under a documentary film titled “Michael Jackson’s This is it”. The movie is scheduled to release on the 28^th October and will run in US theatres for two weeks. 3-D and IMAX versions of the movie are also scheduled to release. Not surprisingly, flocks of people are gathering around movie theatres to buy tickets for early screening of the movie.

A comparison of the two songs