Chennai Sangamam 2011 video

Here is the video of the finale of the Vaanam Vasapadum musical drama showcasing all the dance, music, and martial art forms in Tamil Nadu. Turn up the volume so that you can hear the percussions. Awesome energy to hear that live!

Don't miss Ms. Sushma the singer dancing at time 3:35 and Smrithi the heroine at time 4:20.

Chennai Sangamam 2011 - Pleasant Surprise!

Got a chance to watch one of the Chennai Sangamam programs last night at Island Grounds. I went there primarily 'cause a couple of people we know were performing in the musical dance drama called Vaanam Vasapadum.
I was quite apprehensive and was mentally prepared to get bored as I usually don't have much patience for this kind of stuff.
But I was pleasantly surprised. There were lots of folk artists and even Hot Shoe Company dancers. The lady director Prasanna had done a very good job of mixing folk stuff with city stuff that you and I connect with, and put up a very good show. The energy levels of the musical was AMAZING. It was very high, and gave me a super thrill. The sound of live drums, and all other traditional South Indian instruments accompanied by live singers and the play actors and dancers was enthralling. I'll try to put up a video clip which one of my friends shot. Many of our city dance schools and play groups can definitely pick up a few leaves out of this book.. on how to maintain a very high energy level and get the audience hooked on to the program!

I'm a little disappointed that I'll be missing the finale on Bessie Beach on 17th. Work travel gets in the way.

But I strongly recommend this for people who're looking to try out something different in Chennai. It's worth it.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Snooper Dawg sent me the link to this awesome rendition of the famous them of The Good The Bad The Ugly.

Loved it!

CSK-ku periya whistle podunga!

Summa thatti eduthutanga!

Tribute to Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan

One of my cousins who's a regular writer for www.dhool.com wrote a tribute to Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan recently.

Loved it.

A must read at

http://www.dhool.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7679

While I'm on this topic, I should also mention a couple of facts about my cousin Saravanan.

He's an acknowledged dictionary of Tamil movie music. He's the guy who has photographic memory, and knows more about Tamil music than even most music directors.

If you're a fan of Tamil music especially in the 1970s to 2000, you should read all of his articles. His articles have cult following.. so much so.. that Dhool.com features "Saravanan's picks" as one of the primary pages on their website. Check it out yourself from the link below!

www.dhool.com

Subramaniapuram

The super hit song Kangal Irandal has been running through my head for the last month or so! My friends are sick of me playing the same song over and over in my car. A great listen to even those who don't understand Tamil.. this music has no barriers. Universally appreciated. I'm yet to meet someone who has heard this song and not liked it!



Saw the movie about 1.5 months back. Excellent movie. A little too violent for my taste though, which is what would stop me from seeing this movie again. But, amazing performances by the actors. The actor Jay playing the character of Azhagar does an amazing job. I love the way he has a special smile reserved for the heroine Thulasi (actress Swathy) as seen in the video. Jay's debut was in Chennai 600028 as the guy who moves from Royapuram to the RA Puram Rockers team. The heroine has also emoted her character beautifully. Apparently the director/producer Sasikumar (who also plays the 2nd lead character Paraman) gave Swathy minimal dialogues 'cause she's a Telugu heroine and could not speak Tamil. He has shaped the character beautifully so that Swathy can give maximum performance just with her acting. Nice support character selection too!

The music director James Vasanthan deserves a special mention. Name sounds familiar? Yes, it's the same guy who used to host the Top 10 movies which runs on Sun TV on Sunday mornings. Didn't know he could direct music.. but he's done an amazing job at it. There's an article on him on today's Metro plus.

A must watch movie.

Boston - what an amazing song!

I've been listening to this song a lot in the last few weeks. It's by a group called Augustana. I really like the piano in this song! It gets me thinking about joining piano classes. It's always something I've wanted to do!



The alternative version is also good.. Check out the video below..

If the video does not work, try this link.



[Edit] Okay, I don't know which version is the original and which one is the alternative. But, I like the first version in this post better!

Holi @ ISB

A video shot by one of the exchange students from Italy.


Check my flickr page to find more pics of Holi @ ISB

Yogi B and Nachathira featuring Lockup

When I got this link first, I thought it was something like the "Changing worlds" advertisement that did its prowl a year ago.

But, after watching it....

I am at a loss for words. Who says only Black Eyed Peas can remix Ilayaraja and churn out rap hits?? Here's Yogi B and team remixing classic Ilayaraja (Song : Madai Thirandhu) heavily influenced by western rap artists like Outkast and 50 cents!
They have done a great job at it. Beats are really catchy and the rap lyrics are in a mixture of English and Tamil. The Tamil lyrics (wherever they appear)are written in pure Tamil.
Right out there in the leagues of BEP! Now where have I heard of Yogi B before? Name sounds very familiar!

I love the way the songs ends with "Kalai, Manidhanaga pirandha ovvoruvanum alli alli parugavendiya amurdham ada adhu!" (A poor translation that cannot do justice to the powerful lyrics: Art, something anyone born a human should drink like Nectar). Is it Kalaingyar's voice that I hear?

Question would be now.. Do I like this song because of the original or because of its own rap essence?

Vallavan I think is the name of the album. Can't wait for my next trip to Chennai to buy this CD!



[Thanks Megh for the link!]

p.s. Tamil music has been constantly surprising me with these hybrids it keeps throwing out! No wonder Tam music is still light years ahead of Bollywood.

EDIT : Listen to the orignal here
Movie : Nizhalgal (1978)
Singer : S.P.Balasubramaniam
Music Director : Ilayaraja

One musician to another.. A Tribute to Rahman.

Kaushal Inamdar, a Marathi music director, analyzes and appreciates A.R.Rahman.

Click here to read the post on his blog.

Zune is out!

All pictures in this post copyright www.engadget.com

Cool! Awesome player from the looks of it! A nice 3 inch colour screen (QVGA), 30gig drive, WiFi, audio & video playback, and photo viewing capability! And by offering a free download in the Zune Networks website for every song you've bought at iTunes, they've lowered the "switching costs" (in MBA lingo). Looks like this space is heating up! Whoever is looking to buy an Mp3 player now, should definitely look beyond the iPod. If this player is not cool enough, check out some of the other stuff available in the market now!
The Delphi player comes with built in Satellite Audio Receiver. The Samsung K5 player comes with built in speakers (having a small boom-box in my palm is a kindof catchy idea!)

funtwo's rendition of JerryC's Canon Rock!

[via Borax]

This is the boy with the 7-million views on YouTube. NY Times recently uncovered the identity of "funtwo". This guy's fingers fly all over the guitar! He's out of this world.

Quoting NY Times..

EIGHT months ago a mysterious image showed up on YouTube, the video-sharing site that now shows more than 100 million videos a day. A sinewy figure in a swimming-pool-blue T-shirt, his eyes obscured by a beige baseball cap, was playing electric guitar. Sun poured through the window behind him; he played in a yellow haze. The video was called simply “guitar.” A black-and-white title card gave the performer’s name as funtwo.
The piece that funtwo played with mounting dexterity was an exceedingly difficult rock arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon, the composition from the turn of the 18th century known for its solemn chord progressions and its overexposure at weddings. But this arrangement, attributed on another title card to JerryC, was anything but plodding: it required high-level mastery of a singularly demanding maneuver called sweep-picking.

The two related articles on NY Times are online here and here

Dharan & Parijatham

I managed to catch the song "Unnai Kandene" for the first time on video on You Tube a couple of days back. This song has been one of my favourites since Dec 2005 when I heard it for the first time. I'm extremely thrilled that this song now is topping the charts in Tamil movies. Dharan, the music director, is an old time friend from even before I left India for the US. It feels great to see such a young chap like him shine. Go Dharan!
Here's the video.. followed by an interview clipping of Dharan.

Mark Knopfler at the Red Rock Amphitheatre...

Mark Knopfler framed against the glowering red rocks..

Throw in a good musician and a good concert arena together and the audience will usually have a good time. When the musician happens to be Mark Knopfler, and the arena happens to be the Red Rocks Amphitheatre.. we're talking only in superlatives here. It was MIND BLOWING! Mark Knopfler was GOD on his guitar, and the Red Rock Amphitheatre was heaven last Tuesday! This is one of the best concerts I've been to in my life.. and I should say it was totally worth the 80 bucks spent on it.

This is probably a good opportunity for me to talk a bit about the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It is one of the most famous concert arenas in the world. It is unique in that it is an accoustically perfect, naturally formed amphitheatre up in the Rocky Mountains. The stage is set in a gorge. The audience are seated on the sides of a mountain looking down into the gorge. There are two gigantic walls of streaked red rocks on either side of the amphitheater which act as perfect accoustic reflecters enriching the audience to the sound coming from the gorge. The high rise buildings of Denver provide the back drop when you look far beyond the mountains into the plains. A perfect setting for a superb concert.

Here are a few pictures from one of my previous visits to this place.. and some from the concert itself.

This is the way to the North East parking lot of the Arena.. through the rock.
The gigantic left and right walls of the concert arena. Two huge slabs of red rocks which give the arena its perfect accoustics.
At the concert..
A view of the arena from the stage..