A Genius called Madhu Ravi Kashyap

I wanted to write this post for some time now. But got delayed to inexplicable reasons. What better day than today to introduce to all of you one of my best and most talented friends/guru. He turns 23 today. Happy birthday dude :-)

We share our first names. That in itself is like a privilege to me. I have known Madhu (alias Ketchup) for nearly 5 years now. I must confess that I have never come across a more innocent and down to earth person than him. He is supremely talented and exceedingly hardworking - a deadly combination. His virtues have made him achieve levels of success that I can only dream of. He is the best singer that I know of personally. He is a very innovative composer. But the quality of his that I really admire is his passion and dedication towards music. It takes real determination to pursue your dreams and goals like that. Apart from being one of the most supportive friends, he is also my guru. I have had the privilege of learning music from him albeit for a short duration. Those were the days that I still cherish. Sadly all good things come to a end, and so did this. But the experience of learning from him is something supernatural. I could feel the devotion, the joy in his singing. That, I could not even come close to matching that magic on my flute is a different matter. His concerts (I have attended quite a few of them) are on a completely different league all together. His concerts are a roller coaster ride of spirituality, devotion and euphoria.

As they say "Good things happen to good people", a lot of happy news are coming from ketchup's side for couple of months now (keep 'em coming). First it was him winning the First Prize in the Star Vijay competition "Paadum Office", which is currently being telecasted on Sundays 7 PM on Star Vijay. He won First Prize in both Classical Carnatic(that was obvious) and Popular Songs categories. He also won the Second Prize in the group category where he was representing Infosys. Next news was a absolute shocker for all of us who knew him. He broke the news (over email :-@) that he would be tying the knot with his childhood sweetheart later this year. At first I thought he was joking, but immediately realized that he was serious. He is the first person from our 'gang' to tie the knot. They are going to settle down in Chennai to continue their music career. Oh ya, you read it right. His fiance is also a musician. An accomplished one at that. So we can look forward to a happy musical family :-D More good news was to follow. His sister gave birth to a baby girl. So he has a beautiful niece to share his happiness with. He is going to sing in films now. Already 2-3 are lined up. So expect his name in the chart busters to come. And today is his birthday. So many reasons for him to treat us. But of late it has been difficult to get hold of him (understandably so ;-)) It has been a great year for him so far.

@Ketchup : Wishing you many more happy and beautiful years ahead, with loads of awards and recognition for your talent.

ps : All of us are still waiting for you to introduce us to Krithi
pps : Already started planning for your Bachelor Party ;-)

Review of Psycho Songs

I have been accused of being partial to A.R.Rehman as my blog carries reviews of only his albums. I cede to these accusations, as he is my favorite composer. So this is for the people who crave for variety, a review of non-Rehman, non-Hindi album!
It took me just one hearing of this album to blow my mind away. Truly inspirational.

So let me introduce you to the amazingly talented Raghupathy Dixit, the music composer, singer and lyricist. I had been waiting for a long time now to hear fresh voice in Kannada industry. And my patience has been rewarded big time. After 'Mungaru Male', there has been a wave of excellent music and lyrics in Kannada film industry. Much of the credit should go to Mano Murthy and Jayanth Kaikini for not only giving us great songs, but also inspiring others. But it was kind of sad to see Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Shreya etc.(non-kannadigas) to sing in 'Sandalwood'. We have always know to breed great singers, who go on to sing in other languages, right from the great P.B.Srinivas. But with the introduction of Raghu, we have nothing to worry about. In him, we have a genius for the future.

Raghu came to limelight with chart-busters like 'Mysore se aayi' 'Ambar' and 'I'm in Mumbai'. But he was never a household name till Psycho happened. One story goes like, Raghu had prepared these songs for an album. But the director sensed(thank god!) that these songs should be in a film. So started building a story around these songs. Though this is not a verified story, its just a testimony to how good the songs are.

Raghu tries to bring in the bass guitar into most of the songs. So you will get a rock kind of touch in some songs. That is quite different in Kannada songs, although it is now commong in Hindi film hits. Also what I like in this album is that, Raghu tries to keep the number of instruments in the song to a minimum. He has given priority to certain instruments in each song to accompany the beautiful percussion.

Track Listing:
01. Ee Tanuvu Ninnade
02. Ninna Poojege Bande Mahadeshwara
03. Beladingalante Minuguta
04. Mussanje Rangalli
05. Eno Ide
06. Preetiya Manashantiya
07. Psycho Theme


Ee Tanuvu Ninnade is probably the best rock song in Kannada. Use of violin in this song is awesome. Even the dialect has a rock touch to it. Although it takes couple of hearings to get used to the pronunciations, it is a very good experimentation. It is a typical Raghu song. Sung by Raghu himself, the song is refreshing. It is certain to drive the emotions in you.

Ninna Poojege Bande Mahadeshwara sung by Raghu, has a folk touch to it in the beginning. But I was really surprised when I heard the 'Kannada Rap' in the middle. It was just too good. Again the experimentation pays off. Raghu experiments with the trumpets in this song. This song has a very Kannada touch to it in many places, even the pronunciations are 'Mysore/Mandya Kannada' and one can expect this to be a hit among the masses.

Beladingalante Minuguta is a beautiful romantic duet. The lyrics written by Jayanth Kaikini is extremely poetic. It has some 'Hale Kannada' words in it. Haricharan and Saindhavi render justice to this awesome lyrics. The BGM is also romantic. The beats are soft and smooth. After the first time I listened to this song, I kept on humming it through out the day. It was difficult to take away the music from my head! Raghu uses Flute as the main instrument in this song.

Mussanje Rangalli is a typical South Indian song. There is even extensive use of Veena. I just love the sound of this instrument, but lot of composers hesitate to use it. The lyrics is R.N.Jaygopal is extremely good. Saindhavi touches the right notes every single time. The percussion is dominated by Mrudangam. I also liked the way Raghu makes a fusion of the Jazz guitar and Veena.

Eno Ide is my favorite song of the album. Raghu gives us another master piece. When I listened to it the first time itself, I felt the pain/confusion that he is trying to convey. All those emotions felt by the protagonist oozes out in this song. Yet again the lyrics of Jayanth Kaikini is exemplary.
"baLina deepave indu aari hogide
nanneya neraLe nanna bittu hogide
jeevana allola kallolavaagide
kareyuva koraLe mounathaLide" wah wah! Amazing way to describe that you are lonely!
This song somehow reminds me of 'Yeh Jo Desh Hai Tera' from Swades(only difference is the use of Flute instead of Shenai).

Preetiya Manashantiya is a beautiful song describing this great land "KARUNAADU". This song made me feel proud to be a Kannadiga. No doubt this song will be sung on Nov 1st for a long time. Jayanth has described this land, its culture, and its environment in a very poetic way. Raghu has again done a great job, singing with lots of emotion. The only disappointment is the song length. Seriously this song deserved a second stanza. Still a excellent patriotic song.

Psycho Theme is a beautiful note rendered completely through flute. Being a flutist myself, I can attest that this a very good piece of music. Reminds me of the flute used by Rehman in Roja.

For those who would like to know more about Raghu Dixit, visit his personal site www.raghudixit.com . Raghu is a self learned guitar player and a traditionally learnt classical singer. He had a band called Antaragni. And one thing before ending, this man is a great talent here. I hope Kannada industry retains him before he is lost.

Review of Yuvvraaj songs

I'm back again with the review of another A.R.Rahman's album. This time it is the yet to be released Subhash Ghai's Yuvvraaj. This is expected to be a musical, so one thing you can be rest assured is the music quality would be top notch. Ghai is one of the directors (along with Mani Ratnam and Shankar) who constantly get the best out of A.R.Rahman.

Before I begin to dissect each song, a few general comments on the album itself. Rahman, after experimenting with various types of music comes back to his forte - fusion of Indian Classical and Western classical music, using the piano, violins, cello extensively in most of the songs. As for the singers, most of them are established. Not many new voices to look forward to, which is a bit of a dissapointment after JTYJN. And being a musical you can expect most of the songs to be exceeding the 5 min timeline. I was really not that impressed with the lyrics of the songs. Its definitely not even near the levels set by Gulzar saab. This might partly be attributed for the fact that there is intertwining with english lyrics written by different people.

Track Listing

01. Yuvvraaj - Main Hoon Yuvvraaj
02. Yuvvraaj - Tu Meri Dost Hain
03. Yuvvraaj - Shano Shano
04. Yuvvraaj - Tu Muskura
05. Yuvvraaj - Mastam Mastam
06. Yuvvraaj - Zindagi
07. Yuvvraaj - Dil Ka Rishta
08. Yuvvraaj - Manmohini Morey
09. Yuvvraaj - Shano Remix

The first track is by itself disappointing. Please dont judge the album by this track. It starts with Salman Khan (protagonist) introducing his character. Although he makes no attempt at singing, he still manages not to deliver the message and is as usual very confusing.

The next song Tu Meri Dost Hain is performed by Benny Dayal and Shreya Ghoshal. It is melodious from the word go. This was the song used for the promos, so the producers think that this is the most catchy song in the album. And they are dead right. It grabs your attention immediately, all the while being very simple. Benny Dayal starts of the song and Shreya completes it in a amazing way. Although Shreya is currently my favourite female singer, the way she intentionally takes deep breaths while singing is getting a bit irritating lately. In the end, its just an excellent song!

The next track is Shano Shano. Sung by Sonu, Srinivas, Karthik, Timmy, Sunaina, Vivienne Pocha & Tina. Its a real surprise. I never expected this kind of a song in a Ghai musical. The song starts with a discotheque music, and english rap. It feels weired for the first time. To be honest I skipped this track the first time I listend to it. Especially when I listened to the weired voice in the middle. A second hearing will make it bearable. Not a great song. But I think it is more of a situational song. I'm not sure how this song will fit in the film.

The next track is Tu Muskura. Sung by Alka and Javed Ali. It is one of those melodious situational songs, accompanied by excellent instrumentals. The song starts off well with Alka easing us into the song. This is the kind of song that goes well with both romantic and sad situations. It is really not that evident that it is the duet till the last minute of the song, when Javed Ali really comes alive with the swaras, which is used extensively in most of the songs.

The next song is Mastam Mastam. Performed by Alka and Sonu, its a soft romantic number. Its a typical Rahman melody. When you hear this song, you kind of get the feeling that you have heard similar tunes before. The claps and the percussions are very much tried and tested formula. But it still works and works really well.

The next song is Zindagi. Performed by Srinivas who is one of the main singers for Rahman in Tamil. As a keen listener of Tamil songs, I have to admit that this is a typical Srinivas song. Very melodious. But something makes me feel that Hariharn would have been the right choice for this song. It sometimes feels that Srinivas is trying too hard to make it more impressive than he should have. But the quality of the song is very good. The song although initially very slow, picks up after a minute with the beats.

The next song in the album is Dil Ka Rishta. One word for it. Awesome. It starts with just the piano. The music has a eerie feeling to it in the beginning. But once the drums starts, the pace picks up dramatically. The voice of Sonu Nigam is as ever refreshing. The lyrics easily blends the hindi and english pieces. The swara in the middle of the song is trademark Rahman. It reminds me of the music of 'Bombay'. This is also happens to be the lengthiest song of the album. And also my favourite song!

The next song is Manmohini Morey. This song is performed by Vijay Prakash. Some might not recognize him. He has sung in Tamil and Telugu, also in lot of Hindi films like Swadesh and Lakshya. Even as the song starts, it puts you in a comfort zone. It has all the touches of a perfect Indian Classical song. Again the swara in the middle is super.


It is a very good album. This is what I expected of a Subhash Ghai - Rahman musical. But while it is very good, what it lacks is a killer song to make it ranked among the best. And also couple of mediocre songs pull the album down. But kudos to Rahman for pleasing our ear again!

My Favorite English bands

Below is the listing of my favorite bands, singers, composers, and of course my all time favorite english songs.

1. Favorite Band:
There is a tie in here. I'm split between Corrs and Eagles. Both are amazing.
Eagles:
Formed in the 70's, they took the center stage immediately with their album 'Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975', being the best selling album ever till date. They play rock, soft rock and country rock. Band members include Glenn Frey on the vocals, Don Henley on the drums, Don Fedler on the guitars. Their song Hotel California is rated 37th in the Rolling Stones list, and is my favorite song of this band. Other great songs include Desparado, Doolin Dalton, Life in the fast lane, New kid in town, Tequila Sunrise...

Corrs:
They are a family of 3 sisters and a brother, from Ireland. They became famous with their '96 Summer Olympics performance. Playing Celtic Folk Rock music/pop, they have formed a unique band, with a identiry of their own. With violin and tin whistle, they have given a great new dimension to the pop music industry. The eldest, Jim Corr plays guitar and keyboard (also provides supporting vocals). Sharon, the eldest among girls plays the violin (also backing vocals), Caroline plays the drums (and many other percussion instruments), and the youngest Andrea is the lead vocal (also plays the tin whistle). All the girls are drop dead gorgeous. They have performed with various other stars like Celine Dion, Bono etc. on charity tours. My favorite song of theirs is I Never Loved You Anyway. Other good songs include Ruby Tuesday, Forgiven Not Forgotten, Breathless, Goodbye, Radio, Dreams, Closer... Their 'all instruments' songs like Toss of Feathers are excellent.

2. Favorite Singer/Composer:
My all time favorite singer/composer is Bob Dylan. Considered as one of the greatest of all time, he is a inspiration to a lot of upcoming bands. His songs have been anthems in the anti-war and civil rights movements. His genre includes Folk, Rock, soft Rock, Blues. His records have earned Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards, and he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2008, Dylan was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture". I, for a fact know that, he is the most followed singer of his generation. Not surprisingly my all time favorite song happens to be his composition Blowin' In The Wind. His other compositions that I love are Knocking on heavens doors, Like A Rolling Stone, Joker Man, Brown eyed girl, The Times They Are A-Changin'....... in short, anything that this man has sung is sweetness to my ears! Apart from vocals, he plays guitar, mouth organ(harmonica) and the keyboards. He is also a screen-writer and a poet.

Review of Jaane Tu....ya jaane na Songs

First things first... Yet another amazing album by the musical genius AR Rahman! Easily the best of 2008 till date. Only album after Taare Zameen Par that i feel like listening in the repeat mode! The credit must also go to Aamir Khan for picking the right music directors for both films (rumor goes that Himesh was to compose for JTYJN).

Before going to the reviews of each song, I would like to make a couple of general comments on the album itself. It has 8 songs, packaged along with a remix. One cannot tell that it is the same music director when comparing this album to his last release (Jodha Akbar). The general tune of the album is modern, with lot of experimentation done. Some songs really catch you off guard the first time you hear because of their completely new style of composition. Apart from Sukhwinder Singh, all the other vocal leads are either completely new or relatively new(unheard). This is not the first time that ARR is introducing new talent, but 14 new comers in the same album was a bold and risky move, but fortunately for him, and luckily for us it pays off big time. Its great to hear refreshing voices (bored of same Sonu and Shreya duets - although both are amazing singers).

First up we have to smooth, yet foot tapping Kabhi Kabhi Aditi. This song catches the attention right at the very beginning with its catchy acoustic guitar and low-down beats. This lyrics is pretty good as well. But the main attraction about this song is the introduction of Rashid Ali. He brings around the freshness in the song and makes an awesome debut, and gives a song which will be in the Top 10 list of 2008. Definitely a singer to lookout for in the future.

Anupama, Benny Dayal, Blazee, Tanvi, Darshana, Satish Subramanium and Aslam come together to sing a peppy number Pappu can't dance. Another set of non-famous singers, who sing about a rich boy called 'pappu' who can't dance. The lyrics of this song is quite disappointing. Although the video song make a nice appeal, it is easily the worst song of the album. The song also comes with a remix version which is slightly better than the original (only because of the better use beats).

Then comes the male and female version of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. The female version is titled Aditi(female protagonist) and the male version Jai(male protagonist). These two compositions are mind blowing. These songs might cater to a particular brand of listeners (like me ;) ) who love sombre theme. The female version is more modern in the use of instruments. New comer Runa Rizvi renders the vocals to the more upbeat version of the two. While Sukhwinder lends the vocals to the male version, which uses more traditional Indian instruments for both the strings as well as percussion.

Nazrein Milaana Nazrein Churanaa gets the mood of the album back to funky and hip hop, which the entire album tries to portray. This will be an instant hit with the "youth". It has the typical guitar strumming throught out the song(ARR might have been inspired by the Eagles music here)

The album becomes even better with the title track of the movie. Surprisingly it is titled Tu Bole Main Boloon! The tune is exquisitely composed with the use of typical classical jazz instruments including the trumpet. The lyrics is also excellent, and again appealing to the youth due to its playful tone. This song is crooned by the master himself. Even after all these years, and all the soul music he is now famous for, he eases into this song, and gives us the best song the the album. Kudos Rahman!

The final track of the album is a beautiful melody Kahin To Hogi Ho! It is so simple, yet so elegant, that you will be at a loss of words to describe the elegance of the song. The song, thanks to the lyrics is so touching that it makes one get goose bumps. It is definitely a song for all seasons. Yet again, Rashid Ali proves his worth, and is a wonderful prospect to forward to. Vasundhara Das provides some support in the middle.

All in all, it will have atleast 3-4 songs in the Top 10 list of the year, and lot of deserving awards for Rahman. He just keeps getting better and better.