Aashiq Abu Photography

It was the most random photoshoot ever, don't know if I can even call it one! The Salt N' Pepper team was at Dubai to celebrate 100 days and we were just chilling in our rooms, getting as lazy as ever, arguing over which place to check out and stuff. All of a sudden I had the sudden urge of trying Aashiq's Ray Ban, his most priced possession. He probably loves it more than his life! And then we were on a roll.. it was lights, camera, action! I am a terrible poser and just when Ajay Menon gave up on me, Aashiq Abu, one of the most patient photographers I've met, came into the scene. I would keep doing exactly what he wanted me to do.. and by luck.. we got few amazing shots! This one below is my favourite click.. do click here for more :)

Best Iconic Female Singer Award at the IMFA, Dubai

"sabr ka phal meetha hota hain", is something I learnt in my primary Hindi classes back in school. But in my case, there was hardly any wait or struggle in literal sense. I am just a normal couch potato who would rather switch through TV channels than going from studio to studio with a demo CD and biodata. My kind of struggle was a fun ride, where I often happened to slip, too. As lazy as I can get, having sent a dozen demos to the industry's happening composers, only Rahul Raj happened to respond back for 'Chanchalam' in Ritu. But as fate had it, was quite unlucky to not have a video for that, which got the song unnoticed. Then life took a drastically positive turn when I entered into a progressive chamber of creativity aka Rosebowl. From then on, of course, I lost touch with the playback industry, and was immersed in a whole new world of music, where there were no deadlines or commanding producers, but, just plain music! When Aashiq happened to hear Outcast Vocals and invited my to sing for SNP, I never knew it would be a song or a movie that would change the age old commercial perception of Malayalam Cinema. Premikyumbol was probably my fastest studio session so far, in a record of 25 minutes! But what intimidated me was when I heard my voice along with P. Jayachandran's, at the studio. Bijibal sir was so composed and calm even while correcting some of my nuances. And to see it on the big screen ... *sigh*!

When the IMFA, International Malayalam Film Award organizers called to inform me of my award, I thought I was receiving it for only Premikyumbol. But on the day of the function, I realized that I was actually being credited for my musical endeavours with Rosebowl and Avial. Can't believe how progressive music that was displayed only on a local channel, and was circulated on the net, crossing the 7 seas, has scored to such a huge level. I also happened to learn that few Radios in Dubai play the audio tracks of Outcast Vocals, and get a lot of requests for Tose Naina Ft. Anberlin :) Despite recovering from a cold, I had super fun jamming 'Etho Varmukilin' with a talented musician from 'Radio Me', Ranjith. So, a huuuuge thanks to the 'Gelf' Malayalees and music lovers for making this local product international . The list will go on, but can't do without thanking SNP team, Aashiq, Bijibal, Rafeeq Ahmed, P. Jayachandran for Premikyumbol, Sumesh Lal for believing in his conviction, Avial team for making me feel like a family and educating me at all levels regarding music and life; my family, especially Dad.. without whose patience and encouragement I would remain a couch potato. Thank you to everyone on twitter and facebook for having shared my videos and for liking and commenting and retweeting, because of which my work got a little noticed outside Kerala. Finally, thank you IMFA and Radio Me for bestowing upon me this award. I felt really honoured to have shared this moment on the National Day of the U.A.E.

A.R.Rahman special Hits concert - Dubai

I was as excited as ever to be a part of 'A.R.Rahman Special hits concert' that happened at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium last evening. Her divine voice just gets one spell bound every time she would strike a note. This was a show organized by Rahmanji's sister, Israth didi without the involvement of sir. As much as I longed for his presence the experience of working with Sivakumar sir (sound engineer) and Murthy sir (conductor) was incredible. To work with a man like him who is empowered with knowledge and experience, it was interesting to see his extreme sides. Hariharan, Sadhna Sargam and Benny were planning to rehearse only in Dubai.

Preparations for this show had begun ages ago and the wait just seemed forever. There were few funny moments during this journey such as Stephen Devassy being mistaken as M.S.Dhoni by a fan! Apparently a lot of people ask him for autographs in the name of MSD and now he's quite used to it!! Aaah.. The plight of being a famous musician only to have a striking resemblance to another ace cricketer! Another one is Vijay Prakash who seems to be an exact clone of singer Shaan only a little taller. Dr. Narayan has these amazing techniques of knowing how to make a happy happy song sound sober by changing a note or phrase. But the best one was Naresh's whole idea of starting a website called 'unwanted sangathis.com' when any of us would think too much out of the box. It happens when we sing those kind of songs where one is tempted to attempt it differently and ends up slipping down on its failure :) One more similarity that was discovered by me was Naresh's hairdo. Ditto Malinga!! Reminds me of CB's comment on how Malinga should endorse Maggie noodles :) Mummy bhook lagi hai .. Chetan Bhagat, are you listening ??

There was absolutely no time to shop or travel with hectic rehearsal schedules but thanks to Keba, the guitarist, I got to taste some amazing cheese cake! I just love to hear Keith anna's base interludes when everyone is busy taking a tea break .He's just fab and so is the flautist!

Dubai is amazing as ever. Was there after a gap of 6 years not to forget that 6 years back it was a mere road trip and this time I was there as a performer.


The show went pretty good and was blessed in the presence of Rahmanji's mother. It had drizzled a little during sound check and in between the show but thankfully that didn't encourage the outflow of crowd. Surprisingly I even met two fans of Outcast Vocals who claimed to have 6 videos of the show in their mobiles! Great to see the power of YouTube! A big hug to my pal , Phani Kalyan, because of I got to debut in Telugu with 'Pappu', who always encouraged and believed in my talent and to Faizji for playing a vital role in getting me this opportunity.