I don't know what's with the old generation comparing the quality of today's music with their's. After watching a lot of interviews I decided I should write about what I think about this argument which has been happening for quite some time. Why should one even compare two generations? If it is mandatory then do it on fair grounds. Music recorded in the 80s are extremely commendable and I doubt if any of the young singers today can record a song in one take.We have lot's to learn from the olden style of recording.But I totally disagree with the notion that today's music is not golden enough to be heard on a repetitive basis and that few month's after a song's hit status it is discarded . Now you see why this problem arises is only because today we have a lot of sources for the promotion of a song. In olden times how often could one listen to their favourite song? Maybe if they are lucky to catch it on the radio that is if they own one. And that is exactly why they value the song each time as they get to hear it exclusively. And today we have a hit song being played 24/7 on the Television, Radio, Ipods, and even Jukebox where you can request you favourite anytime you want to listen to it. So just think how many times you get to listen to your favourite song? Almost 300 times before the movie releases. So basically you get to listen to the song and watch it's video quite a number of times before the movie comes out in the theater. By the time the movie releases the next hit number ranks the list and everyone moves on to that. But in the olden times you get to listen to you favourite songs 300 times maybe ages after the movie releases. It's the wait for your clock to tick to tune in your radio hoping that tonight they will be playing your favourite number. That is why they never got bored of those songs as they hardly ever got to listen to it. I do accept that there a lot of rhythmic numbers which we soon tend to forget but there are so many wonderful melodies produced even today. Music has become so big that we have lakhs spent over a 4 minute promotional video for a movie which is soon forgotten with it's bon voyage from the theaters.
Another reason could be the range of music people used to listen in older times. In Kerala film songs were subjected to very few artists such as Yesudasji, Janaki amma, Susheela amma, etc. At those time we had 3-4 exclusive singers singing in almost similar genres for a period of time and today we have 5 new singers singing in 5 different genres for just one movie. Music listened to at those times were limited and the attachment to the existing ones kept growing. Music created was also raga centric as situations provided to them were also matchable. You never had a situation of kabhi kabhi aditi or a Blue at that time.
For example I love McD burgers. But if include them in my daily diet I will eventually end up hating it or will probably get bored of it. I love Devarajan master's Rajashilpi but if I only listen to it on a daily basis I will end up hating the song, the voice and everything related to it. Same applies here. We listen to different kinds of music in different languages and genres to enhance our knowledge and this way we never get bored of it. Where was the interest and opportunity provided to listen to different genres and world music at those times? Technology grew and so did man's quest to deepen his knowledge in World music. The change is so evident in the sounding of today's songs. Be it the mixing or the contemporary singing or be it the inclusion of fusion or be it the unplugged style or even the programming. Where does one have the time to recollect a beautiful melody created a year ago when everyday millions of songs are being produced worldwide and all available just a click away ? An analyzing of today's songs not being able to create a historical magic is subjected to each one's personal liking. But on the whole I would say it's very wrong to compare the music created in older generation to the present as it's not being done on fair grounds. The foundation is still the same and in fact has become more stronger but technology, medium and the like have upgraded to an incomparable position. Let Old be gold and let's help the new ones from not getting rusted. Lets accept the fact that our tastes have changed and that today every musician is much much brighter than the older times because of the facilities provided today. Instead of pin pointing on what's wrong let's see the glass half full ...
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
One of them from my big list of principles are to keep professional things 10 yards away from personal. I really dread working with those people who can't follow the above . Be it in any field , one should never ever remain silent to any injustice done but should at the same time take care of the society and the time one has to execute the consequences. Sometimes at work I hate to work with some people because of their unprofessional attitude. It kills me to give my 100 % in such situations and to accept the fact that united we stand. Team work is always a success and we just need to ignore a lot of things that happen at work in order to be professional. But I do voice my opinion when it crosses the lakshmanrekha.
Done with Nine at Night shoot for this week. Was as usual fun to do extempore conversations with celebrities. But my best till date has been with Baluji. Firstly his violin is one mesmerizing object which can probably be used all the while. Secondly he speaks so informally that it makes the anchor feel big and nice :) To top it all the last jamming session we made up in Jog. I had asked him to play anything he likes and when he kept thinking about what to play I suggested him to do some piece in Jog to which he kept thinking more. Then he came up with this brilliant plan of jamming and asked me to try out some aalaps.. was daaaaaamn nervous but to jam with him is one helluva experience and was the most appreciated part of the episode. All's well that jam's well ;)
Tiaaaaaaaaaa
Done with Nine at Night shoot for this week. Was as usual fun to do extempore conversations with celebrities. But my best till date has been with Baluji. Firstly his violin is one mesmerizing object which can probably be used all the while. Secondly he speaks so informally that it makes the anchor feel big and nice :) To top it all the last jamming session we made up in Jog. I had asked him to play anything he likes and when he kept thinking about what to play I suggested him to do some piece in Jog to which he kept thinking more. Then he came up with this brilliant plan of jamming and asked me to try out some aalaps.. was daaaaaamn nervous but to jam with him is one helluva experience and was the most appreciated part of the episode. All's well that jam's well ;)
Tiaaaaaaaaaa
Friday, October 23, 2009
Twittering all the way
I never liked Twitter before because I didn't get the point of tweeting . But now I am beginning to enjoy tweeting along with all the birdies... so you can now follow me on Twitter. Have sung for few jingles and now involved in few good shows. Will update all that in a while. Was watching the kids from Balika Vadhu in Koel's show and I must say that these kids are pretty smart. Sometimes I wish I had half the energy they have . Shyamaprasad sir and Rahul ji are getting the Vayalar award for RITU and I feel thankful to be able to play a small role in this. I and Suchith will be singing for the show on the 26th. Also on the 27th at the Tagore Hall the Vayalar group is holding a show dedicated to the great poet. Tc
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Diwali was not great fun this year but did manage to enjoy with basin ka laddoo :) From the time I began to take music seriously one thing I knew I would never be a part of is composing. I just felt it was one of those 'tough' jobs in the world which I should never even in my dreams try to attempt. Funnily , I had this huge discussion and debate on the survival of a playback singer in the industry with Suchith and Jeetu. Suchith was playing songs from his band Udaan and I and Jeetu were appreciating him for his efforts that's when I felt maybe I should try composing. It's been a month and almost 8 songs are done :) What's funny is that I never in my dreams imagined that I could write in Malayalam. Thought it is not too poetic but yes did manage to fit in :) Hopefully planning for a better platform to showcase my creativity in composing. As of now I need to get started with munching on to my so called whole meal salad.
TIA
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
We need to kill it first within us ...
Strikes in a way is some kind of a terrorism I believe. Whatever maybe the situation it's consequences are only looked up to achieving the purpose. The whole fun part of studying in India is to experience strikes and have exams cancelled due to them. In fact even today being a final year student my whole class waits for the long bell to just get rid of the lectures. Yes! it's fun . But not all the time. At some point all of us want to study and complete our portions to get a decent 70 % .
It was appalling to read headlines everyday regarding the strikes being held by pilots of reputed airlines. Some must have missed their loved ones, some their most important meeting in their career, some a vacation to free themselves of all the mess happening around and for some a flight could mean another side of lifetime. But little do we think of what's going to happen on the other side rather than being jealous of it. I don't think strike is anyway to achieve any of our 'wants'. Some people are way more greedy to be wanting more than to be satisfied with what they 'need'. I also agree that at some cases some of them don't even get their 'needs' and ask for them. But there is no point in getting them by avoiding your duties. I have always noticed that everyone talks big when it comes to their rights and their requirements being an Indian citizen. But what many of us tend to forget is our duties. Only when we exercise our duties can we legitimately extend our hands towards our rights. I have many a times realized it myself when I ask for something without even performing my duties. We have a little terrorist inside us and we need to kill that first to take anti terrorist acts against the others. We talk of equality and peace by eliminating terrorism and bias. But we ourselves have ignited the flame and now it's going to take a while to extinguish it.
I was just having a small conversation with one of my lawyer friends who supposedly fights cases where her client is the rightly accused one. When I asked her if she takes the help of lies she denied . One wonders how they are successful in winning such a case. When the masters of law fiddle with the law then there is no point in preaching about following the 'right path'. It's been a world with man made rules and with it's distortion we are never going to grow as a planet, a nation and most importantly as a human being. What goes around comes around. This boomerang theory always works so think before you take each step. Being selfish for your needs is not a crime provided your surrounding is not affected by your decision. The time to realize all this was suppose to happen ages ago but it's never too late and maybe now we should stand up and serve for the purpose of humanity.
It was appalling to read headlines everyday regarding the strikes being held by pilots of reputed airlines. Some must have missed their loved ones, some their most important meeting in their career, some a vacation to free themselves of all the mess happening around and for some a flight could mean another side of lifetime. But little do we think of what's going to happen on the other side rather than being jealous of it. I don't think strike is anyway to achieve any of our 'wants'. Some people are way more greedy to be wanting more than to be satisfied with what they 'need'. I also agree that at some cases some of them don't even get their 'needs' and ask for them. But there is no point in getting them by avoiding your duties. I have always noticed that everyone talks big when it comes to their rights and their requirements being an Indian citizen. But what many of us tend to forget is our duties. Only when we exercise our duties can we legitimately extend our hands towards our rights. I have many a times realized it myself when I ask for something without even performing my duties. We have a little terrorist inside us and we need to kill that first to take anti terrorist acts against the others. We talk of equality and peace by eliminating terrorism and bias. But we ourselves have ignited the flame and now it's going to take a while to extinguish it.
I was just having a small conversation with one of my lawyer friends who supposedly fights cases where her client is the rightly accused one. When I asked her if she takes the help of lies she denied . One wonders how they are successful in winning such a case. When the masters of law fiddle with the law then there is no point in preaching about following the 'right path'. It's been a world with man made rules and with it's distortion we are never going to grow as a planet, a nation and most importantly as a human being. What goes around comes around. This boomerang theory always works so think before you take each step. Being selfish for your needs is not a crime provided your surrounding is not affected by your decision. The time to realize all this was suppose to happen ages ago but it's never too late and maybe now we should stand up and serve for the purpose of humanity.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
THE BIG ONAM SPLASH
which was telecasted in Rosebowl Channel on September 3rd have given me some really negative reviews. Lot of people called me after the telecast to tell me how hilarious it was but at the same time there were people who thought it completely threw of the image of some of the anchors. I wanted to write on this earlier but thought of it as a fun show but now after receiving some shrewd comments I decided to write on this though I am late by a week.
Firstly, this whole 'prankster on the prowl' was not planned! None of us would wantingly throw our dignity to raise the TRP of the channel. None of us need that. Each and every anchor is extremely professional when it comes to their work and we don't need any sort of short term publicity stunts to raise the TRP of our respective shows. So those of you who think it's planned I think I have cleared your doubt. Secondly, I do not know about the rest but I didn't feel good about it . I was absolutely helpless at that point. I don't have the rights to speak about the other gags as I was not present there while those were being taken. I can only speak to you about the gag played on me. I was told that Sudipto (Prankster) was a percussionist who has worked with A.R.Rahman and Himesh Reshammiya. I was also asked to hold a small interactive session with him asking about his experience and his future works. And apparently he was also asked to interact with me so that I can sing few songs and speak about my show, Nine at Night. Once the cameras were rolling he obviously started to speak about fake things to trap me. Now, some of the spectators had a problem with me not responding back and disagreed with me agreeing to all the nonsense spoken by Sudipto. Just look at it from a different angle. I am actually interacting with a percussionist from ARRs den so I need to give him the respect he deserves even if it's utter crap that he is speaking on National TV. In fact many of the celebrity guests in my show speak a lot of things that could work against their image. But since everything is cut off in the editing room you guys never get to watch it uncensored. When the gag was being played all I could think was that I am suppose to diplomatically handle this making sure I do not hurt Sudipto's feelings. So naturally I had to oblige to everything he had to say be it Kumar Sanu raag or Kutra raag or ramdev raag . I don't think I would appreciate any kind of rebelling in front of the camera on such a situation. It's also for the same reasons that I actually sang the different versions of Pardesi. I am a singer who is asked to use my creativity at various unprepared situations... and at that point I did feel that as a singer I proved my creativity even if a bunch of them had a ROFL. No regrets .. all was done to entertain each and everyone of you. But it would be nice if you could also think about the other side.
Once all of us got to know that it was a gag it was way too late to respond. But for that one person who commented against this , please, if you did'nt like it and if you think we lost our image then you may kindly switch the channel and watch something which probably matches your dignity levels. After all man and science have come up with a wonderful electronic invention - the remote. Thank you once again for all the good , bad and very bad reviews :D ... Keep watching Rosebowl and have a wonderful post-onam week.
Firstly, this whole 'prankster on the prowl' was not planned! None of us would wantingly throw our dignity to raise the TRP of the channel. None of us need that. Each and every anchor is extremely professional when it comes to their work and we don't need any sort of short term publicity stunts to raise the TRP of our respective shows. So those of you who think it's planned I think I have cleared your doubt. Secondly, I do not know about the rest but I didn't feel good about it . I was absolutely helpless at that point. I don't have the rights to speak about the other gags as I was not present there while those were being taken. I can only speak to you about the gag played on me. I was told that Sudipto (Prankster) was a percussionist who has worked with A.R.Rahman and Himesh Reshammiya. I was also asked to hold a small interactive session with him asking about his experience and his future works. And apparently he was also asked to interact with me so that I can sing few songs and speak about my show, Nine at Night. Once the cameras were rolling he obviously started to speak about fake things to trap me. Now, some of the spectators had a problem with me not responding back and disagreed with me agreeing to all the nonsense spoken by Sudipto. Just look at it from a different angle. I am actually interacting with a percussionist from ARRs den so I need to give him the respect he deserves even if it's utter crap that he is speaking on National TV. In fact many of the celebrity guests in my show speak a lot of things that could work against their image. But since everything is cut off in the editing room you guys never get to watch it uncensored. When the gag was being played all I could think was that I am suppose to diplomatically handle this making sure I do not hurt Sudipto's feelings. So naturally I had to oblige to everything he had to say be it Kumar Sanu raag or Kutra raag or ramdev raag . I don't think I would appreciate any kind of rebelling in front of the camera on such a situation. It's also for the same reasons that I actually sang the different versions of Pardesi. I am a singer who is asked to use my creativity at various unprepared situations... and at that point I did feel that as a singer I proved my creativity even if a bunch of them had a ROFL. No regrets .. all was done to entertain each and everyone of you. But it would be nice if you could also think about the other side.
Once all of us got to know that it was a gag it was way too late to respond. But for that one person who commented against this , please, if you did'nt like it and if you think we lost our image then you may kindly switch the channel and watch something which probably matches your dignity levels. After all man and science have come up with a wonderful electronic invention - the remote. Thank you once again for all the good , bad and very bad reviews :D ... Keep watching Rosebowl and have a wonderful post-onam week.
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