I am looking for singers (male & female), preferably with Tamil knowledge, lyricists, drummers, keyboard players, flutists, guitarists for my album. If you are interested, please leave a comment or contact me via my profile page

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Blogolala Blogolala

Munimma, had inspired this thought, about, how over time, the description of women/girls in movies are getting more current. I had initially started this piece about how in this blog-fad-world, the description would be today - (via a comment on Munim's site and with her permission, elaborating on it :-))

hey blogolala hey blogolala

un azhagu- blog'ai pol adhisaya piravi
un parvai - blog title pol puriyadhadhu
un pinne - comments'ai pol kodi makkal
un ulle - post'ai pol naan mattume

hey blogolala hey blogolala

un kural - oru audio blog
un mugam - oru photo blog
un kaigal - konjam neelamana post
un kanna-kuzhi - konjam azhamana post

hey blogolala hey blogolala

unnai mattum dhaan naan parpen
nee mattum dhan en blogroll
unnai yaar parthalum naan parpen
naan dhan un blogpatrol

hey blogolala hey blogolala

Translation

Your beauty - is a rare genius, as is the creation of blogs.
Like the title of blog, that i never understand, are your eyes - (that speaks thousand words)
Like the comments of post, there are millions behind you
Like the body of the post, am the only one in you

Your voice, is an audio blog
Your face, is a video blog
Your slender hands, are as long as a post
Your dimple, is as deep as a (thoughtful) post

I will just look at you,
you are my only blogroll
If anyone does look at you,
am your blogpatrol

Please consider this as personal invitation with betel-leaf, betel-nut, bananas, and, kumkum to add/build on top of the descriptions, you could also do the hero's description if you prefer ;)

Let the blogaraja comment festival begin ! :P

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

[Song Glance] Ghajini

There are so many albums out there, releasing quite frequently, that am unable to perform detailed review/critical appreciation for want of time :-(

Starting this post, I plan to write quick glances into the albums, to essentially capture first impressions and listenability :-)

Ghajini by Harris Jeyaraj (Click on the links to listen to the songs)

Oru Maalai - Karthik

If you have listened to *any* HJ song - you would know this song was coming ;) - Nothing spectacular, the tune is quite similar to many of his prior works (the line Adhanaal Illai urakkam from oh-mama (Minnale) ). The interlude, especially the first, is quite catchy. HJ has attempted to differentiate this song with some of his other works by some novelty in the way instrumentation is setup and the running loop (like Telephone mani'pol - not implying copy :-) )
Karthik has tried his best with this song to impart some life :-D

X-Machi - Naahul, Mathangi

Some good work on the chords, catch rhythm loop, seductive/husky voices cover-up for mal-nourished tune bank :-). Once again, but for the above, this song would force you to hit the skip button every-single time. Mathangi, has done quite a decent job

Suttum Vizhi - Sriram Parthasarathy, Bombay Jayashree

First impression - structure of the song seems to be heavily inspired by 'Kismat Se Tum' ('Pukar' by ARR) - especially the lines '(unnale) kaN vizhithu soppanam kanden'. The tune itself has shades of some 60's song - can't tell which. Second interlude is the best part of the song - with some superb work on the sax. I felt, that HJ was sleeping while doing this number - with the style he has chosen - he had tremendous scope to produce a belter, but he tries to do yet another, vaseegara and fails in the attempt. Couple of listens, and you would atleast not skip it ;)

Rahatulla - Anupama

So far, this song is refreshingly fresh from the other songs in the album. Anupama, has done her job well. Good bass work in the second interlude. Quite a catchy dance number, the closing sections of the song are very well done.

Rangola - Shankar Mahadevan, Sujatha

'Boom Boom Mattukaran theruvil' (Adhe Kangal) song stares at you - when you listen to the first line of the pallavi. The song as noted elsewhere reminds you of 'Andangakka/Rendakka' (Anniyan) in passing phases - especially the second interlude. This song presents you with the impression that this more of Vidyasagar style song than HJ. Both Shankar & Sujatha have done a decent job.

The album itself can carry the song-sequences for any run-of-the-mill movie with fancy dance numbers - but from a musical connoisseur's perspective, this would struggle to cut the grade

Other Reviews out there Kaps

Enjoy more music reviews via the archives

Monday, August 22, 2005

Father of Electronic music

Robert. A. Moog, popularly known as the Father of Electronic music, named after his invention of 'Synthesizer', passed away

Honestly, have not heard of this name before, till i stumbled upon this article. I think, a moment of silence thanking him for the way we now listen to music is not asking too much.

R.I.P

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Got Spam ?

No, am not referring to the spate of friendly comments by blogdoctor in most of our blogs, but 'the real' spam.

Not sure, since when this feature is available (no release information from Google), but they have enabled 'Word Verification' feature - wherein the commentors would have manually 'enter' the words that they see, created via bitmap. For more details see this article

Ofcourse, you must be well aware by now, that, the goal of blogging is to get many comments, so you can choose to not enable this feature, there by encouraging more visitors.

Start Rant:
It is interesting as to how some of the automated-spammers have not gotten intelligent that they started commenting using 'profiles' - by-passing the 'anonymous' commentor option. It now really is a question for the courts to decide, as to whether, visiting someone's site and saying please visit my site is really a spam ????

Tech Rant : - Guess they use the google's last 100 updated blogs to pick up the blog ID and do a text match for 'this blog does not allow anonymous comments' and decide to use either the anonymous option or 'logged on' option - smart huh ! :-D
:Stop Rant

p.s : If this is not your cup-of-tea, join-in for the masala milk post below :P

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Bitter Milk and Birla Mandir

They wondered why...

She liked his looks, brilliance, jokes and charm.
He liked her personality, wit, smile and thoughts.
They loved each other's presence
They fell in love madly and married promptly

They wondered how they were made for each other

She needed coffee first thing in the morning, she was a south-indian
He will die without tea first thing, he was a north-indian.
He had his way, even plain milk tasted sweet that day !

She wondered why even plain milk tasted bitter that day !

He felt like visiting Birla mandir
She wanted to go to Siva-Vishnu Temple
She had her way, prayed that he gets to like coffee
He prayed, that he gets to go to Birla Mandir

They wondered when their prayers will be answered !

"Solution of one's problem lies with the other" ...
Answers, they apparently, never heard.

Most Silly Disclaimer I have ever written : All the incidents and characters are purely fictional. Any resemblances to individuals are purely accidental and non-intended. If you have not heard the answer till now, you will never ! :P

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Blog with Word !

Breaking News : You can now blog from within MS Word by installing a simple plugin. You can 'publish', 'save as draft' or 'open' posts from via MS Word.

Go for it ! - these guys never cease to amaze me with their creative thinking. From now on, you know who to blame, if you lost your 'post' :P

Follow this link to read the FAQ for it.

p.s : Do you love music, don't miss out on the oppurtunity to enjoy some good music. Have to do no further than just scrolling down below this post :)

Disclaimer: All the products and their websites are registered trademarks and copyrights of the respective organizations

Saturday, August 13, 2005

[Song Watch] Agni Nakshathram

Happy Independence Day - Jai Hind

Agni Nakashathram by Mani Ratnam - starring Prabhu, Karthik, Amala, Nirosha had music by the one and only IR. The album was raging hit by any standards. It had nice mix of all genres producing a feel-good effect when you complete one-round of listening :-).

Per request by many, have tried to cut down on very detailed description of the songs, baby-step at a time. Tell me, if it has worked :P

Ninnukori Varnam - Chitra

Trademark IR violins open this classic fusion number Ninnukori. Acoustic Guitar /Slap bass can be heard being beautiful played. Even though am not an expert in chords, have heard/read from many who are, that IR matches the best of best when it comes to chords. It is proved amply in this song. Azhagiya Raghuvarane (0.58- 1.00) marks the beautiful climax of the pallavi.

Awesome work on the drums, which was one of the hallmarks of this album mark the interlude which has an interesting synth sounds backed by lovely bass riffs.

The stanza, has remarkably underplayed chords, continues with the excellent backing by the guitars and the flawless chitra singing away beautifully. If there is one line that sags in the entire song it is the poojai kaaga yengudhu (2.02-2.12) but that is more than compensated for in the line that follows immediately. Unnondu Naan is constructed amazingly - yet again the guitar doing its bit. Lovely! is the only word that comes to mind.

Second interlude, a very classic IR piece, with yet again, wonderful touches on violin, synth and drums. Second stanza follows the first to a 'T'. Interesting point to note the word of 'mohanam' which is the ragam of the song for those interested. It typically is a practise for all carnatic composers to include the reference to the ragam, in which the song is based on. Will we know whether it was intentional ?

Beautiful fusion number, amazing work on the bass & guitar and flawless rendition

Rating 4.6 out of 5

Oru Poongavanam - S. Janaki

Birds chirp away, flapping their wings setting the scene for the song. Janaki starts off the song with Oru Poongavam. There is the beautiful loop of piano with simple chords. Water splashing (signifying Nirosha swimming) and solo flute sets a melancholic mood to the song which is accentuated by the piano/violin combo with cute beats.

The rhythm pattern changes and sets the tone for the stanza which continues along the main theme of the song. The best part of the stanza is when Janaki hits ulaavarum (2.18-2.28). The violin backing up those lines are simply so cute !. Just a brief one-liner is all there is before you get into the second-interlude. IMHO, second interlude is *the* highlight of the song. synth pieces with amazing violing backing is simpy out of the world.

A simple song, with a touch of melancholy, nicely done.

Rating 4.2 out of 5

Roja Poo Aadi - S. Janaki & Chorus

Cool and hip rhythm piece welcomes you along with chorus harmony/voice chaas (instead of 'oohs') and awesome guitar/slap bass combo yet again. Roja Poo was so dance-inspiring when heard 17 years back. It still is such beautiful fast number. The chords in the pallavi are very nicely layered to bring awesome effect. Janaki emotes well, not ideal for the situation, but still executing the task of sounding youthful in masterly manner. By the time the pallavi is over, You will already be humming ta.taan.ta.taan after the line Roja Poo Aadi vandhadhu

Interlude, again, has violins, guitars and drums forging a superb alliance. Stanza adds to the foot-tapping effect by building on top of the theme. A wonderful twist awaits you at Thodu Thodu 2.15- 2.24.

Second interlude has beautiful piano roll and continues superb work on the violins from where it left off from the first interlude with 'voice chaas' . Stanza is same as the first, the twist, when it comes, is still superb at Idho Idho 3.28 - 3.37.

Bass is much more muted than other songs. IR unleashes some more power chords to top-off the song on a superb note.

Such a dance number, better than many numbers belted out today.

Rating 4.3 out of 5

Thoongatha Vizhigal - K.J. Yesudas & S. Janaki

Who would'nt fall in love with this wonderful number !. It had all the ingredients of a perfect melody - tune with carnatic base (ragam Amruthavarshini - more on that later in this blog), superb orchestration, flawless rendition and voila - a chartbuster !

The opening rhythm pattern is the typical 80'ish one. But that is the only thing that is predictable about the song. Chorus singing with techno sounds in the background and a brief flute cameo sets the tone for the pallavi - literally so. The pallavi is so lavishly composed in Amruthavarshini. It has some very interesting example of how to handle of meter-thaala kattu for the lyrics. In the fourth line, you have 'Anbe Nee illadhu' and the previous line that was similar was 'Paneerai theLithAlum'. You can never do the same meter for Anbe and Paneerai and thats where you can see how IR's genius comes out in 0.44 -0.47 - Wow !

Interlude is brief, simple and harps on the theme of the song. KJY starts the stanza with Mamara Ilai Mele . This alters the style of the song, bringing in some beautiful chord backing the voice of KJY. Some of the pieces are agmark Amruthavarshini - especially 2.07 through end of the stanza. Janaki handles those sections with marked ease. Amazingly well done stanza.

Second interlude is notably different from the main theme of the song, with yet again the stanza bringing in the dialog version of SJ & KJY singing. Second stanza is no different than the first.
Yet again bass riffs & chords have to be given their due credit ! - beautiful work.

Even though KJY handles the song comfortably, I felt Janaki came out on top in this song !.

Amruthavarshini ragam is made of S G3 M2 P N3 S. The ragam is supposed to bring 'rain' when sung. Whether or not that is true, our heart is moist with lovely melody when listening :-). My roomie pointed out another song by K.V. Mahadevan Anathineya Ra (Swathi Kiranam - courtesy Raaga.com)

Awesome song !

Rating 4.7 out of 5

Vaa Vaa Anbe - K.J. Yesudas, Chitra

This songs sounds evokes a pathos kinda mood even primarily because of the use of shades of Sivaranji ragam through the major portion of the song.

Violins, flute and piano join in to welcome us for the opening of the song, before KJY can start. The pallavi is simple with nice violin & guitar backup. Violin Chords are wonderful - you just have to wonder, how such chords have been plucked out of thin air for a ragam like Sivaranjani - only IR

Guitar cotinues to shoulder the bulk-load of the interlude, which is very IR'ish by all means :-) . The stanza is very simple and straight forward, Chitra gets to join-in with Kalai Malai. The chords deserve mention starting at 1.56 - 2.16. Awesome !!. Chitra also emotes to a sad-context. Was this song recorded for some other situation and MR used it out-of-context ? But lyrics all point to a love-duet !

Second interlude, is the best part of the song, wonderful orchestration (Violin & flute). Well, who better than IR to arrange something like that !. Second stanza follows the first in all aspects and brings the song to an end.

Notable piano rolls at the back-end. Quite passable a song. IMHO this song is the weakest link of an otherwise stellar album.

Rating 4.0 out of 5

Raja Rajathi - IR & Chorus

The opening line of this song had been on the lips of everyone during its release. It also had its due share of fun-pokers as to how 'recitative' the song was instead of being a 'song'.

IR showcases his skills as a vocalist & his mastery over rhythm/drums in this song. The drum piece in the first interlude is still famous, he has actually made a 'song' out of that piece !

Pallavi has some nice harmony backing up IR going Raja Rajathi and beautiful bass riffs. Interlude as mentioned above is out-of-the-world, you just listen to it with dropped jaws period. :-)

Stanza continues on the theme of recitative singing. People looking for typical IR 'tune' would not find it in this song. The second interlude is IR with experimentative hat on. The change in rhythm, did not augur well for the song, it kinda lost the tempo, which is odd for a song, that banks on the awesome rhythm. The second stanza is all the same but for the change in rhythm pattern. The song finishes off in the same fast tempo as it opens. It was/is still a dance number amongst most youngsters !. A very catchy, foot-tapping piece indeed

Rating 4.4 out of 5

The collection, has a perfect breath-taking mix of variety of songs, fusion, western, filmi etc. Very wonderfully done. Can't repeat it enough as to how the bass guitar/chord sections are so superb, that all aspiring musicians can ignore listening to such albums only at their own peril.

Some of the other observations include, the duration of the songs - most of them are under 4.30 minutes and also how the first stanza and the seldom differ in their arrangement :-)

This album, IMHO, is one of IR's bests albums.

Overall Rating 4.4 out of 5 - Must Have in any music lover's collection !

Enjoy more reviews from the archives

Disclaimer : Thanks Raaga.com - All copyrights & trademarks of Raaga.com is owned by the Raaga.com web-site

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Google's Blogger Survey

All,

Urge you to take the Google's Blogger Survey and voice your opinion. In most cases, we dont take surveys coz we never 'see' the feedback in action. This time around, just to atleast keep the service free, i guess we should all take the survey and comment on it to say 'keep it free' :-)

Hope Google takes the survey seriously :-)

p.s : Do you believe in anything ? Read this article and its comments. At the end of it, you are guaranteed to be on the either end of 'spectrum of belief' or money back* (Terms and Conditions Apply) :P

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Nambikkai

Recently, there was this kavidhai pOTi announced by Narayan Sir. The topic brought in some thoughts that i have assimilated into a small 8-vari-kavidhai.

For reading pleasure, please read every line twice - that strategy can turn even a.b.c.d (alphabet) into pudhukavidhai !

Nambaikkai
peTravar endral thaai
valarthavar endral thandhai

moothavar endral annan
iLaiyavar endral thangai

maNandhavar endral manaivi
eendravar endral makkal

irandhavar endral iraivan
iravian endral maTTum nAthigam ?

Translation

Belief

You believe,

mother is who gave birth to you
father is who brought you up

brother is who is elder to you
sister is who is younger to you

your wife is, who you married
your child is, your offspring

loved ones that pass away, are (with) God
The moment it comes to God, you believe in atheism ?


p.s : Don't miss out on the chance to be a part of History. Learn the latest technique to blog effectively within 3 minutes 37 seconds. Well, that is what it takes to read my Blogging 101 post ! ;). Scroll down a bit or if you are lazy, click on this... Blogging 101

Monday, August 01, 2005

Blogging 101

* updated Photo Blogs & Audio Blogs based on popular request ;) - please start the comment festival again :P *

Sometimes, it helps to make fun of your ilk. Request all bloggers to take it easy and laugh it off - no offense meant :-)

If you have really landed on this post hoping to find the right starting point. You got it !!. Please send me a blank check ASAP.

Let's get started !...

Sign up for a blogging account.

Do not think of why you need to blog. Just do it.

Think of abnormal phrases as titles for your blog. It can be anything like 'velilale mazhai' to 'thoughtless thoughts' to anything that cannot be pronounced. Note, nothing prevents you from using day-to-day items like 'Bata' Bytes or 'Rivet'ting rants etc. The more non-indian the title is the more catchy it is. (Tip: Try Greek, Latin, Spanish or even Madras Bashai)

Goal of blogging is to have as many visitors as you can get and as many comments as you get. Do not build up any other false 'hopes'

What to write ? Make up your mind about what you want to write. There are many options.
Daily Journals - which can include anything from your daily activity.
e.g. I opened a new bar of soap at 8.40 am today morning
Here in front of me is a sparrow.
(Oh, btb, it flew off before i could complete the journal )
Note : If you plan on keeping Daily Journals and if you are no celebrity, just make sure, your profile is set to be 'female'. Most readers dont read journals of men (Sorry men-folk that is the truth and Sorry women-folk, trust me, that is the truth)

Raving or Ranting - You can write about anything you want.

e.g. I saw a bee today. God awful. I am gonna $%$%!#$%^*& any bee i see.
Why do crows have to be black ?
I love masala dosai because...
I hate Lalu Prasad because...

Note: Since you are gonna be bashing someone in your post, you better be so speculative that you will generate lotsa readership like some of the 'leading' online 'magazines' (No candies for guessing what magazine is being referred)

Movies/Songs/Entertainment Gossips - Thunukku Mootai.

No examples - If you don't know what gossip/thunukku mootai is till now, you dont need to know it in future either :P

Philosophy/Sports/Science/Arts - Write all about topics in that 'genre'
e.g. Why do we exit
Why Tendulkar rocks or Why Ganguly Sucks
Why Google is hot
Why IR/ARR is good and all others are bad.

Reviews - Write what you felt about book/movie/music/places
e.g. Anniyan Sadha Sodha
Harry Potter raises hairs
Da vinci code is a winner
The best part about writing reviews is - you don't have to know squat about anything - just throw in some terminology - there will be atleast few people who will agree/disagree with you - that is all you need :P

*updated based on popular request :) *
Audio Blogs
For all of those who feel, they are the next SPB, KJY or Hariharan, and the only reason, they are not SPB/KJY is because have not been given a mic, this is your golden oppurtunity. Signup for audio blogging and starting crooning your way to glory.

You can also talk about anything, you can do mimicry, you can sing, you can cry - but make sure you don't make others cry :P

Aslo, you can be like de'waugh sir or banu malick siri.e. you can audio blog existing songs and call it your own audio blog.

Warning: You can be sued by the above sirs for copright i.e. right to copy infringement ;)

*updated based on popular request :) *
Photo Blogs
We all know picture speaks thousand words. If you can take pictures that can express thousand words well and good. Just make sure, you have good enough pictures to convey your happiness about the latest IR album, anguish about how bad a recent movies was. No 'leading magazine' style sleaze festival please ;)

Ofcourse, the fall back is always post pictures of a rose, a building, a bird and many more things. One good thing about using such pictures is, the only 'negative comment' you can get is how the lighting/photograph was not good - never the building or the bird i.e the content is always good :P

All of the above - Safest way to start, since you can write what you feel without being 'branded' :-)

Driving up visitors - Sign up with blogpatrol.com and set the start counter to 'bata shoe price' like 299 or 2999 etc - Never start with '0' - that is a big turn off.

Don't answer any question you are being asked directly. Ask them to go to your blogs instead.

e.g. Q: 'Do you know where the nearest pizza hut is ?'
A: Yes. Please visit my blog.
Q: 'Do you write about pizzas ?'
A: No. My blog has link to google and you can click on it and find a pizza hut near by

Note: It also helps to be a bit shameless. You can go to random sites and leave a comment prompting visit from the victim

Driving up comments - This is a big course in itself. There are some pioneers in the blogosphere who can talk hours together endlessly about this.

Tip1 : It helps to have opinionated friends. Go beat them up, cry, beg them to visit your website

Tip2 : Never restrict your comments to 'Only logged on bloggers'. Leave it open to anonymous.

Tip3 : If no one comments, comment as anonymous. Senthil has written in detail about many more ideas on this topic.

Tip4 : Reply to every comment. If possible, do multiple posts of the same comment, pretending it is accidental

Tip5 : Visit any blog site you can think of and leave a comment. "This was wonderful" is all you need. Copy paste it. Blogger etiquette demands a reply "This was wonderful" on your blog. Guaranteed or money back* (Terms and Conditions apply)

Blogroll biggies- The more your site is linked up via biggies's sites, the more visitors, comments you get.

Have a big heart - there may be cases, when you wont have visitors or comments. Just write something bad about some super heroes, you are guaranteed to have visitors.

If you are not upto the challenge and don't feel like blogging. Don't worry. Do visit this site often, and don't forget to leave a comment :P